Participation and engagement

(89 member countries and 78 affiliates)

Over the year, we continued our efforts to strengthen the capacity of our members to participate in and benefit from international standardization, particularly in relation to our digital transformation. This meant supporting members with the use of online tools for standards development and building confidence in digital collaboration. We also put a strong focus on exploring how digital standards can be best leveraged by our members to deliver new, value-added services to their stakeholders and end users.

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The mentoring partnership between Cabo Verde and Brazil focused on three dedicated areas: raising awareness of and building engagement in standardization and conformity assessment across Cabo Verde; facilitating the use of IEC Standards by Cabo Verde regulators as a basis of their national regulations; and strengthening their technical capacity to adopt IEC CA Systems to ensure the quality of imported products.

Thanks to the programme, Cabo Verde was able to identify the most relevant IEC Standards for national adoption, learn about the role of standards in regulation and market surveillance, and gain firsthand experience of product testing, certification and product labelling schemes.

Supporting developing countries

The IEC Affiliate Country Programme is aimed at helping newly industrialized and developing countries join and participate in the international standardization and conformity assessment community.

Countries participating in the IEC Affiliate Country Programme join a global community of experts and gain access to an online learning platform, webinars, training, capacity building events, the IEC Affiliate Mentoring Programme and the opportunity to participate in the annual IEC General Meeting and Affiliate forum. Affiliate countries also benefit from a quota of IEC publications free of charge and can adopt IEC Standards in their national context.

More than 40 affiliate delegates attended the 2025 General Meeting, participating in dedicated sessions such as the Affiliate forum and the Affiliate roundtable. These sessions gave participants the opportunity to learn about topics such as how our work contributes to sustainability, conformity assessment and online standards development.

In addition, a total of 10 countries participated in the IEC Affiliate Mentoring Programme in 2025, involving five partnerships whereby four were concluded and one was started over the course of the year. The partnerships that were concluded in 2025 were Burkino Faso and France; Cabo Verde and Brazil; Saudi Arabia and China; and United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom; while the partnership between Timor Leste and Australia was initiated. The programme is designed to build the standardization capacity of affiliates, enabling them to focus on areas specific to them.

Electrotechnology Week

IEC Africa Quality Infrastructure

Recognizing the power of international standards in helping to build thriving economies, the IEC held its first Africa Quality Infrastructure in Electrotechnology Week in 2025, bringing together influential government and industry leaders from the region and around the world.

The event, held in Nairobi, featured high level discussions, workshops and networking aimed at advancing Africa’s position in the global electrotechnical landscape, supporting international trade, improving the quality of goods and services and contributing to its transition to clean energy.

It also marked the 10-year anniversary of the IEC Africa Regional Centre (IEC-AFRC) in Nairobi, which has been instrumental to Africa’s adoption of international standards, improved quality infrastructure and access to international markets. The office has also played a pivotal role in strengthening Africa’s participation in international standardization and conformity assessment as well as the harmonization of standards across the region

YP PROGRAMME

Unlocking the potential of
young standardizers

Since its launch in 2010, the IEC Young Professionals (YPs) Programme has offered a platform for the next generation of experts to further their careers while bringing new perspectives to the IEC community. The IEC General Meeting provides an opportunity for YPs not only to meet and engage with industry leaders, standardization experts and IEC officers, but also to help shape the future of the IEC.