IAEA Technical Assistance and Cooperation Committee
Statement by Mr Jarrod Powell, Alternate Representative of Australia to the IAEA
Agenda Item 4: Evaluation of technical cooperation activities in 2020
17 November 2020
Australia thanks the Director of the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) for his report, and for the briefing provided on 10 November. The evaluations performed by the OIOS support member states’ confidence in the effective and efficient delivery of the TC Programme.
We note the finding of OIOS that regional collaboration in Africa has been a positive factor in increasing the effectiveness of the Agency’s work at the country level. This finding aligns with Australia’s experience of regional collaboration in the Asia Pacific. This is particularly the case for projects carried out under the Regional Cooperative Agreement for Research, Development and Training related to Nuclear Science and Technology – the RCA.
In our experience, regional projects are particularly effective at delivering lasting benefits to Member States. We encourage Member States that are considering, designing and proposing future national TC projects to consider whether a regional approach might provide additional benefits.
Australia values the cross-cutting perspective provided by OIOS in delivering its findings and recommendations. This approach is highly useful for identifying common issues or trends that may otherwise be treated as stand-alone or country-specific issues, and for generating continuous improvements in the TC Programme, with benefits beyond the immediate scope of each Country-level Evaluation and Audit (CLEA). We encourage OIOS to continue this practice in future reports.