ARSO Central Secretariat has initiated capacity building programmes contained in the strategic plan. These capacity building programmes include training of participants from Member States to effectively participate in standardization and conformity assessment activities at the national, sub-regional, continental and international levels in line with the ARSO mandate. Consequently, the ARSO Central Secretariat has designed a Standardization Training for Member States aimed at fulfilling this need while at the same time addressing practical matters related to current and emerging issues which are influencing the standardization objectives such as:
1) The WTO TBT and SPS Agreements
2) Mainstreaming SMEs into the Economy Through Standardization
3) Standards as Tools for Value Chain Development in Africa
4) Role of Standards in the African Integration Agenda
5) Boosting Intra-African Trade and International Market Access Through Standards
6) Sustainability Standards as Tools for Sustainable Development in Africa
7) Education on Standardization in the African Education Institutions
ARSO Secretariat held the first part of training (conducted in English) that took place on 6th to 8th May 2013 at the ARSO Central Secretariat, Nairobi. ARSO sponsored 10 participants from 10 fully paid up Member States whose assessment indicated the need for the training.