About us 

Brief information about ROEA

The UNODC Regional Office in East Africa (ROEA) was established in 1988 and is located in the complex of United Nations Office at Nairobi, Kenya.

It covers thirteen countries: Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Tanzania and Uganda.

The countries of Eastern Africa region differ significantly in terms of population, cultural and ethnic patterns, and in the availability of natural resources. However, these countries have in common some of the lowest economic indicators and standards of living and face severe development challenges. Natural disasters and wars have left the majority of the region's 180 million people struggling under extreme poverty. Recurrent food shortages and droughts have also added to the devastating effects of civil war on the population, whereas poor governance, corruption and human rights abuses have stunted the development opportunities of these countries dramatically.

The Eastern Africa region is also among the most affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the sub-Saharan Africa and the disease is taking a heavy toll on the population of most countries.

Confronted with all these issues requiring immediate attention and action, Eastern African countries have largely been slow to recognize that their drugs and crime problem has been growing extensively and that this was having a dramatic impact on their developmental opportunities.

Against this background UNODC is strengthening its partnership with the Eastern African Governments and is assisting them in tackling their drug and crime problems in a more comprehensive and focused manner. Keeping in mind the peculiarity of the political and socio-economic context of the sub-region, UNODC has developed a Strategic Programme Framework that is intended to help countries build the necessary local capacity and enhance regional cooperation to ensure a sustainable and long lasting impact of their interventions against drugs and crime, that threaten to impede many of their development goals.

The following operational targets were set in 2005-2007 UNODC Strategic Programme Framework for Eastern Africa:

• To enhance community resilience to drug abuse, HIV/AIDS and criminality.

• To enhance national capacities to limit illicit drug trafficking, primarily through the key air hubs and sea ports of Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania, and facilitate cross border collaboration; and to limit trafficking in human beings.

• T o assist governments to increase judicial integrity and to build institutional capacity to effectively address corruption and economic crimes.

• To enhance the capacity of governments to effectively control and monitor licit drugs and precursors in the domestic supply and distribution to prevent their diversion to illicit channels.

• To strengthen governments' abilities to address criminal justice and the rule of law issues comprehensively