Agence de Presse Ouest-Africaine
Agence de Presse Ouest-Africaine
The ECOWAS Directorate of Research and Statistics opened a four-day seminar in Zuma Rock, Niger State, on October 20, 2026, to review its mandate and plan for 2027–2030. The meeting covers program evaluation, institutional capacity, performance review and alignment with the Commission's new strategic priorities.
ECOWAS sent a delegation led by Dr. Babatunde Afolabi to the eighth EU Community of Practice on Peace Mediation in Brussels on 20 and 21 October 2026. The delegation took part in a plenary on advancing peace mediation in an unpredictable world, and ECOWAS said the meeting allowed reflection on challenges including violent extremism, unconstitutional changes of government and interstate disputes.
The ECOWAS Gender Development Centre and Spain's AECID met in Dakar on October 20, 2026, to review their Institutional Support and Obstetric Fistula projects and to discuss new collaboration on the care economy and climate action. The two sides agreed to pursue technical consultations on a second phase of the support project and discussed attending the 10th Global Conference on Obstetric Fistula in Dakar in December.
ECOWAS's Resident Representation in Benin and the ECOWAS National Office conducted a joint field monitoring mission from August 31 to September 5, 2026, visiting 20 sites across seven interventions in 17 municipalities. The mission reported gains in dairy production, youth skills and infrastructure, while flagging challenges around equipment, post-training support and the sustainability of results.
A five-day ECOWAS Commission study visit to Bonn and Brussels examined EU civil protection coordination, early warning systems and space-based disaster response. The delegation included representatives from Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Togo, and the lessons will feed into the ECOWAS Emergency Operations Centre and a DG ECHO-funded regional preparedness project.
ECOWAS has drawn up a provisional list of national certification bodies eligible to issue its regional ECOQMARK quality label after reviewing accreditation applications in Abidjan. The committee also approved a regional programme to certify the competencies of designers, installers and inspectors of off-grid solar photovoltaic systems.
The ECOWAS Business Council has unveiled "Power W.A.," a private-sector-led initiative to prioritise regional energy sufficiency for industrial growth, finalised at a meeting in Lagos between Commissioner Dehpue Yenpea Zuo and Prof. Hassan Mahmud, focal person for chairman Aliko Dangote. The plan will establish industrial power corridors backed by a regional electricity demand-and-supply gap study and engage lenders including Afreximbank, the AFC and the IFC, with an inaugural council meeting set for late October to early November 2026.
ECOWAS has asked German and Swiss cooperation partners to back a new regional project on climate-induced human mobility, raising the request at a bilateral meeting held alongside African Union sessions in Addis Ababa. The wider programme of meetings, held from 12 to 15 October 2026, included a workshop on loss and damage finance and a validation meeting that adopted the English version of a draft AU continental strategy on migration and climate change.
ECOWAS Commissioner for Economic Affairs and Agriculture Dehpue Yenpea Zuo met Togo's environment minister on October 9, 2026, to discuss cooperation on environmental protection, natural resource management and sustainable development. The talks cited Togo's coastal groynes and forest conservation targets as areas for regional collaboration.
The ECOWAS Disinformation Working Group held its second meeting in Accra on 15 and 16 October 2026, bringing together ECOWAS institutions and international partners to review progress and plan a coordinated response to information integrity challenges. Officials discussed the ECOWAS Information Integrity Roadmap 2026–2030, institutional coordination and capacity gaps.