Technical Cooperation Committee (TC), 72nd session, 17-20 October 2022

Boosting regional presence with new office in the MENA region

IMO has agreed to boost its regional presence, with the establishment of a regional presence office in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, to be hosted in Alexandria, Egypt.

The IMO Technical Cooperation Committee (TCC), at  its 72nd session (17-20 October) agreed to the establishment to enhance IMO's coordination of technical assistance for the MENA region.

The new office will complement existing regional presence offices: five Regional Coordinators based in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire for west and central Africa (Francophone); Accra, Ghana for west and central Africa (Anglophone); Nairobi, Kenya for eastern and southern Africa; Manila, the Philippines for East Asia; and Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago for the Caribbean. IMO has also been funding one Technical Cooperation Officer within the Pacific Community (SPC), based in Suva, Fiji, and a new regional presence office for the Pacific Islands will be operational in Fiji next year. 

The Committee agreed that the new regional presence office for the MENA region would need to take into full consideration the marine environmental protection mandates of existing regional entities in the Mediterranean (REMPEC), Red Sea (PERSGA) and ROPME (MEMAC) Sea areas.

The Committee noted support from delegations for considering the establishment of a regional presence office in the Latin America region and invited submissions to the next session of the Committee.

Women in maritime - the work continues

The Committee was updated on the latest activities delivered through IMO's Women in Maritime programme, as part of IMO's efforts to enhance the participation of women in maritime and the sector's efforts towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 5.

In 2021, IMO and the Women's International Shipping & Trading Association (WISTA International) conducted the Women in Maritime survey, with the objective of examining and analysing statistics on the proportion and distribution of women working in the maritime sector across the globe, ranging from support roles to executive level positions.  The survey results were published in 2022. The data demonstrates that women account for only 29% of the overall workforce in the general industry and 20% of the workforce of national maritime authorities in Member States. 

The second IMO/WISTA Women in Maritime Survey will be conducted in 2024. Member States were urged to increase their participation in the exercise to facilitate the generation of enhanced data for broader analysis. Benchmarking the current state of the sector is vital to measure results. Therefore, updated gender statistics on the international shipping sector, underlying the role of women and their employment and integration in the maritime industry are necessary to analyse the coordinated effects of policies and resolutions of the United Nations and IMO, for capacity-building and for promoting the integration of women into the international maritime industry.

International Day for Women in Maritime

In 2022, IMO celebrated the first International Day for Women in Maritime, which was marked with an international symposium with the theme: "Training, Visibility and Recognition". The celebration of the second International Day for Women in Maritime will be held in-person on Thursday 18 May 2023, at IMO Headquarters.

Supporting capacity-building for women in maritime

During 2021 and 2022, IMO has supported a number of training courses and workshops for women in maritime.  This includes places for women at the IMO International Law Institute including on various short courses; through partnerships with Institut Portuaire d'Enseignement et de Recherche (IPER) and the Grand Port Maritime du Havre based in France; and the Galilee International Management Institute (GIMI), Israel.

IMO continued to support the Women in Maritime Associations to deliver and participate in workshops.  

In late 2022, the second cohort of future female maritime leaders began their studies on the Leadership Accelerator Programme (LEAP) run by Maritime SheEO, under a sponsorship programme run by IMO and WISTA International. The course is designed to equip women with leadership skills and the confidence to progress in their careers. The first batch graduated in July 2022. 

Global maritime indicator on the percentage of women seafarers on board ships

The Committee agreed to set up a global maritime indicator to reflect the increase or decrease percentage of female seafarers on board ships compared to their male counterparts.

IMO Gender Equality Award

More than 20 countries submitted a joint proposal for the institutionalization of an IMO Gender Award for those who contribute to the enhancement of women in the maritime sector.

Many delegations stated the importance of raising awareness on the issue of gender equality, as women in the sector still face challenges and discrimination and expressed their support and intention to co-sponsor the proposal to the IMO Council . The IMO Gender Equality Award would provide a good opportunity to underscore the work of people, regardless of their gender, or institutions fighting for gender parity and the empowerment of women in the maritime sector.

The Committee encouraged Member States, international organizations, IGOs, NGOs, women regional associations and regional organizations to continue promoting and addressing issues and challenges facing women in the maritime industry by hosting relevant events such as workshops, seminars and symposia as well as implementing programmes on strengthening the role of women with the aim of achieving gender equality at all levels in the maritime sector which will ultimately contribute towards the realization of the goals of the UN 2030 Agenda by promoting SDG 5 and supporting initiatives to advance related SDGs. The Committee also agreed to develop maritime programmes and networks on women's mentorship for female personnel; and to continue facilitating and encouraging more access to high-level management and technical training for women in the maritime sector. 

The Committee drew the Council's attention when developing the new Strategic Plan for the Organization for the six-year period 2024 to 2029, to continue including the strategic direction on the human element (SD 6: Address the human element), to consider the needs and well-being of seafarers and, in doing so, always attach the utmost importance to education and training, as well as to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women.

