The East African Community secretariat on Tuesday took the ongoing competition for design of the new symbols of the regional bloc to the University of Rwanda’s College of Arts and Social Sciences (CASS) in Huye District.

The symbols that need to be changed are the emblem and logo of the six-nation bloc.

The competition follows a decision taken last year by the Sectoral Council of Ministers responsible for EAC affairs to adopt the bloc’s brand architecture strategy and directed the secretariat to involve the region’s youth in developing this new brand.

According to Richard Owora, head of corporate communication and public affairs at the EAC Secretariat, the EAC brand architecture strategy proposes activities that include: re-designing a new emblem and logo, developing a common unique identifier for all EAC organs and institutions; developing one main EAC corporate colour and one secondary colour; and developing a single visual identity emblem for the Community.

Regional youth or students aged 18 to 35 are partaking in the competition in which the first prize is $25,000. The second and third prizes are $5,000 and 2,500, respectively.

"EAC does not have clearly defined brand architecture for its organs and institutions and this has created a gap that has led to the inconsistent design of new logos for the institutions,” Owora said.

"There is also lack of a visual connection between the current three main organs; the EAC Secretariat, the East African Legislative Assembly, and the East African Court of Justice, and the eight other institutions.”

It is noted that some of EAC institutions adopted the EAC logo as their primary logo while others developed their own unique logos. Both the EAC flag and logo have too many colours and, the current logo is not adaptable to the future expansion of the Community.

The absence of a common unique identifier for all organs and institutions, and having two different visual identity symbols, namely the flag and the logo, as such created a big gap in the EAC brand architecture.

To kick-start the implementation of the Council decision on the EAC brand architecture, the secretariat, in liaison with the Ministries in charge of EAC affairs in the partner states, conducted sensitisation workshops for students.

After the workshops, the emblem and logo design competition is then launched at national universities or institutes in the partner states.

The launch has already been done in Juba, South Sudan,  and Bujumbura, Burundi.

After Rwanda, it will be taken to the other countries.

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