The immigration and border management assessment, implemented by IOM and conducted by an expert of the IOM Africa Capacity-Building Centre (ACBC) in Tanzania, assessed the status of immigration and border management, and free movement in particular in ECOWAS. The assessment produced both comprehensive and project-specific recommendations for the ECOWAS Commission (in the areas of legal, institutional, administrative, operations, and data management frameworks), which will help inform project activities in the field of immigration and border management.
The assessment commenced in December 2013 with extensive desk research, while the field visit by the ACBC expert to Abuja was conducted in January 2014. The assessment report was made available for comments by partners and the ECOWAS Commission in February 2014 and was presented during the meeting of the Committee for Project Steering and Coordination (CPSC) on 28 February 2014.
The report is attached and available on the project website at: https://fmmwestafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/en-IBM-Baseline-Assessment-Report.pdf

Following the recommendations of the Baseline Assessment on Immigration and Border Management and upon the request of the ECOWAS Commission Free Movement and Tourism Directorate, the Project developed ECOWAS Training Manuals on Border Management and Free Movement.
The training tools seek to build ECOWAS Commission’s capacities in implementing the Protocol on Free Movement, strengthening border management, and enable the ECOWAS Commission to support and ensure comprehensive, high-quality and standardized training of ECOWAS Member States’ immigration officials.
Following the decision of the ECOWAS Commission, the final version is composed of two separate manuals: modern border management manual and free movement manual. The final draft of both manuals piloted through a pilot training for immigration, interior and labour ministry officers from ECOWAS member states was submitted to the final approval of the ECOWAS head of state and government Authority.
The ToT on the Free Movement manual was held in Ouagadougou, Burkina-Faso from the 16th to 18th May 2017 and brought together migration focal points from the ministries of interior and labour of the 15 member states to review and validate the ECOWAS manual on Free Movement of Persons within West Africa, enhance the officials’ knowledge of the 1979 Protocol on Free Movement and strengthen their capacity to conduct similar trainings for their peers on the Protocol.
The workshop dealt with the following eight (8) training modules : (i) Fundamental concepts related to free movement of persons in ECOWAS; (ii) ECOWAS and fundamental principles of free movement; (iii) the Legal framework of free movement in the context of international human right laws, UEMOA, bilateral agreement and legal legislations; (iv) The right of entry, border, itinerant and seasonal workers; (v) Legal framework for labour migration in the ECOWAS area – Right of residence; (vi) Right of establishment; (vii) Civil, economic and social rights associated with the regime of free movement of persons; and (viii) Limits to the free movement of persons within ECOWAS.

The ECOWAS Heads of Immigration Meeting of 2014 was initially set to be held on 5 – 7 August 2014. Due to the outbreak of the Ebola virus, the Project was informed officially by the ECOWAS Free Movement and Tourism Directorate on 1 August 2014 of the meeting postponement. The meeting was eventually held on 3 – 5 December 2014, in Dakar, Senegal.
The meeting was attended by seven ECOWAS Member States, which were Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Mali, Senegal, and Togo. The three Ebola-affected countries (Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea) had not been invited by the ECOWAS Commission to attend the meeting.
The 2014 Heads of Immigration Meeting focused on the following topics:

• Free movement of persons: regional security and mobility challenges;
• Identity Management and ECOWAS biometric identity card.

The Project provided the advisory as well as administrative support for the meeting. Presentations and expert inputs to the discussion were provided by the Project team during the 3-day meeting.
The report of the 2014 Heads of Immigration (HoI) Meeting is attached ( 15). As the report is considered by the ECOWAS Commission as an internal document, it is not published on the FMM West Africa website.
The 2015 ECOWAS Heads of Immigration meeting was initially scheduled for November and then December of 2015 (to be held in Bamako, Mali) but was postponed both times due to other conflicting engagements by ECOWAS Free Movement and Tourism Directorate.
The 2015 HoI meeting was held on 25 and 26 January 2016 in Niamey, Niger. The objective of the meeting was two-fold: a) the presentation and discussion of the Supplementary Act on the ECOWAS National Biometric ID Card and the Residence Permit and b) the presentation and discussion of the operational modalities of ECOWAS support to the Niger government’s efforts in tackling the complex migration management challenges, faced by the country – building on one of the recommendations of MIDWA 2015 and the subsequent Valletta Summit on Migration.
The meeting brought together heads of immigration agencies or their representatives from 12-member states, except for Liberia, Guinea Bissau and Mali. Besides ECOWAS Free Movement and Tourism Directorate and IOM, present were also the representatives of the EU, ICMPD, EU-CAP, and governments of France and Spain.

