The ECOWAS Gender Development Centre (EGDC) hosted a delegation from the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) for a technical working mission on April 9-10, 2025, in Dakar, Senegal. This visit is part of an ongoing partnership that began in 2022, aimed at enhancing gender equality and combating gender-based violence through a strategic institutional support project.
The collaboration has already yielded significant strides in advancing the CCDG’s programs, aligning with ECOWAS’s broader vision for an inclusive West African society where men and women have equal access to development resources and opportunities. Notably, joint efforts have bolstered EGDC’s institutional capacity, fostered closer ties with Member States and Regional Economic Communities (RECs), and facilitated the creation of tools to collect gender data and measure gender inequality.
The two-day visit offered an opportunity to assess the project’s progress, exchange best practices, and discuss future prospects for collaboration. The ECOWAS digital ecosystem was also showcased, including the CCDG website for increased visibility, the ECOGO platform for data collection, AI tools for analysis, a digital collaborative space, and the Security Dashboard for cybersecurity monitoring.
Key discussions highlighted the potential for new synergies between CCDG’s strategic priorities and AECID’s focus areas, aiming to enhance the impact of their joint efforts. This visit marks a new phase in their strategic partnership, focusing on institutional development, the fight against obstetric fistula, gender data collection, and the promotion of women’s empowerment across West Africa—laying the foundation for a long-term collaboration with the potential to drive transformative change in the region.
