AfDB partners with ECOWAS to strengthen early warning systems

The African Development Bank (AfDB) and the ECOWAS Commission conducted a virtual technical launch of the Project on Strengthening ECOWAS Early Warning and Response Capability for Improved Stability and Crisis Prevention on July 16, 2024. The two-year project aims to enhance the technical capacity of the ECOWAS Commission's early warning and response mechanisms to detect, anticipate, and prevent human security crises in West Africa, thereby improving regional stability, investment, and socioeconomic development.

The launch featured a technical team from AfDB led by Marcel Maglo, Principal Institutional Capacity Development Officer of AfDB, and the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) set up by ECOWAS, coordinated by M. Marcel Komi Bossou, Acting Head Systems Management and Planning Division of the Early Warning Directorate.

In her opening remarks, Dr. Onyinye Onwuka, Acting Director of the Early Warning Directorate, emphasized the importance of collaboration in strengthening early warning systems amidst numerous human security issues in the ECOWAS region. She expressed gratitude on behalf of Vice President H.E. Damtien Larbli Tchitchinbidja to AfDB management and staff for their grant award and partnership in promoting regional peace and security.

Marcel Maglo stated that project outcomes include improved capacity for addressing regional crises, building long-term resilience against fragility drivers, producing conflict sensitivity analysis and contextual risk assessments, upgrading technical functionalities of the ECOWARN platform with advanced analytics and data mining capabilities, and enhancing the technical capacity of early warning staff.

During the launch event, AfDB staff delivered presentations on disbursement procedures, financial management and procurement considerations, as well as monitoring and evaluation strategies for the project.

The project is also expected to support integration and collection of gender-disaggregated baseline data within the ECOWAS region to improve gender analysis. This will ensure that recommendations promote resilience and development at national and community levels while considering vulnerable populations including women, men, boys, girls, and people with special needs in both urban areas and hard-to-reach regions.