Early Warning Directorate with the Support of AFDB Embark in a New Project to Strengthen ECOWAS Commission Early Warning and Response Mechanisms
22 Jul, 2024The African Development Bank (AfDB) and the ECOWAS Commission held a virtual Technical Launch of the Project on Strengthening ECOWAS Early Warning and Response Capability for Improved Stability and Crisis Prevention, on Tuesday, July 16, 2024. The overall objective of the two-year project is to enhance the technical capacity of the ECOWAS Commission early warning and response mechanisms to be able to detect, anticipate, and prevent human security crises in West Africa for improved regional stability, investment, and socioeconomic development.
The Launch brought together a technical team from AfDB lead by Marcel MAGLO, the Principal Institutional Capacity Development Officer of the AfDB, and the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) setup by ECOWAS and coordinated by M. Marcel Komi BOSSOU, Ag. Head Systems Management and planning Division, Early Warning Directorate.
In her opening remarks, Dr. Onyinye ONWUKA, the Acting Director of the Early Warning Directorate, highlighted the relevance of the collaboration and project in strengthening early warning in the wake of the plethora of human security issues in the ECOWAS region and their attendant impacts on the population and the development of member states. She expressed, on behalf of the Vice President, H.E. Damtien Larbli TCHITCHINBIDJA, her appreciation to the management and staff of the AfDB for the grant award and the partnership in promoting regional peace and security.
Marcel MAGLO noted that the outcomes of the project are to: improve capacity for addressing regional crises and building long-term resilience against fragility drivers; produce conflict sensitivity analysis and contextual risk assessments; upgrade the technical functionalities of the ECOWARN platform, advanced analytics, and data mining; and build the technical capacity of early warning staff.
As part of the technical launch, presentations were made by staff of the AfDB on disbursement, financial management and procurement considerations, and monitoring and evaluation of the project.
It is expected that the project will further support the integration and collection of gender disaggregated baseline data in the ECOWAS region to enhance gender analysis and recommendations that promote resilience and development at the National and community level and in hard-to-reach areas. This approach will ensure that the needs of vulnerable populations, including women, men, boys, girls, and people with special needs, are taken into consideration in the design of ECOWAS and the Bank’s sponsored operations.
