The ECA and the ECOWAS join forces to strengthen the Commission's leadership and management capacities for development

Abstract

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), through its Sub-Regional Office for West Africa, and the Commission of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) are paving the way for close collaboration to strengthen the ECOWAS Commission's leadership and management capacities for development. This Memorandum aimed to define a general framework for cooperation in order to allow the ECOWAS and the ECA to engage in mutually beneficial activities, such as information sharing, consultations and knowledge sharing. Priority areas for intervention, such as strengthening the institutional capacities of the ECOWAS Commission, monitoring economic and monetary integration in West Africa, supporting the ECOWAS Commission to establish consensus and develop advocacy on policies for regional integration, are targeted in particular. The aim of this key document was to transform the ECOWAS by 2020 from an "ECOWAS of States” to an “ECOWAS of Peoples” in which the people would be involved in the regional integration process so as to take its ownership, be at the center of the concerns of regional policies and be the ultimate beneficiaries.