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CDJS/ECOWAS – APIA: a courtesy visit to strengthen the partnership

The Director of the ECOWAS Centre for Youth and Sports Development, His Excellency, Ambassador Francis Chuks Njoaguani, received a delegation from the Association for African Integration (APIA) led by its Co-ordinator, who is also Chair of the FIJAO Organising Committee, Mr Billy Fousseini OUATTARA. The purpose of this meeting was to review the 2nd edition of the International Forum of West African Youth (FIJAO), which took place in Ouagadougou from 24 to 25 May 2024, and to thank the Director of the CDJS/ECOWAS for his leadership and ongoing commitment to promoting and strengthening the skills of young people within the ECOWAS region. This edition of the FIJAO was held under the theme: ‘The challenges of integration in West Africa’. On this occasion, high-level panel discussions on education and regional integration, as well as sessions for sharing experiences, were organised for the benefit of young people. Throughout the year, awareness-raising campaigns on civic engagement and citizenship were organised across the regions of Burkina Faso to support peace-building policies. The CDJS/ECOWAS, a long-standing partner of APIA, in line with its philosophy of promoting young people in the region, welcomed FIJAO’s approach. The Director congratulated the young people on the positive outcome and the successful staging of the event, which, in his view, demonstrate the value of various successful initiatives in terms of the quality of the work and their clear commitment to contributing to the well-being of young people in the region. The Director also emphasised that APIA’s commitment through FIJAO is fully in line with the CDJS/ECOWAS’s mission to create conditions conducive to the expression of young people’s talents and their engagement in regional integration. In view of this shared focus on issues relating to young people in Africa, he expressed the hope that APIA’s work would continue over time and across the region. The FIJAO coordinator called for institutional support from the CDJS/ECOWAS to facilitate the regional establishment of his association, which, in his view, will enable young people to have a credible voice in African forums. This is why he emphasised the need to join forces to build a sustainable partnership between the CDJS/ECOWAS and APIA, in order to ensure the success of regional integration with young people at the forefront. He also conveyed to the Director of the CDJS/ECOWAS the young participants’ wish to see a future edition of FIJAO organised in another ECOWAS country and requested the Centre’s support in realising this wish. As a reminder, APIA is an international, apolitical and secular youth organisation. The organisation’s vision is to build a generation of African young people who are united, responsible, engaged citizens and active agents of development. #cdjs #ecowasvolunteer #apia