National Liaison Officers and AFRA Coordinators Work to Optimize Impact of Nuclear Technologies in Africa

Meeting participants reviewed IAEA and in-country operational frameworks, process workflows and management approaches. They assessed implementation of the 2020–2021 programme and discussed how to strengthen approaches to ensure the efficient implementation of the current cycle, which was launched in January 2022. For the next TC Cycle 2024-2025, participants explored how to strengthen the project design process to ensure alignment with Country Programme Frameworks (CPFs) and national development priorities, and how to enhance complementarity between regional and national projects. An added emphasis was also placed on the design of fewer, but bigger and more integrated projects, with a focus on achieving tangible results and direct impact.

“The theme for our meeting this year is ‘Sharpening the Saw,’” said Shaukat Abdulrazak, Director of the IAEA TC Division for Africa. “In this context, the meeting was a chance to pause, disconnect and self-introspect, with the intention of becoming more effective, more efficient and more impactful.”

“NLOs and AFRA-NCs need to enhance and instil the concept of leadership, sustainability, gender balance, ethics and accountability as key pillars to achieve socio-economic impact, within their designated roles,” he added.

Recommendations emerging from the meeting were catalogued into three categories—enhanced ownership, improved impact and improved complementarity—and subsequently adopted as part of a draft meeting report.

On the margins of the NLO Meeting, staff from the TC Division for Africa organized one-on-one discussions with national representatives to accelerate the development of CPFs, the promulgation of national nuclear laws, the establishment of regulatory bodies, and the optimization of NLO participation in various IAEA activities.

NAEC, the host organization, also arranged a site visit to the Multipurpose Gamma Irradiation Facility (GIF) at the Nuclear Technology Centre (NTC) of the Sheda Science and Technology Complex (SHETSCO) in Abuja, which provides vital irradiation services to private companies and government agencies.

This event's closing session was chaired by the AFRA National Coordinator for Niger, Ali Ada, with final remarks deliveed by Prince Clem Ikanade Agba, Minister of State, Finance, Budget and National Planning of Nigeria.

37 African countries were represented in this regional meeting, namely: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Republic of Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Sudan, Togo, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.