The Horn of Africa Regional Environment Centre and Network was established in 2006 to help consolidate the efforts of environmental organisations operating in the HoA region, and to establish a platform for collaboration between different stakeholders. The HoA region is comprised of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan. The Centre is an autonomous institution under the Addis Ababa University, serving as both the Secretariat for the Network and facilitating and supporting cooperation between member organisations and other environmental actors, including the private sector and government, to carry out activities on the ground. The Centre has several components, of which the most important are the partnership programmes, regional capacity building efforts and demand driven action research. The Network is comprised of 1) members representing indigenous environmental civil society organisations, NGOs and higher learning and research institutes, and 2) partners, mainly non-indigenous organisations and businesses, working on environmental issues in the region. The network promotes intensive cooperation among, and exchange of information and experiences between, its members and facilitates experience exchange between the various countries in the region. This is meant to tap into environmental knowledge in the region that is not currently being utilized to its full potential.