Some of the key recommendations of the meeting (see report attached as 16) were:

• Installation by each MS of adequate equipment to ensure border controls of the Biometric ID Card;
• Establishment by ECOWAS of a control mechanism to ensure compliance by the States of ICAO/ECOWAS technical specifications and security features contained in the ID Card;
• ECOWAS must support Niger in combatting irregular migration.

The Heads of Immigration meeting 2017 took place 3-4 August 2017 in Abuja (Nigeria). The objective of the meeting was to a) process and analyse persisting gaps on border and migration management in the ECOWAS region b) promote professional and specialist skills among operatives for smooth implementation of relevant texts on migration management within ECOWAS c) promote concerted and synergetic collaboration on the promotion of the Protocol on Free movement of Persons, Rights of Entry and Establishment in the ECOWAS region.
All 15 ECOWAS Member States, including international experts from IOM, IATA and INTERPOL participated in this high-level meeting and the discussions focused on the following:

• Regional progress made on the regional progress on the implementation of the ECOWAS Free Movement Protocol;
• Review of the recommendations of the MIDWA Thematic Working Group on border management;
• Review of the progress, persisting challenges and recommendations on facilitating migration within ECOWAS;
• Necessary steps towards a regional approach to data management and sharing.

Various recommendations were made on aspects of immigration and border management including on the effectiveness of free movement, data management and sharing, regional coordination, monitoring and reporting.

The 2020 Heads of Immigration was scheduled to take place in Ghana from the 12-13 March 2020. The main objective of this meeting was to exchange experiences and improve common understanding and strategies on the implementation of the Protocol of Free Movement of Persons, Rights of Residence and Establishment in line with the recent developments relating to the Protocol. The meeting would also ensure a harmonized deployment of the adopted regional migration legal instruments in a securitized manner and the recommend for validation the Draft Regional Migration Policy, Regional Migration Policy, Free Movement Manual, Guideline on Migration Data, Guidelines Evaluation FMP, Border Management Manual and MIDWA M&E Plan. This will be done together with the assessment of the status of implementation of the ECOWAS National Biometric Identity Card (ENBIC) in Member States.
The logistic arrangement had been done for the meeting with the full involvement and commitment of the minister of interior and Ghanaian Immigration service. However, due to the COVID 19 pandemic the meeting was cancelled and rescheduled to be conducted virtually in July 2020

The development of the training manuals is finalised – with IOM and ICMPD. Following this, a pilot Training workshop targeting all ECOWAS member states were conducted to ensure that the training curriculum is effective, and to make changes before it is distributed.
A three-day training of trainers (ToT) on Free Movement of Persons within West Africa took place in Ramada Pearl Hotel, Ouagadougou, Burkina-Faso from the 16th to 18th May 2017. The ToT brought together migration focal points from the Ministries of Interior and Labour of the fifteen (15) Member States to review and validate the ECOWAS manual on Free Movement of persons within West Africa (hereinafter referred to as the manual), enhance the officials’ knowledge of the 1979 Protocol on Free Movement and strengthen their capacity to conduct similar trainings for their peers on the Protocol
The link to the Pilot Training on the FMM West Africa website is: https://fmmwestafrica.org/news/3-day-pilot-training-trainers-free-movement/

