ECOWAS Quality/Metrology technical guides available online
UNIDO released technical guides on public procurement, metrology and the quality infrastructure in Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) developed under the West Africa Quality System Programme (WAQSP) that are now available online at the Knowledge Hub.
The Public Procurement Guide promotes quality culture among companies tendering for public contracts in order to be compliant with quality criteria. It is aimed that these criteria become integrated into national legislations in West African countries.
The Metrology Guides on calibration and harmonized procedures for verification of measuring instruments provide technical support to National Metrology Institutes (NMIs), National Legal Metrology Organizations (NLMOs) and the Accreditation Bodies of the ECOWAS Regional Accreditation System (ECORAS) to develop accreditation guides in the field of metrology for the calibration laboratories in West Africa. Furthermore, these publications will support the National Metrology Organizations (NMOs) in the region to provide recognized calibration and verification services to laboratories and companies.
The compilation of ECOWAS legal texts on quality infrastructure provides an overview of the establishment of the ECOWAS quality infrastructure through institutional and operational structures. It is also a testimony of the long-standing cooperation between the UNIDO, European Union (EU) and ECOWAS.
Since 2001, UNIDO has supported 15 ECOWAS Member States and Mauritania through designing, establishing, enhancing and promoting quality infrastructure at national and regional level. This support has been ensured through three regional Programmes funded by the EU. The third phase of these Programmes, the West Africa Quality System Programme (WAQSP) was implemented from August 2014 to September 2019 and supported the implementation of the regional quality policy.
For more information, visit the ECOWAQ website and contact Bernard Bau (B.Bau [at] unido.org (B[dot]Bau[at]unido[dot]org)) and Aka Jean Joseph Kouassi (A.Kouassi [at] unido.org)
