Antonia Witt, Sophia Birchinger, Sait Matty Jaw and Amado Kaboré present results from the DFG funded collaborative research project “Local perceptions of AU and ECOWAS interventions” in the webinar “Closing The Gap: Citizens' Perspectives on ECOWAS Interventions and Implications for the Future”.
The vision of ECOWAS is to become an ‘ECOWAS of the People’. But what do citizens across the region think about and expect from ECOWAS? Evidence from Burkina Faso and The Gambia suggests a lack of awareness about the role and objectives of ECOWAS among West African citizens. Not least since the recent announcement of the governments of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger to leave the regional bloc as reaction to the organization’s handling of the coups in the three countries, the question of how ECOWAS can re-connect to its citizens is one of the most daunting challenges for the future of regional integration in West Africa.
This joint PRIF & WADEMOS webinar will present research findings on African peace interventions in Burkina Faso (2014/15) and The Gambia (2016/17) in the light of current political developments in the region and discuss what implications they hold for constructively addressing the widening gap between ECOWAS and the citizens of the region, placing particular focus on the role of civil society actors.
Program
Presentation
Sophia Birchinger, PRIF
Sait Matty Jaw, Center for Research & Policy Development, The Gambia
Dr Amado Kaboré, l’Institut des Sciences des Sociétés (INSS), Burkina Faso
Dr Antonia Witt, PRIF
Discussants
Dr Habibu Yaya Bappah , Executive Assistant to the President of the ECOWAS Commission │ ECOWAS Commission, Nigeria
Anyway Chingwete, Deputy Director of Survey │ Afrobarometer, Ghana
Prof David Dosseh, Coordinator │ Front Togo Debout and Tournons la Page, Togo
Moderation
Paul Osei Kuffour │ WADEMOS Network Coordinator
When: March 4, 2025, 2:30 (GMT)
Where: Hybrid format on Zoom and as part of the WADEMOS Network Meeting from March 4–5, 2025 in Accra, Ghana. Please register online in advance.
The webinar will be simultaneously translated into French and Portuguese.
Online participation is open to everyone regardless their WADEMOS membership status.