Following prior consultations withNational Liaison Officers, the Division for Africa of the IAEA's Department of Technical Cooperation, organized a Meeting of National Liaison Officers (NLOs) from 20 to 24 April 2015 in Vienna, Austria.
This highly important event was part of on-going efforts to further improve the management of the technical cooperation (TC) programme (TCP) in Africa, at both national and regional levels, and aimed to further increase the efficiency of IAEA deliverables and the effectiveness of IAEA supported activities at the national level.
The meeting objective was four-fold, namely: to review the progress achieved since the 2014 NLO meeting; to share experiences and lessons learnt from the implementation and management of national programmes through case-studies presented by NLOs; to report on lessons learned in the design and formulation of the forthcoming TC cycle for 2016-2017; and to discuss and adopt measures and a roadmap for the alignment of Country Programme Frameworks with the Common African Position on the post-2015 development agenda and the proposed Sustainable Development Goals. An additional goal of brainstorming in support of strategic partnership-building and resource mobilization was also factored into the week's agenda.
In his opening statement, Mr Kwaku Aning, IAEA Deputy Director General and head of the Department of Technical Cooperation, underlined the importance of the ownership of TC programme by Member States and the leadership of NLOs throughout all phases of TC programme. He encouraged Member States to further enhance their radiation protection infrastructure and to submit Project Progress Assessment Reports in a timely fashion.
The meeting brought together National Liaison Officers (NLOs) and National Liaison Assistants (NLAs) from 34 African Member States currently participating in the TC Programme, namely: Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi , Cameroon, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Tunisia, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The NLOs of Liberia and the Republic of Congo participated in the NLO meeting for the first time.
During the meeting, NLOs discussed concrete measures and actions to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the TC Programme. The following outcomes were achieved: practical measures to further improve the delivery of the TC Programme were agreed; awareness about the urgent need to address issues pertaining to radiation safety at the national level was increased; and strategic actions to build partnership in the region were adopted with the aim of attracting more funding for the TC programme in Africa. In addition, useful lessons and good practices for smoother outcome monitoring and reporting were gained, as well as measures for CPF alignment with the CAP and the SDGs.
The outcomes and recommendations of the meeting have been included in a Plan of Action adopted by the Meeting. NLOs expressed their readiness, and were encouraged to demonstrate further commitment, to take follow-up actions at the country level to implement the meeting's recommendations.
