A $2.7-million project funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB) to boost the early warning and crisis response capacity of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has officially entered its implementation phase.
The milestone was marked by a four-day retreat that began on Monday, 10 November 2025, at Zuma Rock in Niger State, Nigeria.
The initiative aims to enhance the ability of ECOWAS to detect, anticipate and prevent human security crises across West Africa, reinforcing peace, stability, investment, and development in the region. It also seeks to make prevention a guiding principle in crisis management, integrate gender and climate change perspectives into early warning mechanisms, and improve resilience against climate shocks and other fragility factors.
Implemented over two years by the ECOWAS Commission’s Early Warning Directorate, the project stems from an agreement signed with the AfDB in May 2024. A dedicated Project Management Unit comprising procurement officers, accountants, communication experts, monitoring and evaluation specialists, consultants, and resource persons, is led by Komi Koko Bossou, ECOWARN System Administrator at the ECOWAS Commission.
The project’s three core components are: assessing country resilience and human security, modernising ECOWAS’ early warning data infrastructure and integrating artificial intelligence tools, and building the analytical capacity of regional experts. Additionally, it will conduct contextual risk and conflict sensitivity analyses across ECOWAS member states, incorporating gender-sensitive indicators to better inform prevention strategies and strengthen AfDB operations.
During the retreat, the Project Management Unit and Directorate staff are updating the overall work plan, refining communication and procurement strategies, and finalising the monitoring and evaluation framework to ensure the project’s success.
At the opening ceremony, Dr Onyinye Onwuka, Director of Early Warning at the ECOWAS Commission, urged participants to work diligently towards the successful execution of the initiative, emphasizing its importance for regional peace and resilience.
