The ECOWAS Commission has opened an Olympic Village in Dakar for the 2026 Youth Olympic Games, operating under the slogan “Play Without Borders.”
The space is run mainly by young members of ECOWAS Clubs and by young volunteers mobilised in Dakar through the ECOWAS Youth and Sports Centre.
According to a report from the Economic Community of West African States, the village is designed to bring the regional institution closer to West African youth and offers visitors and young participants a setting in which to discover ECOWAS’s missions, programmes and achievements.
Young facilitators at the site introduce the institution through games, discussions, quizzes, interactive activities and conversations with visitors.
They highlight initiatives supporting youth, employment, entrepreneurship, education, transport, volunteering and human development, and inform visitors about opportunities available to young people in the Community’s Member States.
The ECOWAS stand in Dakar serves as a platform for meeting, dialogue and mobilisation.
The Commission states that young people are a vital force for regional integration, social cohesion and sustainable development in West Africa, and describes the village as a space enabling young people to embrace the Community’s ideals and become ambassadors for West African integration.
ECOWAS’s presence at the Games is part of its ongoing commitment to young people and to the success of the first edition of the Youth Olympic Games to be held on the African continent.
The commitment is reflected in a partnership with the Senegalese National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSS), capacity-building for young people and the deployment of young volunteers from ECOWAS member states at the Games’ venues.
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