On 16-17 February, the Uganda NCD Alliance (UNCDA) hosted a two day planning meeting of the East Africa NCD Alliance Initiative.

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. 

The East Africa NCDA Initiative planning committee includes representatives from the NCD alliances in Uganda, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Kenya and Rwanda; the Danish NCD Alliance; the global NCD Alliance; the Framework Convention Alliance; and 3 universities - University of South California, Yale University and Aarhus University.

Below is a summary of the planned activities of the East Africa NCD Alliance Initiative:
• East Africa Status Report of NCDs - using the NCD Alliance benchmarking tool included in our Advocacy Toolkit to track challenges and progress;
• East Africa NCD Stakeholder Meeting – to discuss the report and identify priorities for the region on NCDs;
• East Africa NCD Charter - providing recommendations and priorities for action on NCDs in the region.

The East Africa NCD Charter will be used to influence the UN Review and Assessment on NCDs, as well as the post-2015 processes.

The NCD Alliance is proud to be a partner in this exciting regional initiative. We hope this will inspire other twinning initiatives of NCD alliances in high- and low-income countries, as well as demonstrate the power of regional civil society cooperation on NCDs.

For more information on the East Africa NCD Alliance Initative, click here.