Technical capacities were strengthened to establish and manage functional biosafety systems for the safe use of modern agricultural biotechnology. Other technical support included national biosafety training workshops, biosafety short courses at African institutions and partner institutions outside Africa, notably at Michigan State University in the USA, biosafety internships, technical consultation support, and biosafety information resources.
Biosafety short courses form an integral component of ABNE activities in Africa. In 2014, ABNE presented a biosafety short course at Makerere University in Uganda and agricultural biotechnology short courses at Michigan State University in the USA. A total of 24 regulators drawn from Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe gained broad insights into the basics of biosafety science, policy and regulation, GM crop risk assessment and management, and biosafety communication and awareness creation.
Through high-level policy dialogue, ABNE has also supported Tanzania to fast track the process of establishing functional biosafety mechanisms.
