Working visit by the Ford foundation (FF) to the ECOWAS Gender Development Centre (EGDC)

On the 2^nd of June 2025, the ECOWAS Gender Development Centre (EGDC) hosted a working visit by the Ford Foundation’s International Director of Gender, Racial and Ethnic Justice, Monica ALEMAN, accompanied by the Regional Director of the Ford Foundation’s West Africa Office, Dr ChiChi ANIAGOLU and her staff.

This visit is part of the collaboration between the EGDC and the Ford Foundation. Since 2022, the Ford Foundation has been supporting the EGDC with a grant of 1,200,000 USD to implement the action plans of the “ECOWAS Regional Strategy for the Prevention of and Response to Sexual and Gender-Based Violence and the Elimination of All Forms of Violence against Women and Girls” and the “ECOWAS Policy on the Prevention of and Response to Sexual Harassment in the Workplace and Educational Institutions in the West African Region”. Thanks to this support, the EGDC is carrying out significant actions that contribute to the realisation of the ECOWAS vision 2050, through its Pillar 4 aimed at creating the conditions necessary for the economic transformation and sustainable well-being of the population and Pillar 5 relating to the full and complete inclusion of Women, Children and Youth in regional integration policies.

Chaired by Professor Fatou SOW SARR, Commissioner for Human Development and Social Affairs at the ECOWAS Commission, the meeting provided an opportunity to take stock of the implementation of the grant in terms of achievements, good practice and the lessons learned from the partnership.

It also provided an opportunity to discuss the challenges and work in progress in the area of gender equality in the region, strengthening the strategic and political positioning of the EGDC in terms of proposing regional policies and influencing ECOWAS Member States to harmonise regional policies with national laws passed by parliaments in favour of gender equality, consolidating dialogue with decision-makers and community and religious leaders in the ECOWAS region to ensure zero tolerance of gender-based violence and sexual harassment.

The meeting also underlined the need to strengthen reference data on gender through the ECOWAS Gender Barometer (ECOGEB), a tool that allows for the generation of evidence-based data on gender inequalities in the region, as well as ECOGO, a monitoring tool for EGDC programmes in ECOWAS member states and the need to address gender-based violence more in conflict prevention and response programmes, in a more global regional perspective.