From 24 to 26 September 2024, the EAC hosted a joint planning meeting at its headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania, bringing together key regional stakeholders, policy experts, and civil society representatives to review the Regional Strategy for Women in Business for Socio-Economic Development and the EAC Youth Policy.
Facilitated by the EAC Secretariat's Gender Department in collaboration with the EAC-GIZ CSOs component, under the LIFTED Project, the East African Civil Society Organization Forum (EACSOF), and the East African Women in Business Platform (EAWiBP), the meeting marked a crucial step in the region's push for more inclusive growth towards empowering women and youth engagement in shaping policies that impact their futures.
In her opening remarks, Ms. Generose Minani, EAC’s Principal Gender and Community Development Officer, emphasised the importance of reviewing and updating the two policy documents in line with the directives from the Sectoral Council of Gender, Youth, Children, PWDs, Social Protection, and Community Development. She stressed that these policies need to address the changing dynamics of socio-economic development in the region and the challenges faced by women in business and youth to ensure they can meaningfully participate in the EAC integration process.
On her part, Ms. Joyce Kevin Kimaro, representing the EAC-GIZ CSO component, emphasised EAC-GIZ's support for women and youth in the EAC policy and decision-making process, including the review of the two policy documents. She encouraged all relevant stakeholders to contribute both technically and financially to the policy development process, following the roadmap developed and adopted by the meeting.
Representatives from various organisations, including the East African Business Council (EABC), Africa Youth Trust (AYT), East African Youth Network (EAYN), Vision4Youth, and East African Child Rights, were present to collaborate on the development of a comprehensive roadmap for policy updates. The roadmap focused on ensuring the policies reflect the needs and aspirations of women and youth while remaining consistent with the goals of the wider EAC integration agenda.
The team outlined key deliverables for the policy development process, discussed resource mobilisation approaches for execution, established a coordination committee to work alongside consultants, and set a schedule for future meetings to ensure consistent progress.
Moving forward, the meeting agreed that the EAC Secretariat should take the lead in coordinating stakeholder engagement and participation in the policy and strategy review. Further, it should convene another stakeholder meeting to review the EAC Gender Strategic Plan for Gender, Youth, Children, Persons with Disability, Social Protection, and Community Development, ensuring that the region’s development is truly inclusive.
Additionally, it was agreed that the regional committee will work on fundraising initiatives to supplement available resources for the review and implementation of the EAC Youth Policy and the Regional Strategy for Women in Business. This commitment to resource allocation reflects a long-term vision of sustainable and impactful policy change.
About LIFTED
LIFTED “Leveraging Integration Frameworks for Trade in Services and CSOs in the EAC” is a project jointly co-financed by the European Union EU and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). LIFTED aims to increase EAC, continental, and further bilateral trade with the EU in Trade in Services and Civil Society engagement in the framework of the AfCFTA for people-centred EAC integration. It is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) in collaboration with the EAC Secretariat.