The East Africa NCD Alliance Initiative unites the NCD alliances in Uganda, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Kenya and Rwanda. It is the first example of cooperation between national NCD alliances in a region, as well as twinning of alliances in high-income and low-income countries. The initiative has been spearheaded by Susanne Volqvartz at the Danish NCD Alliance, with funding from Danish development agency (DANIDA).

The overall objective is to influence national governments in East Africa to increase political priority and resources for NCDs, and promote the importance of NCDs in the Post-2015 Development Agenda. In addition, the initiative aims to strengthen the capacity of the NCD alliances in East Africa, as well as foster collaboration between them.

Stakeholder meetings

On 13-15 June 2014, the East Africa NCD Stakeholder meeting was held in Entebbe, Uganda. The meeting convened a wide range of representatives from governments, alliances, NGOs, academia, and the private sector. There was a vocalized collective commitment to accelerating the response to NCDs in East African countries including Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zanzibar, and Uganda. The meeting spurred discussions about the new East Africa Benchmark Survey Report of NCDs (click here to see the report), which was developed by the East African NCD alliances. The report provides a snapshot of the recent East African response to NCDs. Representatives also developed and endorsed the East Africa NCD Civil Society Charter, which serves to create a sense of urgency within the East African community to accelerate progress at national and regional levels (click here to read the charter). The meeting was timed to serve as an update to the preparations for the UN High-Level Review on NCDs being held in New York on 10-11 July 2014.