From 16 to 20 April 2018, the IAEA Department of Technical Cooperation’s Division for Africa held a meeting of National Liaison Officers (NLOs) at IAEA Headquarters in Vienna.
This strategic meeting aimed to strengthen and enhance the delivery of IAEA technical cooperation (TC) programme activities in Africa by empowering NLOs to further improve the coordination of the TC programme in their respective countries and equipping them with the necessary tools, knowledge and emerging best practices.
In his opening statement, Mr Dazhu Yang, IAEA Deputy Director General and Head of the Department of Technical Cooperation, underscored that the “efficient and effective coordination of the technical cooperation programme is essential to its success, and NLOs’ pro-active engagement is highly appreciated”. He further highlighted that “it is of the utmost importance that the national institutions that have been involved in the transfer of nuclear science and technology own their achievements, and sustain them through the adequate commitment of human and financial resources”.
H.E. Ambassador Mr Omar Amer Youssef, Chair of the Vienna-based African Group, a coalition of African Representatives to the IAEA, also addressed the opening session, stating that “achieving the objectives of this meeting is critical to improving the management of the national and regional components of the TC programme”. He stressed that the meeting was “an important part of continued efforts by the IAEA Secretariat and Africa Member States to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of IAEA deliverables and -supported activities at the national and regional levels.”
Mr Shaukat Abdulrazak, Director Division for Africa, Technical Cooperation Department’, encouraged “the vital contribution of the cross-pollination among the African Member States themselves learning from one another under the TCDC modality”. He further stressed that NLOs’ “role through commitment and leadership in the planning, design, implementation, monitoring, reporting and evaluation of the TC programme cannot be overemphasized. Without the NLOs, the TC Programme cannot be delivered successfully”.
NLOs and National Liaison Assistants (NLAs) from 38 African Member States currently participating in the TC programme attended the meeting, namely: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Togo, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, and Zimbabwe.
During the meeting, NLOs discussed concrete measures and actions to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of TC programme implementation. They (i) reviewed progress related to the implementation of recommendations adopted during the 2012-2017 NLO meetings; (ii) updated each other on the status of radiation safety infrastructure in African Member States and defined concrete, realistic actions to improve it; (iii) agreed ways forward to improve the delivery of the TC programme cycle in 2018; and (iv) identified lessons learned in the preparation of the 2018–2019 TC programme cycle and proposed concrete measures to improve the planning and design of the 2020–2021 cycle.
The meeting’s outcomes and recommendations were adopted and included in a Plan of Action. NLOs expressed their readiness to take follow-up actions at the country level to implement the meeting’s recommendations.
