Among others, the Guidelines are expected to strengthen the implementation of the WPS agenda thereby contributing to the enhancement of gender-responsive operational capacity of the ECOWAS Commission.

In deference to the contributions of women in building peaceful, stable societies, ECOWAS had over the years, developed legal frameworks to safeguard the role of women in governance, electoral processes, conflict prevention and resolution as well as peacebuilding.

These include among others, the Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good Gover-nance (2001), the ECOWAS Gender Policy (2005), the ECOWAS Conflict Prevention Framework (2008) and the Gender and Elections Strategic Framework, (2016).

Through these legal frameworks and mechanisms, ECOWAS has continued to work towards inclusive and participatory governance processes, including the rights and roles of women in peace processes, while adhering to international frameworks on WPS, such as the the UNSCR Resolution 1325 (2000) and subsequent resolutions, in addition to Beijing Declaration and Plat-form for Action (1995) .

The participating partners and stakeholders for the launch include top management staff of the ECOWAS Commission, the African Union, UNOWAS, the ministry of Gender and Social Affa-irs of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the UN Women to Nigeria and ECOWAS, members of the Diplomatic Corps, Civil Society Organizations and the media.