IMO Member States in Africa are being supported to be ready for audits under the mandatory IMO Member State Audit Scheme (IMSAS). A training course in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (18-22 September) was aimed at officials from maritime administrations who are, or will be, involved in preparing their respective countries for audit, and who may be nominated as auditors under IMSAS.
The course was organized jointly by IMO and Ethiopia, as hosting country, as part of a series of training activities to support IMSAS. Through a "blended learning" approach involving in-person classroom training and individual online study, participants learned about the latest guidance for Audit Officers, for example how to write a statement regarding an observation during an audit. Participants used newly revised e-lessons, e-exercises, and e-quizzes, part of IMO's new e-learning tool which is accessed through the online Learning Management System (LMS).
The course was attended by 23 officials from: Angola, Ethiopia, the Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Somalia, South Africa, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, and Zimbabwe.
All IMO Member States are required under IMSAS to undergo a mandatory audit within the seven-year audit cycle. Since the inauguration of the mandatory phase of the IMSAS Scheme in January 2016, 109 mandatory audits have been successfully conducted.
