Strengthening Accreditation Cooperation: KENAS's Fruitful Engagement with CNAS
In September 2024, a delegation from the Kenya Accreditation Service (KENAS) led by the CEO, KENAS Dr. Walter Ongeti alongside officers from the Inspection and Medical Laboratories Department respectively, Ms. Beryl Mukhwana and Mr. Robert Njuguna, participated in an accreditation workshop in Beijing, China, organized under the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). This visit marked a significant milestone in KENAS's journey towards enhancing accreditation cooperation between Kenya and China. Through discussions and site visits to various accredited facilities, KENAS aimed to explore opportunities that would bolster its capacity to remove technical trade barriers and foster mutual growth in accreditation standards.
KENAS pursued several key objectives including signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which established a formal partnership with CNAS to pave the way for collaborative efforts, negotiating Technical Cooperation by discussing areas of mutual interest in technical cooperation with CNAS, exploring how accreditation can ease trade barriers and foster a smoother business environment between Kenya and China and visiting some CNAS-accredited facilities to identify challenges faced by Kenyan products in the Chinese market.
Visit to China Quality Certification Centre (CQC)
The CQC, a leading certification body in China, provides product certification and management system certification services. During the visit, CQC expressed its commitment to train KENAS personnel on new areas of certification so as to empower local bodies to expand their certification scopes and enhance product quality. This will enable KENAS to introduce new certification schemes tailored to local and international market needs, facilitating smoother access for Kenyan products into global markets.
Visit to Beijing Continental Hengtong Certification Co., Ltd (CHTC)
CHTC, accredited for organic product certification, showcased its operations and highlighted opportunities for collaboration. CHTC expressed its willingness to collaborate with KENAS on several fronts including conducting training for Kenyan inspectors on organic product certification, educating local farmers on organic farming practices and assisting local certification bodies in building capacity for organic certification
Workshop on Medical Laboratory Accreditation
KENAS gained valuable insights from CNAS's successful medical laboratory accreditation program, which has accredited nearly 1,000 medical laboratories. This visit emphasized the importance of specialized standards and periodic assessments. KENAS aims to borrow best practices from CNAS, including utilizing CNAS's accreditation documents and proposing capacity-building initiatives for personnel training.
Visit to China-Road Transportation Verification Inspection (CRTVI)
The CRTVI, accredited by CNAS, provided insights into innovative inspection techniques for road quality. This will benefit KENAS through exchange programs to train assessors in advanced inspection techniques, enhancing KENAS's technical capacity and assistance in procuring road inspection equipment to improve infrastructure assessment processes, facilitating better planning and maintenance of transport systems in Kenya.
Collaboration Outcomes
The workshop resulted in numerous agreements aimed at enhancing the operational capabilities of KENAS and its counterparts including the immediate implementation of the MoU with CNAS to kick-start joint initiatives and cooperation in various fields, cooperation on developing a robust accreditation information management system to streamline processes and improve efficiency in KENAS’s operations, sharing of expertise in proficiency testing and inter-laboratory comparisons. As KENAS moves forward, the focus will be on launching biobank and forensic schemes, developing necessary documentation, and engaging potential clients. Additional training for assessors and the exploration of new areas for cooperation with CNAS are also high on the agenda.
Conclusion
KENAS's visit to China represents a transformative step towards enhancing accreditation standards in Kenya. By leveraging the knowledge, practices, and innovations gleaned from our Chinese counterparts, KENAS is poised to remove technical barriers to trade, bolster the quality of Kenyan products, and facilitate smoother access to international markets. This collaboration not only enhances Kenya’s accreditation framework but also paves the way for increased trade, investment opportunities, and economic growth, benefiting all stakeholders in the Kenyan economy and beyond.
