The third cohort of the IAEA technical cooperation programme’s National Liaison Assistant (NLA) group fellowship has successfully completed their three-month training programme this week at the IAEA. The fellows received a comprehensive overview and in-depth immersion into all relevant aspects of the technical cooperation programme, to help ensure efficient and effective management of technical cooperation projects at the national level, and to foster enhanced collaboration between countries and the IAEA.
“As the IAEA does not have country teams on the ground, the NLOs and NLAs serve as a crucial bridge with the IAEA. You are not only NLAs, but also ambassadors of your country to the IAEA. When you return to your countries, please share the knowledge, experiences and information you have gained here during your fellowship with your colleagues,” said Hua Liu, IAEA Deputy Director General and Head of the Department of Technical Cooperation, addressing the fellows.
This journey brought together eight fellows from Argentina, Cambodia, Honduras, Libya, Sierra Leone, Tunisia, Turkmenistan and Yemen, who gained invaluable professional experience and forged lifelong connections in an international environment. The fellows had the opportunity to meet their IAEA project management officers and counterparts with whom they had been communicating via email for years. These face-to-face interactions, and personal time spent together, transformed years of remote collaboration into strong, in-person relationships, making the fellows feel truly integrated.
“Through my involvement in this detailed training, I am now connected with the Department of Technical Cooperation and the other IAEA departments and sections that are linked to the process of our national programme,” said Samia Litaiem, NLA from Tunisia.
The tailored programme featured over 70 sessions, including 10 technical visits to laboratories and nine practical sessions. Through case studies, hands-on training and peer sharing modalities, NLAs learned to translate their theoretical knowledge into practical skills. The feedback and progress of the fellows was continuously monitored, and the programme was constantly updated accordingly.
