Management

Project Scientific Consultants

When appropriate, AFRA Member States appoint Project Scientific Consultants (PSCs) to provide upon request technical backstopping to AFRA Member States and to the AFRA Committees. PSCs are African scientists recognized as experts and regional leaders in their respective fields. PSCs participate in AFRA activities in their individual capacity.

AFRA PSCs have the following mandate:

  • Provide upon request, technical backstopping in his/her field of expertise to AFRA Member States (national institutions, individual scientists and users), and technical advice to the AFRA Committees;
  • Attend the project coordination meetings and:
    • Act as the technical secretary and adviser to the Project Coordinators;
    • Help prepare the meeting’s report;
    • Help identify and set up the region’s priority needs, objectives and main orientations in his/her particular field of expertise;
    • Present to the meeting a concise report describing the state of technology, innovations and new practices which might impact the development of the required technology in the region and draw attention to any problems which may occur during utilization.
  • Submit to the AFRA Programme Management Committee (AFRA-PMC), and Project Coordinators an Annual Project Evaluation Report (APER) before 31 January of the year following the year under review. The report should describe the activities foreseen and implemented during the year under review, highlight the results achieved, the constraints encountered and the risks that might endanger the project objectives, with particular emphasis on the individual performance of Project Coordinators from both the scientific and managerial viewpoint. The report should also include a list of the Member States which have timely submitted their Annual Reports as well as an indication of the quality of the reports per country;
  • Undertake short missions to participating countries to help solve managerial, administrative or scientific problems that might impede achievements of the project’s objectives. During these missions, the PSC should collect all necessary information about the country’s level of commitment in terms of logistics, financial contributions and staff accountability; and report on any progress made;
  • Report on an ad-hoc basis to the AFRA-PMC any shortfalls or constraints that may represent a threat to the project and propose appropriate solutions;
  • Plan and arrange for special evaluations, when needed and justified, and participate in the evaluation exercises, if required;
  • Monitor the implementation of recommendations made in evaluation reports and report to the AFRA-PMC;
  • Attend regional or international meetings/seminars in the field and submit a report thereon to all Project Coordinators, AFRA-PMC and the IAEA, within one month;
  • For new projects funded by the IAEA, the Project Scientific Consultants will develop technical criteria which will be attached to the Regional Project Concepts and included later on during the formulation of the project document. Member States will be requested to fulfil these criteria to participate in new AFRA projects.

In addition to the above-mentioned duties, the PSC may be requested to undertake specific tasks such as the participation in project formulation meetings and any other relevant activities.

While recognizing that AFRA does not pay an honorarium to African experts and consultants, the costs involved (transportation and Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA)) in the performance of the above duties will be charged to the project in accordance with IAEA’s rules and procedures.

It is expected that, as a special incentive, the IAEA will consider providing to the PSC five (05) days AFRA token fee upon timely receipt of the APER and evaluation by the AFRA-PMC.

It should be understood that the duties and responsibilities of the PSC are complementary to, and do not overlap with, those of the IAEA’s technical staff who are engaged in providing technical backstopping to AFRA projects.