In accordance with the ongoing process for the selection of reputable institutions as Centres of Excellence in Fisheries and Aquaculture in Africa, AU-IBAR organized a series of verification missions to the short listed Institutions in Nigeria, Malawi, Egypt and South Africa for the experts assessment for their selection as African Centres of Excellence in Fisheries and Aquaculture.
Against this background an Expert Review Meeting on Findings of The Verification Missions to Short-Listed Institutions for Selection as African Centres of Excellence in Fisheries and Aquaculture was organised by the African Union Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) within the provisions of the Fisheries Governance Project with support from European Union. The meeting was held from the 29th to 30th of May, 2018 at AU-IBAR offices in Nairobi, Kenya as a follow-up to the recommendation of the Planning Meeting for Experts Verification Mission, held in March, 2018 in Nairobi, Kenya.
The main objectives of this Experts Review meeting were to undertake a detailed technical review of the findings by the Expert Mission, for informed decision making on selection of the institutions that were assessed by the experts; and to propose appropriate recommendations on the way forward.
The meeting was attended by 8 Experts from AquaEco, South Africa; University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; WAFICOS, Uganda; University of Zambia; Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology, Kumasi, Ghana; Alexandria University, Egypt; University of Sierra Leone, Sierra Leone; a retired Director of AU-IBAR Dr. Modibo Traore as the Technical Team Leader of the Verification Mission and relevant staff from AU-IBAR.
At the opening session Prof. Ahmed El-sawalhy the Director of AU-IBAR expressed gratitude to the Experts for accomplishing a very successful field mission to the various institutions that were visited. He reminded the team that the exercise was to accomplish the resolution of the highest policy organ of the African Union – the summit of Heads of States and Government that mandated AU-IBAR to implement as necessary.
The Technical Team Leader expressed gratitude to be part of the team and gave assurances that collectively the team will help AU-IBAR to move ahead and deliver on this objective.
The technical session besides highlighting and giving robust discussions on knowledge and experience from the perspectives of what prevailed in the fields among others also accomplished the following as outcomes from the meeting:
- Detailed findings by each expert against the adopted Terms of reference were shared with all the participants in the meeting based on which decisions were taken for conclusion of this phase of the exercise.
- Recommendations were made for selection of institutions as centres of excellence after interactive discussions of the findings.
- The Terms of Reference for launching a second call for expression of interest was reviewed for adequacy incorporating lessons garnered during the field mission and to widen the scope and give opportunity for qualified institutions in all the regions of Africa to apply.
- The Terms of Reference and criteria for evaluation of the institutions were adequately reviewed and further refined for future use in undertaking similar exercise.