The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has increased its commitment to fight insecurity, even as it ramps up investment in youth development, ICT, humanitarian intervention, sports and other programmes to boost development in the region.
The spread of resources to maximize the potential of the West African Youth and enhance intervention programmes, was the focus of a media parley organized by the ECOWAS Commission in Abuja on Friday also aimed at expanding youth empowerment programmes and addressing the crisis of internally Displaced Persons.
Commissioner in charge of the Department of Human Development and Social Affairs, Professor Fatou Sow, Sarr explained the details of the all-round investment to help the region increase their opportunities in order to reduce the quest by the youth to migrate to Europe and North America.
According to Sarr, humanitarian actions constitute an important concern because of multiple crises and population displacements, adding that climate change and natural disasters also compound the crisis.
She said “ECOWAS puts significant resources into the humanitarian sector for displaced people, migration, floods and various forms of disaster. In 2023 ECOWAS provided support to half of the 8.5 million victims of flood and bad nutrition or 4 million people for an amount of $12.6 million.
“In 2024, ECOWAS released 9 million dollars for internally displaced people, refugees, asylum seekers, as well as for the communities that welcome them (i.e. all 15 countries)
“ECOWAS also allocated $1 million for stabilization in Nigeria (victims of terrorism, displaced people, injured people, rehabilitation and strengthening community resilience).
“Out of a fund of 25 million dollars intended for the fight against terrorism (Nigeria, Burkina, Mali and Niger), ECOWAS has reserved 4 million dollars for humanitarian actions.”
While ECOWAS emphasizes prevention, Sarr noted that the region is focused on a disaster reduction strategy and tools such as the observation, monitoring and alert center which allows ECOWAS to monitor displaced persons.
The Development and promotion of young people is carried out by the youth center based in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso but ‘youth’ is considered by ECOWAS as a crosscutting issue that affects all the other departments.
“ECOWAS works to promote the spirit of volunteering among young people to give them opportunity for professional development, enhance their civic engagement and foster their conscience for community service,” Sarr said.
It was disclosed that ECOWAS considers sports as an integration factor and through wrestling, marathon and cycling, youth from all member countries are competing to promote the feeling of belonging to one community.
ECOWAS supports sports federations ($100,000 to each of them per year). It also supports the Union of deaf sports associations, university sport development organizations among others.
On Youth economic integration programme, ECOWAS supported the following programs: Entrepreneurship project and youth mentoring; Business incubation project; Training in agrosylvopastoral farming from 2010-2018 at the Shanghai Center for 1,300 young people; Training in refrigeration and air conditioning, auto mechanics in Burkina Faso between 2014 and 2019 for 500 young people and training in building electricity in Mali for 500 young people.
In 2023, ECOWAS initiated cooperation with the People’s Republic of China to support young people. Thus 12 entrepreneurship projects for young people in the sub-region received an Award competitors out of a total of 100 worldwide.
On science education, the programmes of the Directorate of Education, Science and Culture focus largely on young people, with an academic mobility and professional integration programme for young people within ECOWAS institutions, which from 2016 to 2024 enrolled 845 young people.
“The youth integration program in industries and the private sector in ECOWAS countries has benefitted 180 young people between 2021 and 2022,” Sarr added.
Among other interventionist programmes to support the youth, ECOWAS also supports young people through prizes to the most successful startups in scientific innovation ($50,000). With PARI (Research and Innovation Support Programme) from 2018 to 2024, it was possible to train more than 30 young people in Masters and PHD through funds donated to research consortia, for a total of $700,000.
While these interventionist progammes are good, much of the impact may not have been felt as the region still grapples with a high rate of unemployment especially among the youth. Insecurity still ravages parts of the region especially Nigeria, where terrorists are making life miserable for the citizens.
It is hoped that the youth conference coming up in May 2024 in Dakar, Senegal will be used to launch a far-reaching investment programmes after taking stock of the current situation and the ruptures which have led to the general malaise observed in the sub- region.
The situation in the sub-region deserves a much more coordinated approach and more funding to address the myriad of other crises such as food insecurity, economic disruptions and corruption in governance.
