The West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) convened a joint working session from 14-15 May 2026 aimed at documenting over two decades of strategic partnership between the two institutions.<\/p>\n
The session brought together WANEP Management and staff, including the Coordinator of the WANEP Liaison Office to ECOWAS, representatives of the ECOWAS Early Warning Directorate, and a consultant supporting the process.<\/p>\n
The partnership between WANEP and ECOWAS represents more than a strategic alliance; it stands as a leading continental example of collaboration between Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and Intergovernmental Organisations (IGOs). Formalised through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 2003, which has since become permanent, the partnership has contributed significantly to advancing regional conflict prevention, peace and security efforts across West Africa.<\/p>\n
The two-day workshop provided the opportunity for the two institutions to review the methodological framework and publication outline for documenting the evolution, challenges and achievements of the WANEP-ECOWAS partnership. The publication is expected to reflect the convergence of two distinct institutional cultures \u2014 combining WANEP\u2019s community-rooted civil society approach with ECOWAS\u2019 structured intergovernmental and diplomatic frameworks. More significantly, it seeks to produce a coherent narrative that preserves the institutional memory of the partnership while offering practical lessons for regional and global actors engaged in collaborative peacebuilding.<\/p>\n
Speaking during the opening session, Mrs Levinia Addae-Mensah, WANEP\u2019s Executive Director, underscored the importance of recognising the individuals who helped shape the partnership over the years. \u201cWe cannot speak about an institution without speaking about the people,\u201d she stated, while expressing appreciation to ECOWAS leadership, former Commissioners, former Executive Directors of WANEP, former and current WANEP Liaison Officers to ECOWAS, the ECOWAS Early Warning Directorate, and Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas for his role in facilitating the establishment of the WANEP-ECOWAS MoU.<\/p>\n
Reflecting on the significance of the initiative, Mrs Addae-Mensah noted that although the partnership had experienced challenges, it had also recorded remarkable successes. She further highlighted that the timing of the publication was particularly important as WANEP prepares to implement a new strategic plan amid evolving regional and global dynamics that require renewed reflection and assessment.<\/p>\n
Also speaking at the session, Dr Onyinye Onwuka, Director of the ECOWAS Early Warning Directorate, described the WANEP-ECOWAS relationship as one that has redefined engagement between civil society and intergovernmental institutions in the region. She emphasised that the story must be documented in a structured manner to preserve it for future generations, noting that the partnership had expanded beyond West Africa and influenced broader continental engagement, including at the African Union level.<\/p>\n
The publication is expected to be completed later in the year, incorporating the key outcomes and recommendations from the working session.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) convened a joint working session from 14-15 May 2026 aimed at documenting over two decades of strategic partnership between the two institutions. The session brought together WANEP Management and staff, including the Coordinator of the WANEP Liaison Office to ECOWAS, representatives of the ECOWAS Early Warning Directorate, and a consultant supporting the process. The partnership between WANEP and ECOWAS represents more than a strategic alliance; it stands as a leading continental example of collaboration between Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and Intergovernmental Organisations (IGOs). Formalised […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10372,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wanep-events"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wanep.org\/wanep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wanep.org\/wanep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wanep.org\/wanep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wanep.org\/wanep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wanep.org\/wanep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10371"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wanep.org\/wanep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10371\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10373,"href":"https:\/\/wanep.org\/wanep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10371\/revisions\/10373"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wanep.org\/wanep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wanep.org\/wanep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wanep.org\/wanep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wanep.org\/wanep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}