The East African Community - RICTSP organised a three day regional workshop on ICT Policy and Regulatory Harmonization organised from the 16 to 18th February at Botanical Hotel, Entebbe-Uganda. In a workshop that a attracted crosscutting participation, from the Government sector, regulators, operators and the Civil Society from the five EAC member states discussions focused on Policy and regulatory harmonization, flagship projects, Institutions and Governance including the processes for implementation.

The policy harmonization framework originates from the potential impact of ICTs on economic growth and regional cooperation. Considering that the EAC partner states are at different stages of ICT development in terms of penetration of ICT infrastructure, service provision and follow different policy processes the process of harmonization then becomes critical before the formation of a single market. In his analysis of  the state of ICT policy in the region, Dr. Lishan Adam, ICT researcher and consultant on behalf of the RICTSP, in his report to the meeting on Regional Harmonization stated that “a significant room for regional cooperation and ICT policy harmonization to meet the single market agenda of the EAC existed.”

It is expected that the harmonization of the ICT policies in the region will;

*Strengthen the quality of National ICT policies by facilitating the sharing of experience and evidence based policy making.

*Provide a regional Framework that guide countries towards a harmonious ICT Strategy.

*Facilitate cooperation in  key priority areas that have already been identified.

*Enhance active participation of Partner states in global ICT regimes.


The main principles of the regional ICT Policy framework are:

*Aligning ICT with Development.

*An integrated approach to ICT sector development.

*Promotion of Access to Broadband infrastructure.

*Capacity building both human and institutional at national levels.

*Transparency and participation

*Empowerment of disadvantaged groups

*Coordination and synergies between national and regional activities.

*Benchmarking and monitoring of progress.

For more information, please visit http://www.eac.int