WADA announces positive outcomes from tripartite agreement with South African and Egyptian Anti-Doping Organizations

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is pleased to announce that a four-year tripartite partnership agreement between itself, the South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport (SAIDS), and the Egyptian National Anti-Doping Organization (EGY-NADO), first signed in 2018, has come to an end after achieving several positive outcomes.  

Through the agreement, SAIDS managed to provide support, guidance and expertise to EGY-NADO in developing the anti-doping capacity and capability of its staff, as well as streamlining its internal operations and processes to be in-line with the World Anti-Doping Code (Code).

This type of cooperation between National Anti-Doping Organizations (NADOs) is aligned with the Grow Impact priority of WADA’s 2020-2024 Strategic Plan, which includes a key initiative to ensure that developing NADOs are able to access the resources and expertise of other more experienced NADOs.

WADA’s Africa Office Director, Rodney Swigelaar, said: “Cooperation between National Anti-Doping Organizations (NADOs) is one of the key priorities to ensure the development of anti-doping programs in Africa. As one of the first NADOs established in the region, the South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport (SAIDS) has played a leading role in supporting both developing NADOs and Regional Anti-Doping Organizations. The commitment of SAIDS and the Egyptian National Anti-Doping Organization throughout this collaboration was evident despite all challenges and difficulties, and it has resulted in a stronger anti-doping program in Egypt.”

EGY-NADO CEO, Hanem Amir, said: “I believe that this partnership was a great success in all aspects for the Egyptian National Anti-Doping Organization. This includes governance, results management, education, testing and overall planning. We are now looking forward to collaborating with other NADOs to share our success and help them in the development of their programs.”

SAIDS Chief Executive Officer, Khalid Galant, said: “The partnership improved our organizational capacity, as staff members had to present on the operational implementation of the various International Standards. A milestone of the partnership was how the Egyptian National Anti-Doping Organization staff collaborated to complete their Code Compliance Questionnaire in one day.”

While the agreement focussed on the development and strengthening of the programs and capacities of the Egyptian national anti-doping program, the following program areas were specifically targeted through a detailed project plan:

• Operational independence and governance, including the role of the Board and the Executive body;
• Strategic and operational planning;
• Doping control programs, including urine and blood testing;
• Training, accreditation and re-accreditation of sample collection personnel;
• Education and awareness for athletes and athlete support personnel;
• Results management; and
• General office operations and management.

As with such partnerships, it was not only the mentee, EGY–NADO, who benefitted from the collaboration; the mentor, SAIDS, also acknowledged that the mutual engagements had a very positive impact on the enhancement of their own programs and their staff development.

To encourage similar collaborations, WADA organized an African Partnership Forum in October 2021. The Forum, which was held virtually, gathered representatives from several Anti-Doping Organizations (ADOs), both from Africa and beyond, to discuss the benefits of ADO cooperation, how to utilize it to enhance capacities and strengthen the global anti-doping program, and how to adapt it to the African region’s needs and specificities.

WADA Director, NADO/RADO Relations, Tom May said: “We are grateful to all the NADOs who are committed to helping each other. As we continue to raise the bar globally and increase the quality of anti-doping programs, it is critical that NADOs share and learn from each other. WADA will continue to support NADO-NADO partnerships as collaboration is a key objective of our NADO and RADO Program Strategies.”

For more information on collaboration, please refer to WADA’s revised Guide for International Cooperation Projects for ADOs, which includes templates for an ADO Partnership Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and a Project Plan. Should you wish to discuss, please contact nado-radorelations@wada-ama.org.