In order to promote intra-and inter-regional cooperation to further extend Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries (TCDC) modality under the framework of AFRA, the following action plan was adopted by AFRA Member States:
Intra-regional
- The AFRA Programme Management Committee (AFRA-PMC) will compile all available data on TCDC in its Member States, including the National Coordinator of each country, the on-going TCDC activities, the annual budget allocated for TCDC, as well as the present and future needs which can be answered through TCDC modality. National Coordinators will be required to help collect and compile data on their countries. A list of TCDC promotional and operational activities under AFRA, giving a short summary of each project’s activity will be prepared and sent to all AFRA Member States as well as to the Regional Cooperation Agreement for the Promotion of Nuclear Science and Technology in Latin America and the Caribbean (ARCAL) and RCA;
- AFRA will assist African Member States wishing to embark on TCDC activities to initiate inter-country TCDC programming as part of AFRA’s upstream work for the design and formulation of technically and developmentally sound projects;
- The AFRA-PMC will follow-up closely the implementation of TCDC activities and report to the AFRA Technical Working Group Meeting (AFRA TWGMs) and Meetings of AFRA Representatives. Regular assessment of opportunities, weaknesses, strengths and achievements of the countries’ contributions and impact should be performed by the AFRA-PMC;
- The planned actions and achievements attained through TCDC should be highlighted in a special booklet to be used by the AFRA Partnership Building and Resource Mobilization Committee (AFRA-PBRMC) for fund mobilization;
- The results obtained through the above-mentioned actions should be carefully reviewed during the TWGMs and meetings of AFRA Representatives and further actions should be recommended in order to achieve the desired level of cooperation in the region using TCDC modality.
Inter-regional
- The role of the AFRA-PMC specified above could be duplicated in the other three agreements to provide executive groups to handle inter-regional interactions during the course of the year.
- A mechanism should be established whereby details of successful ventures, innovations or improved practices established in one group are expeditiously communicated and transferred to the other three for possible implementation. This also implies that inventories of the above be maintained by the four groups;
- Cross-regional joint ventures between Member States of different groups should be encouraged where synergy prevails or where direct relevant assistance can be provided with a mutual benefit situation arising from such collaboration;
- As the standard of projects improves, it can be envisaged that this joint venture approach could attract participation from outside the regions in collaborative efforts without sacrificing mutual benefits which are essential for success. This would expand the support network for TCDC significantly to include Developed Countries in the technical interface region, not only as donors but as participants;
- AFRA Member States are encouraged to initiate “public relations” activities to increase the awareness of the value of TCDC modalities and especially the short-term deployment of experts, consultants and trainees in the development process. This would visibly demonstrate to developing and developed Member States the viability of TCDC in the implementation of technical co-operation projects.