The introduction of the ECOWAS Biometric ID Card is among the top priorities for the ECOWAS Heads of States and a number of initiatives towards its production have already been undertaken. The initiative is paralleled with the abolition of the existing Travel Certificate and seeks to further promote safe and facilitated regional travel of ECOWAS citizens.
FMM also supported the ECOWAS Meeting of Immigration and Consular Officials on the ECOWAS Biometric ID Card, held in Dakar from 24 – 26 February 2015. This high-level meeting produced important outcomes, yielding applicable solutions to enhanced collaboration amongst member states towards both the ECOWAS Biometric ID Card roll-out as well as collection and sharing of data of member states’ citizens. The meeting was well attended, with the ECOWAS represented by H.E. Commissioner Hamid and government delegates from 11 Member States. The link to the event on the FMM West Africa website is:
https://fmmwestafrica.org/news/fmm-west-africa-project-suppport-ecowas-commission-enhancing- security-compatibility-travel-documents-region/
One of the key recommendations of the above-mentioned assessment report was the conduct of a high-level Master Class on Identity Management for ECOWAS Heads of Immigration and other decision-makers in the area of identity management. The Identity Management Master Class was held on 28 – 30 April 2015 as part of a four-day ECOWAS Experts’ Meeting on Identity Management and Civil Registry, which took place in Cotonou, Benin, on 27 – 30 April 2015. The meeting was attended by representatives of eight ECOWAS Member States: Benin, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, Niger, and Nigeria. The Master Class enhanced the delegates’ understanding of the core principles of identity management chain as well as its links and synergies with the civil registry systems. The content of the Master Class was focused in a way as to maximally contribute to the development of the ECOWAS biometric ID card.
The following key recommendations resulted from the Experts Meeting:

• The ECOWAS Commission needs to adopt a common civil registration code in the region;
• The ECOWAS Commission should establish a roadmap for the development and launch of the ECOWAS biometric ID card with minimum standards that must be adhered to by all Member States;
• An Experts’ Working Group should be established to work on developing the road map and developing a common civil registration code.

The link to this event on the FMM West Africa website is: https://fmmwestafrica.org/news/supports-ecowas-holds-experts-meeting-identity-management-civil- registry/
Following the above-mentioned recommendations, and at the request of ECOWAS Free Movement and Tourism Directorate, IOM hired a senior consultant to support the development of the National Biometric ID Card Roll-Out Road Map, to be complemented by a concept note with detailed recommendations for the implementation of the roll-out by member states, covering legal, policy, technical and operational aspects.
The first draft of the Roadmap was developed December 2015, and was later shared with and approved by the ECOWAS Trade, Customs and Free Movement Commissioner and his staff. The draft concept note has also been developed.

In early October 2014, ECOWAS Commission’s Free Movement and Tourism Directorate sought the support of the Project to carry out an assessment mission to Côte d’Ivoire, Abidjan, to collect data on the free movement facilitation project, which had been piloted in that country , as well as to study the set-up of its monitoring mechanism. The mission took place on 13 – 17 October 2014.
The recommendations of the mission report informed the Free Movement and Tourism Directorate of the feasibility and options for the way forward towards duplicating the pilot project’s efforts at the regional level that led to the development of the DDF multi-country action on free movement covering eight countries.
The report also informed the project partners of the newest developments in the practical applications of facilitation of free movement in the region, including monitoring of movements at border posts. The latter will feed into IOM’s support in developing a strategy towards monitoring of border posts, which is planned to commence in the second half of 2015. The Côte d’Ivoire assessment mission report is attached.
Following the increase in irregular migration to Europe and based on the subsequent recommendations of the October 2015 MIDWA meeting and the November 2015 Valletta Summit on Migration, ECOWAS’ Free Movement and Tourism Directorate sought to analyse and propose ways for joint planning and action (by ECOWAS and its Member States) to support the Government of Niger in tackling irregular migration. One of the specific proposals discussed was the establishment of ECOWAS Task Force on Irregular Migration, which would help better jointly monitor and manage the external ECOWAS borders.
With the Task Force being among the top priorities of the ECOWAS Commission free movement and migration agenda, its operational modalities were discussed at the Heads of Immigration meeting in January 2015, in Niamey, Niger (see more under activity 1.3.3). Following the two-day meeting (25 and 26 January), a delegation travelled to Agadez, Niger for a field visit from 27 – 29 January 2016. The mission included Heads of Immigration from Benin, Burkina Faso, Nigeria and Senegal, as well as ECOWAS and IOM colleagues. Both the meeting with the local authorities (including the Governor of Agadez) and the meeting with the migration stakeholders (including UN and NGOs) produced recommendations for ECOWAS (see report produced by ECOWAS’ Free Movement and Tourism Directorate as 23 and 24). Some of the most notable, produced by the international and local stakeholders as well as the authorities, were as follows:

