The Secretariat secured funding for the course from the Physikalisch Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB). The Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (APLAC) provided the training of the peer evaluators with Mr Barry Ashcroft and Ms Roxanne Robinson as the two experts identified by APLAC to provide the training. The course took place from 6 – 8 June 2011 in Pretoria, South Africa. The following were the first group of candidates to be trained as peer evaluators for AFRAC:

1. Mr Koffi Kouassi - Société Ivoirienne de Raffinage (SIR) Côte d’Ivoire
2. Mr Amani Romuald - Laboratoire BioConnex Côte d’Ivoire
3. Mr Mahmoud Eltayeb – Egyptian Accreditation Council (EGAC) Egypt
4. Prof. Adel Shehata – Egyptian Accreditation Council (EGAC) Egypt
5. Mr Chankar Bheekhun – Mauritius Accreditation Service (MAURITAS) Mauritius
6. Mr Robin Gopee – Mauritius Accreditation Service (MAURITAS) Mauritius
7. Mr Barrak Moslem – Tunisian Accreditation Council (TUNAC) Tunisia
8. Mrs Sonia Mahdoui – Tunisian Accreditation Council (TUNAC) Tunisia
9. Mrs Maureen Mutasa – Southern African Development Community Accreditation Service (SADCAS) Botswana
10. Mrs Christinah Leballo – South African National Accreditation System (SANAS) South Africa
11. Mr Mpho Phaloane – South African National Accreditation System (SANAS) South Africa
12. Mr Marcel Gbaguidi - Système Ouest Africain d’Accréditation (SOAC) UEMOA Côte d’Ivoire (Observer)

The second part of the training is exposing the trained peer evaluators to pre-peer evaluations. The Secretariat is exploring such opportunities.

AFRAC wishes to extend its gratitude to PTB for funding the course, as well as APLAC for providing trainers to run the course.