ECOWAS’ Vision 2020 is one of its key principles to empower its citizens and give the people more of a say in the organization’s evolution. Transforming the ECOWAS of the state to an ECOWAS of the people requires the people to fully understand their rights and obligations.
Such a monumental task has to involve grassroots organizations to educate the ECOWAS citizens as well as its officials on defending and protecting those rights. Cognizant of this, IOM, through the Support to Free Movement of Persons and Migration in West Africa (FMM West Africa) Project, is implementing the Non – State Actors (NSA) Fund to both build the capacity of the NSA within the ECOWAS space and to finance some of their activities. Budget for such activities range from €79,000 to €100,000.
So far the NSA fund has selected, through a call for proposals, 11 NSAs from 11 ECOWAS countries to implement projects on wide ranging issues that affect the region’s citizens. For Example, Media Response, a NSA in Ghana will be conducting media training and public sensitization on the rights of ECOWAS citizens. The aim is not only to inform ECOWAS citizens of the rights afforded to them by ECOWAS’ fundamental instruments, but also to inform relevant officials that such rights must be protected.
In Senegal, La Lumiere will be implementing a project that empowers the youth by giving them the opportunity to access gainful employment thereby reducing the risk of them leaving the ECOWAS region in search of a better life. FOSCAO’s approach in Côte d’Ivoire focuses on reducing irregular migration and improve reintegration of returned migrants by engaging community leaders and the general public. Individual NSA projects feed into the overall goal of ensuring that ECOWAS citizens who decide to migrate do so in a safe and regular manner. Armed with the necessary information, the region’s citizens will be in a better position to defend their rights and to seek recourse when they are violated.
Most of the projects will start implementation on 1st February 2017. They will run for 12 months with the possibility of extension. (FC)