As part of the 2026 Dakar Youth Olympic Games (YOG), the Communications Directorate of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission has opened an ECOWAS Olympic Village in Dakar under the slogan “Play Without Borders”, in tribute to the spirit of integration, solidarity and sharing that unites the peoples of West Africa.

Run mainly by young members of ECOWAS Clubs and by young volunteers mobilised in Dakar through the ECOWAS Youth and Sports Centre, this space aims to bring the regional institution closer to West African youth. It offers visitors and young participants a friendly setting in which to discover ECOWAS’s missions, programmes and achievements.

Through games, discussions, quizzes, interactive activities and conversations with visitors, the young facilitators introduce ECOWAS, its missions, its achievements and the opportunities it offers to young people in the region. The young facilitators at the ECOWAS Village highlight, in particular, initiatives supporting youth, employment, entrepreneurship, education, transport, volunteering and human development. They also inform visitors about the opportunities available to young people in the Community’s Member States.

Through this initiative, ECOWAS reaffirms its belief that young people are a vital force for regional integration, social cohesion and sustainable development in West Africa. The ECOWAS stand in Dakar thus serves as a platform for meeting, dialogue and mobilisation, enabling young people to embrace the Community’s ideals and become ambassadors for West African integration.

ECOWAS’s presence at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games is part of its ongoing commitment to young people and to the success of the first edition of the Youth Olympic Games to be held on the African continent. This commitment is reflected, in particular, in a partnership with the Senegalese National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSS), capacity-building for young people and the deployment of young volunteers from ECOWAS member states at the Games’ venues.