ECOWAS holds Monitoring and Evaluation Workshop to strengthen its Interventions in Preventing Conflicts and Consolidating Peace in the Region.

Abuja, April 26, 2023. The ECOWAS Commission is holding a Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) capacity building Workshop to enhance the quality of internal results assessments, learning, as well as the reporting processes of its programme implementation.

The Three-Day Workshop which began on the 26^th of April, 2023 in Abuja, Nigeria is also meant to provide support to the Directorates of Political Affairs (DPA), and Strategic Planning and other relevant Directorates on how to improve the quality of their strategic and annual work plans while ensuring that the mainstreaming of gender and youth issues are correctly captured.

Welcoming participants at the start of the Workshop on behalf of DPA, the Head, Mediation and Coordination of Regional Political Affairs Division (MCRPA) Dr. Onyinye Onwuka stressed the importance of the Workshop at a time when the ECOWAS Commission needs to devise urgent and creative ways of facilitating real transformation in Member States through impactful M&E skills.

Supported by the ECOWAS Programme Officer, Conflict Prevention Mr. Constant Gnacadja, she enthused that the workshop will provide support to ECOWAS Directorates beyond enhancing the quality of internal results assessments and reporting to partners, on the implementation of projects/programmes in accordance with ECOWAS Vision 2050, the Community Strategic Framework and the annual approved work plans.

She thanked the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) as well as Tana Copenhagen M&E team for their various roles in advancing the realization of the ECOWAS Community goal of ensuring a more stable, prosperous and peaceful West Africa.

Led by Mr. Stefan Jansen, the facilitators of the workshop including Maud Eskes and Alessandra Cancedda, made presentations on needs assessment, context analysis and Theory of Change. There were also groups works enriched by practical examples including plenary sessions which were held with contributions from participants who shared their past experiences. These are to be followed by further review of the present reporting format, stake-holder analysis, action planning, and the idea of being comfortable with digital data collection tools as well as data protection techniques and practicable M&E best practices recommendations.

The Workshop provides an opportunity to exchange ideas while enhancing cross-departmental collaboration and synergy among ECOWAS Conflict Prevention Framework (ECPF) and M&E Focal Points, with an eye on empowering Member States to scale up conflict prevention interventions in the region. It is part of Denmark’s support to ECOWAS through the Africa Programme for Peace phase IV (APP IV).