Cultural experts from ECOWAS member states met in Lomé from 21 to 23 October 2026 and validated a regional cultural calendar covering 624 events. The technical sessions also addressed a harmonised cultural database and reviewed funding criteria for major festivals and cultural projects, with participants recommending annual calendar updates and a biennial regional cultural magazine.
A joint ECOWAS and GIZ mission assessed capacity-building needs at the Bafatá and Gabú regional hospitals in Guinea-Bissau from 13 to 23 October 2026. It found shared problems including insufficient funding, staff shortages, weak information systems and gaps in hygiene, waste management and safe water access, and set out six proposed areas of intervention pending further assessment and costing.
Four translation students from Université Gaston Berger de Saint-Louis in Senegal are interning at the ECOWAS Commission's Translation Section under the PAMCIT programme, which the Commission currently chairs. They are among six students awarded study scholarships by the Commission, and they paid a courtesy visit to Director of Conference and Protocol Olukemi Robinson-Atabuh.
ECOWAS held a technical stakeholder workshop in Abidjan where participants validated the concept note, terms of reference and governance arrangements for a proposed Regional Transport Observatory for West Africa. The meeting, supported by TradeMark Africa under the EU Global Gateway Support Programme, brought together ECOWAS directorates, regional institutions, corridor observatories and partners including the African Development Bank, the World Bank and the EU. The next phase is set to focus on resource mobilisation, technical deployment and capacity building.
ECOWAS says 12 drug treatment and rehabilitation centres in 10 member states have been renovated and equipped, and more than 300 professionals trained, as of September 2026. The figures were presented at a two-day conference in Abuja on substance use research and data systems, held with CRISA on 21 and 22 October.
