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Forum of National Volunteering Agencies in West Africa

𝗘𝗻 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲 𝗱𝘂 𝟲𝗲̀ 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝘂𝗺 𝗔𝗻𝗻𝘂𝗲𝗹 𝗱𝗲𝘀 𝗔𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗡𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗱𝗲 𝗩𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗲 𝗹’𝗘𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗖𝗘𝗗𝗘𝗔𝗢 𝗾𝘂𝗶 𝘀𝗲 𝗱𝗲́𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗲 𝗲𝗻 𝗰𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 in Cotonnou, 𝗙𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝘀 𝗡𝗷𝗼𝗮𝗴𝘂𝗮𝗻𝗶, 𝗗𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝘂𝗿 𝗱𝘂 𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗲 𝗗𝗲́𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗱𝗲 𝗹𝗮 𝗝𝗲𝘂𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲 𝗲𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝘀 𝗦𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘀 𝗱𝗲 𝗹'𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗿𝗲, 𝘀'𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲́ 𝘀𝘂𝗿 𝗹'𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗱𝘂 𝘃𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝘂𝗿 𝗹𝗮 𝗷𝗲𝘂𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲 𝗱𝗲 𝗹𝗮 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝘀-𝗿𝗲́𝗴𝗶𝗼𝗻. 𝗜𝗹 𝘀'𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗲́𝗴𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗲́ 𝘀𝘂𝗿 𝗹𝗮 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗲̀𝗿𝗲 𝗷𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲́𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘃𝗮𝘂𝘅 𝗱𝗲 𝗰𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘂𝗺. ‘ECOWAS is our community. It has several strands: economic, political and everything relating to development. The ECOWAS Treaty provides for the support of young people, who constitute a very significant section of our community, as they now account for nearly 70 per cent of the ECOWAS population. The mission of the ECOWAS Centre for Youth and Sports Development is to assist the organisation in addressing all matters relating to youth and sport. To this end, we have developed projects as part of the implementation of the ECOWAS Youth Policy and its strategic action plan. The aim is to organise activities that contribute to youth development. As part of these activities, we have the volunteering programme, for which ECOWAS has established a scheme that was initially intended to support member states of the organisation that had experienced difficulties, political crises or even civil war in their history. This was launched in 2004 with the support of the African Development Bank, the European Union, the United Nations Volunteers Programme and other partners. The main aim was to provide support, through the contribution of young people, to those countries that had gone through difficult times. Initially, these were young ECOWAS ‘ambassadors for peace’ aged between 18 and 35. They were experts in various fields, including doctors, nurses, teachers and so on. This programme has evolved since 2010, when we deployed the first waves of volunteers to Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. The forum we are holding today forms part of ECOWAS’s policy to promote volunteering at Member State level. As you know, virtually all Member States of the Community have their own agency responsible for volunteering. The forum therefore brings together all these agencies under the theme: ‘Innovating for Impact: Transforming Volunteering through Innovation in the ECOWAS Region’, to discuss the promotion of volunteering within our community. The aim today is to bring together all those involved in volunteering on the platform. The platform brings together not only national volunteering agencies and programmes, but also national-level stakeholders in the volunteering sector. We have civil society organisations and NGOs working in the field of volunteering, who come together every year to consult on specific issues relating to the development of volunteering. Since 2021, we have been endeavouring to produce a guide to good practice on the theme selected each year. It will be officially launched this Tuesday, 28 May: the first guide to good practice on the contribution of volunteering to the response to epidemics in Member States. This initiative was carried out in 2021, at the height of the Covid crisis. We were able to gather Member States’ experiences and their responses to the pandemic. This year’s focus is on innovation in the promotion of volunteering. The discussions we are holding this time aim to gather the views and experiences of Member States across all areas of innovation that can help to promote volunteering, particularly in relation to youth development within our sub-region. The main objective is to build the capacities of young people and empower them so that they can not only create jobs for themselves but also create jobs for others, in order to tackle the problem of youth unemployment. This first day was devoted mainly to introducing the theme of this forum. But before that, we received guidance from the Minister for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and Employment Promotion, Modeste Kérékou, and from the ECOWAS Commission. We began our discussions with the member states by dividing the participants into working groups, with each country making its own contribution. The focus will be on what we have been able to achieve through innovation in the field of volunteering. All of this will enable us to continue our discussions on Tuesday so that we can identify best practices in promoting volunteering. A solid foundation has been laid today, Monday, around the theme of this year’s forum. » Francis Njoaguani, Director of the ECOWAS Centre for Youth and Sports Development Transcription: Tiburce K. KOTCHAMOU