Norwegian Church Aid has been active in East Africa since the 1960s. For many years its office in Nairobi, Kenya served as a base for the major cross-border operation into Southern Sudan.
Since the mid-1980s, the Nairobi office has served as the regional hub for all of our activities accross Eastern Africa and the Great Lakes region. Today, the regional office fulfils the following functions:
- Supporting the country programmes in terms of both competence and focus, through the establishment of arenas for interaction and exchange of experiences between the partner organizations and the local staff.
- Strengthening regional networks
- Reviewing and and strengthening efforts in the regional context. As a region, Eastern Africa suffers from a number of problems that have to be addressed across national boundaries, in terms of peace and reconciliation, inter-religious dialogue, HIV and AIDS, gender-based violence and good governance.
In addition to its responsibility for regional programmes, Norwegian Church Aid’s Nairobi office is also charged with the responsibility for efforts in Kenya, Somalia and Uganda. There are additional country offices in Khartoum in Sudan, in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, Asmara in Eritrea and in Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania. There is also a sub-regional office in Kigali, Rwanda.