From the 29th to the 31st of January, 2019, Niger hosted a metrology capacity building workshop for lab technicians
METROLOGY CAPACITY BUILDING WORKSHOP FOR THE LAB TECHNICIANS OF THE AFRICAN WATER ASSOCIATION (AfWA) MEMBER COUNTRIES
This workshop organized by the AfWA in partnership with the “Société d’Exploitation des Eaux du Niger” (SEEN) aimed to strengthen the lab technicians' theoretical and practical measurement capabilities. Indeed, in its efforts to improve its members’ performance, the AfWA is implementing a capacity building program (AfriCap) thanks to USAID funding. One of this program’s components promotes partnership between analysis laboratory operators and water quality control laboratory ones.
During this workshop, several activities were directed including:
- the training of 15 water quality laboratory auditors
- the evaluation of 10 laboratories with regard to water quality control performance
- the organisation of two benchmarking missions for the lab operators of two water companies, the Burkinabe National Office of Water and Sanitation and the Ghana Water Company.
- the development of seven Performance Improvement Plans (PIP) and a Water Quality Handbook
During the PIP development, it was pointed out the need for lab technicians metrology capacity building to guarantee and maintain the trust with regard to measurements made in all the visited laboratories.
The training participants came from ten different African countries namely Benin (SONEB), Burkina Faso (ONEA), Cameroon (CAMWATER), Ivory Coast (SODECI, ONEP), Ghana (GWLC), Guinea Conakry (SEG), Mali (SOMAGEP); Niger (SEEN), Nigeria (FCT WATER BOARD OF ABUJA, OGUN STATE WATER CORPORATION) and Togo.
