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promoting the engagement of Non-State Actors (NSAs) and local authorities in information and protection activities for the benefit of migrants and cross-border populations in West Africa.
Through two Call for Proposals and one round of consultations with the EU Delegations in the region, 15 NSAs have been selected by the Grants Evaluation Committee (GEC) and grants agreements were signed with 11 NSAs in 11 countries and thereafter 1 was withdrawn. Grants were made available to these actors to implement a variety of projects on counter-trafficking, free movement, and reintegration, among others. The guidelines and procedures for this Call for Proposals and selection of the NSAs were developed and approved at a Technical Validation Meeting on 14th May 2015. The first Call for Proposals was launched in June 2015 which yielded over 300 concept notes from NSAs in ECOWAS Member States and Mauritania. After reviewing the 300 applications, the GEC selected five qualified applicants from five different countries in December 2015. Due to the lack of capacity of the NSAs to develop qualifiable proposals, the GEC decided to revise the guidelines and relaunched a second call for full proposal issued in August 2016, which yielded over 110 full proposals. 6 additional NSAs were provisionally selected and 1 disqualified. FMM signed agreements with 10 NSA on February 1st, 2017. Working with the EU Delegations throughout the region, FMM selected the remaining 5 NSAs between February and May 2017.
A formal project launch event was organized at the main auditorium of the ECOWAS Commission on 16 April 2014 to inform all stakeholders and the public about the project. The event took place in the presence of Hon. Mr. Ahmed Hamid, ECOWAS Commissioner for Trade, Customs and Free Movement and the representative of Ambassador Michel Arrion, Head of the EU Delegation. In addition, project visibility events took place in Burkina Faso (April 2014), Ghana (May 2014), Côte d’Ivoire (October 2014), Senegal (December 2014), Benin Republic (April 2015), Togo (August 2015), Mali (September 2015), and Mauritania (October 2015). The ECOWAS Commission and respective EU Delegations played an active role in these visibility events.
As part of the FMM public information strategy, the Advocacy and Sensitization Campaign on the ECOWAS National Biometric Identity Card (ENBIC) and Fighting Against Trafficking in Persons (TiP) was conducted in April 2019 in Nigeria, Benin Republic and Togo and the Advocacy and Sensitization Campaign on Free Movement and Migration was conduct in August 2019 in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire as well as in February 2020 in Togo and Ghana. The Advocacy and Sensitization Campaign Series on Free Movement and Migration was set to be conducted in April – May 2020 however the onset of the noval Coronavirus pandemic led to its postponement.
Promoting The Active Engagement Of Non-State Actors And Local Authorities
Results and Activities
During the reporting period, the Guidelines for the Call for Proposals were developed by the Project team in close coordination with the relevant ECOWAS Directorates. The Guidelines were validated by the ECOWAS Commission at a technical validation meeting on 14 May 2015 and submitted for signature to the concerned Commissioners.
The Call for Proposals were launched in June 2015. The number of proposals received were satisfactory as 5 potential proposals were only shortlisted. The Grant Evaluation Committee (GEC) decided to revise the guidelines and re-launch a 2nd call for proposals in August 2016. After the 2nd CFP, only 6 proposals have been considered and in total 11 NSAs were selected in the first two calls.
The Project team has developed the draft guidelines for the call for proposals, in close coordination with the relevant ECOWAS directorates (Free Movement and Tourism, and Humanitarian and Social Affairs Directorates).
Before drawing up the document, several consultation meetings have been held with the relevant ECOWAS directorates, the consortium partners (IOM, ICMPD, and ILO) and the EU Delegation in Abuja. The consultations were supplemented by a literature study and individual meetings with resources persons with experience in the area of Fund management (i.e., the Fund Management Unit of the ECOWAS-Spanish Fund for Migration and Development).
These consultations allowed the above-mentioned entities to jointly define and agree upon the following elements:
- Which institutions are eligible for funding;
- The priority areas on which the Call for Proposals should focus;
- The application and selection process;
- The requirements for reporting, monitoring, and evaluation of selected projects.
The guidelines were presented and validated with some recommendations by the ECOWAS Commission at a technical validation meeting on 14 May 2015. The recommendations have been incorporated into the document and the guidelines are currently being signed by the relevant ECOWAS Commissioners (Commissioner for Trade, Customs and Free Movement, and Commissioner for Gender and Social Affairs).