The East Asian Regional Office of Astronomy for Development

Abstract

At the 2012 General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the Office of Astronomy for Development announced a number of exciting new partnerships to assist with the IAU's decadal strategic plan (2010--2020). These landmark decisions included establishing a new coordinating centre that aims at using astronomy as a tool for development in East Asia. The agreement covers two important functions. One is known as a Regional Node, which entails the coordination of astronomy-for-development activities in countries within the general geographical region of East Asia. The other is known as a Language Expertise Centre which deals with all aspects relating to (mainly) the Chinese language and culture. The impact of the latter may obviously spread well beyond the geographical region to other parts of the world. Here we provide an update of the achievements and aims of the East Asian Office of Astronomy for Development.