Statement of the G77 during the Meeting of the Working Group
on TC Project INT/0/085, delivered by H.E. Ambassador Taous Feroukhi,
Permanent Representative of Algeria on 26 May 2010
Mr. Chairman,
During the meeting of the Working Group on 26 April 2010, the Group of 77 welcomed your revised proposal as it addressed several of our concerns and accepted it as a basis for further discussion, without the constraint of deadlines. The Group made some additional comments and raised some pertinent questions which were not addressed satisfactorily.
The Group is of the view that since the project is focusing on the TC Cycle 2012-2013 and the objective is the sharing of best practices for programme planning, it would be more cost-effective and timely if the Secretariat were to issue the core best practices for the design and management of technical cooperation projects to Member States as soon as possible considering that the upstream work for the above cycle is currently ongoing.
The Group would like to seek further clarification on the difference between the stated objective of this proposed project and the objectives of the Guidelines for the Planning and Design of the IAEA Technical Cooperation Programme that was issued to Member States on 16 March 2010. The Group further takes note that the new approach described in the above guidelines has already taken into account the feedback of stakeholders. In this regard, the Group does not see the value-added of the proposed INT project as it is currently drafted.
The Group would like the following elements to be appropriately included in the following respective sections of the Chairman's proposal:
Justification section:
The Group would like to propose that the last sentence of the paragraph reads as follows:
"Therefore, the Secretariat will work together with project will aim to enhance the capabilities of Member States to address specific regional and national needs, in order to ensure that capacities are in place to plan, implement and monitor country programmes that 1) are relevant to national/regional priorities, 2) have well defined and achievable and measurable outcomes, 3) promote increased partnerships when appropriate, and 4) have a strategic focus".
Strategy section:
The Group would like to propose that the re-designed INT project be more focused on long-term efforts for continuous improvement in programme implementation and management and should include an opportunity for those Member States whose TC projects have been audited to participate and react to the past audit findings, and future findings before their finalization.
The Group proposes that the last sentence in the second paragraph of the strategy section reads as follows:
"It will focus on skills development, encouraging participants to apply the principles approaches they have learned to their own technical cooperation projects".
The Group proposes a new section on guiding principles to be added to the Chairman's proposal as follows:
Guiding principles section:
a. The inter-regional project, INT/0/085, is an exercise aimed to enhance the effectiveness of the technical cooperation programme and in no way alters the nature of TC programme and the manner in which the Agency has been successfully providing TC.
b. The measurement of impacts/outcomes and project monitoring will be the sole responsibility of Member States. Only if the recipient Member State requests it, the Agency will provide assistance in this regard.
c. Since outcomes of some projects cannot be measured, TC projects will continue to be approved based upon the needs and priorities of requesting Member States.
The Group would like to propose that the following two paragraphs be included as an annex to the Chairman's proposal as follows:
Annex:
a. The logical framework matrix (LFM) showing the timelines for the project implementation.
b. The key players involved and the expected outcomes/results
The Group sincerely hopes to arrive to an early consensus decision that effectively addresses our concerns.
