The Vice-President of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS Commission), Ms. Damtien Larbli Tchintchibidja, has emphasized the importance of the Joint Analysis and Response Planning Working Group (JARP-WG) tools in strengthening peace and security within West Africa. Speaking on the final day of the inaugural workshop held in Abuja, Nigeria, on October 25, 2024, she highlighted her expectations for these tools.
According to Ms. Tchintchibidja, these tools are essential for enhancing response effectiveness to human insecurity, bolstering regional collaboration, optimizing decision-making processes, and ensuring sustainable response initiatives. She stated, "These are tools for solidarity and communication that will enable decisions to be taken at national and regional level, in order to tackle the problem of human insecurity in ECOWAS member states."
Ms. Tchintchibidja called on workshop participants to actively contribute to operationalizing and implementing the Working Group's strategies at various levels to ensure their sustainability. She added, “Your support is needed in the implementation of the Working Group and the use of its tools. This Group should serve as a platform to foster cooperation between the Commission, ECOWAS Member States and international partners.”
Additionally, Ms. Tchintchibidja underscored the crucial role played by National Coordination Centres of the Early Warning and Response Mechanism in maintaining security and stability across West Africa. She remarked, “Early warning must enable us to find rapid and appropriate responses to the problems of human insecurity in the Community area.”
The workshop gathered a diverse group of participants including directors from national coordination centres for early warning systems, representatives from various directorates within ECOWAS institutions, as well as members from the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP). The JARP-WG was established in May 2022 and officially launched by Ms. Tchintchibidja in July 2022 with goals centered around enhancing synergies and boosting regional capabilities against human security challenges.
During discussions with Ms. Tchintchibidja, directors shared obstacles affecting their operations such as cumbersome administrative procedures and resource shortages at both national and regional levels.
The JARP Working Group addresses five key areas under ECOWAS’s Early Warning System: security, crime, health, environment, and governance. The region faces complex challenges like violent extremism, conflict, terrorism, transnational crime, climate change impacts, epidemics, poverty issues alongside inequality concerns.
Dr. Onyinye Onwuka—acting Director of Early Warning at ECOWAS Commission—highlighted during his opening remarks that addressing these urgent human security challenges necessitates establishing entities like JARP-WG.
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