The African Regional Cooperative Agreement for Research, Development and Training related to Nuclear Science and Technology (AFRA) is an intergovernmental Agreement established by African Member States to further strengthen and enlarge the contribution of nuclear science and technology to socio-economic development on the African continent. The scope of AFRA activities covers a wide range of peaceful applications of nuclear techniques that contribute towards the achievement of national and regional development goals. The AFRA Agreement is renewed by its Member States every five years for a term of five years. This renewal is achieved by notifying the Director General of the IAEA of the AFRA Member States’ acceptance of the extension of the Agreement, and of their desire to continue participating in the Agreement. The Fifth Extension of AFRA entered into force on 4 April 2015 through 3 April 2020. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is not party to AFRA, but provides technical and scientific backstopping as well as financial and administrative support, in accordance with the IAEA’s principles, rules and procedures applicable to the Agency’s technical cooperation programme.
Mandate
Through a regional approach to sustainable development, AFRA seeks to:
- Maximize the utilization of available infrastructure and expertise in Africa in the field of nuclear science and technology;
- Accelerate moves toward regional self-sufficiency in peaceful applications of nuclear techniques by establishing and strengthening necessary infrastructure, coordinating intellectual and physical resources and disseminating innovative methods and practices cost-efficiently; and
- Deepen the commitment of Member States to the application of nuclear science and technology for their socio-economic development through sustained funding.
Vision and Mission
The AFRA mission derives from the AFRA Agreement, which states that “…the Governments Parties to this Agreement […] recognize that, within their national atomic energy programmes, there exist areas of common interest wherein mutual cooperation can promote the more efficient utilization of available resources. […] The Government Parties undertake […] to promote and coordinate cooperative research, development and training projects in nuclear science and technology through their appropriate national institutions”.
Vision
To be the leading regional organization in Africa and vehicle of the Member States for the effective promotion and coordination of peaceful applications of nuclear science and technology for socio-economic development on the African continent.
Mission
Based on the social context and the economic goals of its Member States, AFRA is to develop capacity, establish and facilitate, through regional cooperation, the use of infrastructure to exploit nuclear science and technology applications safely and cost effectively in order to meet the challenges of sustained communal socio-economic development on the African continent.