• Need for comprehensive and ground level sensitization;
• Need for durable and sustainable development solutions;
• Humanization of migration;
• Protection of migrants;
• Focus on reintegration.

Following the presentation and discussion of the Niger government experience in Agadez (in the framework of ECOWAS Free Movement regime), the AU sought a joint mission with ECOWAS Free Movement and Tourism Directorate to Agadez to “assess the Migrants’ Transit and Reception Center in Agadez”, managed by IOM. The mission was held from 22 – 25 June and co-organized by IOM (outside FMM), while the funding for ECOWAS participation was provided by FMM, as request by Free Movement Directorate and as shared with the EUD.
In July 2018, the Directorate of Free Movement has expressed the needs to support the programme adopted by the Council of Ministers of 2006 to establish monitoring Units at the border crossings of ECOWAS Member states to reduce cases of harassments, extortions and other violations of the rights of migrants, traders and other ECOWAS citizens transiting along ECOWAS borders.
The ECOWAS Free Movement Directorate in collaboration with the Project team planned preparatory missions to discuss in detail the operational modalities of the Monitoring Units with the targeted Member States. In end of July 2018, meetings were convened by the Directorate with the Head of the Department of Cooperation of the Spanish Agency, the AUBP/GIZ programme Coordinator and the Project team to synergize their efforts for the establishment of the pilot monitoring Units.
The pilot monitoring units will be established before end of 2019 at the borders of Aflao/Kodjaviakope (Togo/Ghana); Sanve Condji/Hilla Condji (Togo/ Benin) and Cinkasse (Togo/Burkina Faso); Ghana/Cote d’ Ivoire; Senegal/Gambia; Guinee Bissau/Senegal; Ghana/Togo (Noepe) and Cote d’ Ivoire/Ghana (Noe).
The justification of the selected intervention areas is as a result of the high rate of harassment and corruption in comparison to others border areas within ECOWAS Member States. Also, these selected borders are also characterized by a high volume and passage of mobile citizens, women of the informal cross-border trade (small scale traders), transnational crimes (trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants), irregular migrant and children on the move.

Support to Nigeria Immigration Services (NIS): From 19th December 2018 to 10 January 2019, the Project team supported the Nigerian Immigration Services through their Training Strategy project, in collaboration with the ECOWAS Free Movement Directorate to provide the personnel training resources centers (PTRC) with standardized knowledge, on Free Movement and Migration through the support to the Curriculum Review Committee for the development of a training curriculum covering Migration and Free Movement of persons.

On 16 January 2019, the Project team supported a one -day Presentation of the Draft Nigeria Immigration Service Curriculum and the sensitization on NIS Training Strategy, free movement and migration gathering all the State Commanders of the 36 states and the Controllers at air, land and sea borders.

Further Support was provided to the Senegalese Government in infusing the provisions of the Free Movement Manual in the training curricula of law enforcement and defence and security forces (Police, Customs, Gendarmerie, Water and Forests); Participants were also present from the Ministries and Agencies in charge of Free Movement issues, CSOs, local authorities and Senegalo-Gambia Secretariat from the 15-17 October 2018 .

The meeting resulted in great impact in ECOWAS agenda as two of its recommendations related to (i) the set-up of a task-force for the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Free Movement Protocols and (ii) the harmonization of driver’s license within the ECOWAS region have been adopted into the ECOWAS 2019 agenda and a budget of 300 000 USD by the ECOWAS Member States has been allocated to organize a high-level stakeholders meeting in the framework of the 40th anniversary.