East African
Community
PRESS RELEASE
CHAIRPERSON OF
EAC COUNCIL OF MINISTERS LAUNCHES EAC INFORMATION RESOURCE CENTER
East African Community
Secretariat; 28 April, 2014:
The Chairperson of the EAC
Council of Ministers and Cabinet Secretary for East African Affairs, Commerce
and Tourism in Kenya; Hon. Phyllis Kandie today officially launched the EAC
Information Resource Centre.
Hon. Phyllis Kandie congratulated
the EAC Secretariat for achieving this great milestone and emphasized the
critical role the Resource Centre in sensitizing the EAC citizenry, noting
that; “utilization of information and research data should be used not only to
fuel growth and development within the region, but also to spark interest in
the EAC integration agenda especially among the youth.
She urged the Centre to organize
and package information on EAC integration in a way that is both understandable
and user-friendly enough to the people of East Africa to have the intended
impact.
The Chairperson of the Council
applauded the development partners, specifically the European Union for their
technical and financial support to the Resource Centre and assured that the
Council of Ministers’ support to further develop the Centre.
In his welcoming remarks, the
Secretary General of the East African Community Amb. Dr. Richard Sezibera
affirmed that digitization of all EAC information resources would improve
accessibility of EAC information, preserve it in a digital format and also
improve information sharing with EAC Organs and Institutions, Partner States,
consultants, researchers, development partners and the general public.
The Secretary General reiterated
that Article 71 of the Treaty for the Establishment of EAC mandates the EAC
Secretariat to promote and disseminate information on the Community to the
stakeholders, general public and the international community. “This Resource
Centre therefore is part of that initiative”, said Amb. Sezibera.
While guiding the guests on the
Resource Centre tour, the EAC Principal Librarian and in charge of the Resource
Centre; Mrs. Sarah Kagoda Batuwa said that the need for a robust library at the
EAC Secretariat was identified way back in 1997 when a Communication needs
study was conducted.
”Consequently, a library was
established and housed on 5th Floor Kilimanjaro wing, AICC building
in 1999”, said Batuwa, adding in November 2012, the EAC library was moved to
the new EAC headquarters and under the funding from the European Union Regional
Integration support Program (RISP) last December, the Library was equipped,
furnished and transformed into a one-stop Resource Centre.
The Principal Librarian said the
transformation of the Resource Centre was being done in phases. Databases
(Automated Library Catalogue) will be developed to capture details of the
information resources within the Secretariat, EALA and EACJ as well as a Reports
Database which is an online, full-text database of Summit, Council, Sectoral
and Taskforce reports. The second phase entails digitization of all EAC
Information Resources as generated in all integration processes and availing
them online.
Various resources available at
the Resource Centre include EAC documentation and publications, Partner States
official publications, former EAC publications, general textbooks, publications
on regional and international organizations, periodicals including professional
journals, newspapers/articles, audio-visual collection and internet resources
and databases.
Present at the occasion were also
EAC Ministers, Permanent Secretaries and senior officials from the EAC
Secretariat.
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