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Dar es Salaam. The East African Community (EAC) has begun crafting its 7th Development Strategy for the period 2026/27–2030/31, a critical step towards recalibrating regional integration efforts in light of past shortfalls and shifting priorities.
Once finalised, the strategy will steer the bloc’s socio-economic development and integration agenda over the next five years.
It will succeed the 6th Development Strategy (2021/22–2025/26), placing increased emphasis on inclusivity, resilience, and sustainability.
EAC Secretary General Veronica Nduva said the new strategy is intended to be more than a routine policy blueprint.
“By engaging all stakeholders, we will create a roadmap that reflects our collective aspirations and addresses the challenges we face,” she noted during the inaugural meeting of the Strategy Steering Committee held recently in Arusha, Tanzania.
A key departure from previous approaches is a stronger focus on public participation, addressing longstanding concerns that earlier plans were overly top-down and out of touch with ordinary East Africans.
Civil society organisations have consistently called for deeper grassroots engagement in policymaking.
“You cannot drive regional development from boardrooms alone,” said a development economist based in Dar es Salaam, Dr Angela Makenzi.
“For the 7th Strategy to succeed, consultations must go beyond technical experts and include farmers, traders, youth, and women in the informal sector—who are the true drivers of integration,” she added.
The EAC Secretariat has pledged to extensively consult development partners, civil society groups, and the private sector.
The Draft Inception Report presented in Arusha sets out an analytical and stakeholder engagement framework aimed at embedding inclusivity in the strategy’s design.
Implementation remains a major challenge
Despite good intentions, experts warn that even the most robust strategy will falter without effective implementation—an area where the EAC has often struggled.
Although member states routinely endorse regional priorities, national-level execution has proved uneven.
The 6th Development Strategy, for instance, prioritised infrastructure development and trade facilitation.
While progress was made in expanding regional road networks and modernising border posts, implementation varied significantly across partner states.
“Infrastructure projects stall not due to poor planning, but because of weak coordination and inconsistent political will among member states,” said former EALA member, Prof John Bakenya.
“There remains a gap between regional commitments and national action,” he added.
Persistent challenges—such as policy misalignment, delays in ratifying regional protocols, and uneven domestication of EAC legislation—continue to undermine integration efforts.
Non-tariff barriers, in particular, remain widespread, hampering small-scale cross-border trade despite repeated pledges to eliminate them.
Nonetheless, the 6th Strategy delivered some notable successes, including supporting the digitisation of trade systems, strengthening pandemic preparedness, and facilitating the finalisation of key legal instruments, including the EAC Customs Union Bill.
However, broader reforms—such as the full implementation of the Common Market Protocol—remained elusive.
“The 6th Strategy made gains in health and digital integration, especially during the Covid-19 crisis, but fell short on key issues like labour mobility and trade liberalisation,” observed Nairobi-based trade policy expert, Dr Irene Mbithi.
“This time, we must prioritise measurable outcomes rather than ticking boxes,” she insisted.
A citizen-focused approach
As the EAC enters its next strategic phase, experts stress that inclusivity must go beyond consultation and be embedded in implementation.
They call for community-level monitoring and social accountability tools to rebuild trust between governments and citizens.
Aligning the 7th Strategy with broader continental and global development agendas—such as the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)—could enhance its coherence and impact.
“We need a new mindset that views this strategy not as a document for the EAC Secretariat, but as a citizen-owned manifesto for regional transformation,” said Tanzania-based policy analyst George Mwansasu.
“Let us be ambitious—but also pragmatic. Its success will depend on political will, financial commitment, and genuine public ownership,” he stressed.
The strategy’s development comes at a time when the region faces mounting challenges, including climate change, youth unemployment, food insecurity, and widening inequality.
Yet it also presents a moment of renewed hope—an opportunity to reset the regional agenda and rebuild confidence in the integration project.
If the process delivers on its promises of inclusiveness and accountability—and if member states translate words into action—experts believe the strategy could serve as a credible blueprint for regional transformation.
“But if old habits persist,” Mr Mwansasu cautioned, “it risks becoming just another document that gathers dust, while the hopes of millions remain unmet.”
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