Crafting national strategies for education and training in radiation, transport and waste safety

Between 2012 and 2014, 20 workshops were held in Arabic, English, French, Russian and Spanish under five regional IAEA technical cooperation projects. The workshops disseminated guidance on a methodology to establish a national strategy, and collected information on human resources and training infrastructure, as well as national legal and regulatory frameworks for education and training in radiation safety. One of the main conclusions of these workshops was that strong support and clear commitment on the part of national policy-makers and relevant authorities is essential for the effective establishment of a national strategy.

This consultative meeting aimed to follow up with policy- and decision-makers on the initiatives taken by Member States to establish national strategies for education and training in radiation, transport and waste safety. The participating delegates shared their experiences on the initiatives taken, challenges they faced, and solutions they implemented to establish national strategies.

The meeting succeeded in raising the awareness of the need for sustainability when building competence in radiation protection and safety, the need to optimize national resources in complementarity with the IAEA's assistance, and the necessity of planning human resources' development on the basis of the actual training needs.

Upon the conclusion of the consultative meeting, the policy-decision makers in attendance collectively agreed on the need for national strategies, government commitment, broad stakeholder involvement, and a national steering committee to guide development and oversight.  Representatives of the Member States agreed to convey the information to the relevant stakeholders in their capitals, in view of taking forward next steps.

This meeting was co-sponsored by projects RAF/9/048, RAS/9/066, RLA/9/075, and RER/9/109.