A three-day training of 74 field monitors from 12 ECOWAS member states, which explored how technology, especially artificial intelligence, could be used to enhance data collection and analysis, concluded in Lomé on Friday.
The training, organised by the ECOWAS Early Warning Directorate and held in the Togolese capital from 25 to 27 February 2026, was meant to improve the role of field monitors in providing timely and accurate information for regional decision-making.
It strengthened participants’ technical skills in data collection, verification, and reporting; implementation of platform updates, including gender-sensitive indicators; and addressing challenges in data quality and reporting consistency.
“The ECOWAS early warning system provides us with a great deal in terms of information gathering, but there are still challenges,” Onyinge Nkechi Onwuka, the acting Director of the ECOWAS Early Warning Directorate, said on Tuesday.
“During this training session, we want to explore how technology, particularly artificial intelligence, can contribute to improving data collection and analysis, given the limitations of human capacity including shortcomings in geographic coverage in some areas of the sub-region,” Onwuka said.
The annual field monitors’ training is aimed at enhancing the sustainability, reliability, and management of the ECOWAS Early Warning System in accordance with the 1999 protocol relating to the mechanism for conflict prevention, management, resolution, peace-keeping and security.
It also provided a platform for the review of the successes and challenges of the ECOWAS Warning and Response Network (ECOWARN), proffer solutions and strengthened the operational capacities of the field monitors.
