On 26 and 27 November 2024, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is organising a national youth forum in Dakar under the theme: ‘Engaging ECOWAS for a new vision on youth’. This major event, chaired by the Senegalese Minister for Youth, Sport and Culture, Mrs Khady Diène Gaye, alongside Prof. Fatou Sow Sarr, ECOWAS Commissioner for Human Development and Social Affairs, aims to strengthen inclusive dialogue, define strategic priorities and place youth at the heart of regional policies, with a view to an inclusive, dynamic and sustainable future.

The conference brings together young leaders, representatives of youth organisations, policy-makers and experts to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing young people in the region, particularly in the fields of employment, entrepreneurship, education and vocational training. They mark a decisive step for ECOWAS, which aspires to promote a new vision for youth, based on regional integration, solidarity and innovation.

The national youth conferences in Dakar are a continuation of those held in Cotonou, Accra and soon in Abidjan, and are a prelude to the overall dynamic of a regional conference scheduled to take place in Dakar, Senegal in the first quarter of 2025.

These four national conferences are part of a pilot phase of a regional consultation programme initiated by ECOWAS and organised by the Community’s Youth and Sports Development Centre under the technical and methodological coordination of the Senegalese think-tank Initiative Prospective Agricole et Rurale (IPAR), to explore with young people innovative ways of increasing their involvement in decision-making processes.

The results of the national meetings in this pilot phase will be examined at the regional conference, with a view to redefining the regional policy on youth and laying the foundations for concrete actions to implement it.