IAEA Technical Assistance and Co-operation Committee (TACC)
Statement by Mr Jonathon Lee, Expert, Australian Permanent Mission to the IAEA
Agenda Item 4: Evaluation of Technical Cooperation Activities in 2022
14 November 2022
Chair,
Let me firstly express our thanks to the Director for his report, and to the OIOS team for the excellent work that they continue to do.
It is in the interest of all Member States to have a TC Programme that runs as efficiently and as effectively as possible. The regular evaluation of TC activities conducted by OIOS is vital in ensuring that the program continues to deliver its intended outcomes.
Chair,
Australia will be brief in this statement, by focussing on four key points of the OIOS report which are of particular importance to us.
Firstly, on projects in our region. We were pleased to see that six Country-level Evaluation and Audits - CLEAs - were carried out during this reporting period – a target which was commendably reached one year early.
Australia reviewed the CLEA results carefully and with interest, particularly as our own region—Asia and the Pacific—was the region of focus for this year’s evaluation.
As an active contributor to, and participant in, the Regional Cooperative Agreement for Asia and the Pacific – the RCA, our experiences show that regional projects are particularly effective at providing lasting benefits to Member States. This principle underpins Australia’s steadfast support for the RCA. We remain committed to ensuring that the RCA continues to deliver beneficial outcomes for Member States in our region, and we welcome the Office’s aim to increase its coverage of regional projects in 2023.
My second point is in relation to equipment use. We noted the report’s finding that the Agency lacks a systematic and consistent mechanism to confirm that purchased equipment is used as intended. Australia would welcome further work into developing such a mechanism, to ensure TC funds are appropriately used to purchase equipment only when it is required, and only when it can be properly utilised. This will ensure recipient Member States receive the maximum benefit possible.
Thirdly, on Internal Audit Recommendations. We were pleased to see the OIOS liaising with the Secretariat to address recommendations which have not been fully actioned from 2015 or earlier. Some of these recommendations are now a decade old, and we welcome the Offices’ initiative to work towards their closure. We hope that this will allow attention to be focussed on fully implementing more recent, relevant, and action-oriented recommendations in a timely manner.
My fourth and final point is on gender mainstreaming. Australia strongly supports greater exploration and analysis of gender mainstreaming by the OIOS in TC project design. We believe that the underlying barriers for balanced and meaningful gender participation in TC projects must be identified and addressed. The identification and removal of these barriers will further strengthen the TC Programme and amplify its benefits to all Member States.
Chair, with these remarks, let me thank once again the Director and the whole OIOS team, and reiterate Australia’s ongoing support for their crucial work.
Thank you.