IMSAS – supporting Member States

The Committee noted that the global technical cooperation programme on the IMO Member State Audit Scheme (IMSAS) continued to assist Member States, supporting their preparation for the audit, the identification of obstacles to completing the audit and the effective implementation of actions to address the findings of the audit and any related capacity-building. 

Since the establishment of this global programme in 2006, and up to June 2022, a total of 1,492 individuals from 162 Member States and Associate Members had been trained through 73 ITCP activities. Between June 2021 and the end of 2021, no training courses and/or workshops were conducted due to the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on the global programme schedule. However, the Committee was informed that as an alternative to traditional training courses and building on the lessons identified during the pandemic, the Secretariat would continue working with WMU within the framework of the IMO-WMU e-learning pilot project, to develop an e-learning training course for IMSAS auditors. This is being funded by a financial contribution from the Netherlands and the TC Fund, and is expected to be finalized in 2022.

The delegation of Malaysia extended an invitation to interested participants from the Asia and Pacific region to participate in an IMSAS Audit training in the first quarter of 2023. The delegation of the Netherlands pledged a donation of €20,000 in support of the IMSAS global programme. 

The Committee endorsed the provisions which lack effectiveness in implementation, stemming from the analysis of the four consolidated audit summary reports (CASRs) under the IMO Member State Audit Scheme (IMSAS). The analysis revealed that audit findings and observations were predominantly related to flag State and common areas issues. For flag States, common findings and observations were found in implementation, enforcement, flag State surveyors and flag State investigations; while in the common areas, most of the findings and observations related to initial actions (legislation), communication of information and strategy issues.

The most frequent root causes contributing to lack of effective implementation were related to the lack of national provisions; lack of policies; lack of awareness, understanding or interpretation of the requirements; lack of established written procedures; lack of management system; insufficient human and financial resources; lack of technical capability (trained personnel, hardware/equipment); and insufficient capacity to promulgate national legislation and keep it updated.

This is in the context of provision of appropriate specific technical assistance. The Secretariat was requested to identify how such assistance can be provided to improve implementation and to report to the next session of the Committee.

Development of SMART indicators to support the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

The Committee finalized SMART indicators for data collection for technical cooperation, in support of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The table sets IMO technical cooperation targets by 2030; SMART indicators (Baseline 2019); and planned achievable IMO technical cooperation milestones by 2024.

They cover a wide range of topics, including women in maritime and gender equality (SDG 5) and technical cooperation programmes in relation to SDGs 9 (innovation); 13 (climate action); 14 (oceans); 16 (justice – including fighting corruption).

The Committee agreed to review the work again in 2027 considering 2023 data as the baseline; and reconvene the Working Group on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as necessary, at its seventy-fourth session in order to consider the 2023 baselines and any other relevant aspects with a view to the 2027 review.

E-learning

The Committee noted the development of a number of e-learning courses, significant progress in collaboration with the World Maritime University. The most recent course, on biofouling management, was launched on the sidelines of the Committee session.

ITCP Annual Report for 2021 endorsed

The Committee endorsed the Integrated Technical Cooperation Programme (ITCP) Annual Report for 2021.

ITCP implementation during 2021 continued to be affected by restrictions associated with the COVID-19 global pandemic. Nonetheless, IMO persisted with remote delivery methods to continue its technical assistance mandate and made a concerted effort on the development of the e-learning courses to ensure wide outreach, achieving a 50% delivery of the planned ITCP activities for 2021. This comprised of 102 activities, including inter alia, eight advisory and needs assessment missions and 44 training courses, seminars and workshops held at national, regional and global levels. The training events covered a wide range of topics resulting in the training of approximately 1,592 participants world-wide in 2021. In addition, 216 fellows completed fellowships at the World Maritime University (WMU), the IMO International Maritime Law Institute (IMLI) and other maritime training institutions. Further, 358 officials attended events aimed at developing and harmonizing regional strategies on maritime technical issues.

The Committee noted that the participation of women in senior official activities and fellowships was 63% and 54%, respectively, which represents a positive outcome for women in maritime agenda. However, the Committee was informed there is still further opportunity for Member States to increase the nomination of women participants for general training activities, which was recorded as 24% during 2021.

The Committee was also informed that the total expenditure on technical cooperation activities in 2021 reached $10.5 million, representing a financial delivery rate of 48%. Expenditure on ITCP activities and major projects came from 22 sources of funding, with the TC Fund being the most significant at $4 million, representing 38% of the overall total funds expended.

Resource mobilization and partnerships

The Committee noted the Secretariat's progress made in mobilizing resources and partnerships for thematic long-term technical cooperation projects and in implementing projects since TC 71. The Committee expressed its gratitude to all donors for their cash contributions to the bi- and multi-lateral technical cooperation trust funds and to Member States and partners for their in-kind support that facilitated the implementation of TC activities.

The Capacity-building decade 2021-2030 Strategy

The Committee noted key developments against each of the four work streams in the Capacity-Building Decade 2021-2030 Strategy, during the period January to June 2022, since the Assembly adopted resolution A.1166(32) in December 2021.

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