The Monitors are drawn from Benin, Cape Verde, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Ghana, Liberia and Cote D’ivoire.

The rest are the Gambia, Togo, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.

The workshop is to sharpen the skills of the Monitors to be abreast with current early warning signs to feed into the ECOWAS systems.

During the three days, participants would be taken through ECOWARN event types, and parameters, importance of data accuracy in early warnings, methods of detecting and cross checking facts and figures.

Other areas are, detecting and managing misinformation and disinformation, ECOWAS human security and Analysts framework, social inclusion in data collection among others.

In her opening address, Dr Onyinye Nkechi Onwuka, Acting Director of Ecowarn called on the Monitors to adhere to monitoring and reporting standards as a mistake could misrepresent issues on the ground.

“We are united by sharing and safety…and we therefore need to put our eyes and ears on the ground to transform all abstracts to realities.”
She urged the Monitors to Network effectively to come out with best reports that would be useful to society and policy makers.

Dr Onwuka said in data collection, accuracy was relevant and urged the Monitors not to hastily report inaccurate issues could retard and impede progress.
Other Facilitators included: Marcel Bossou, Alice Kola-Solomon Bengaline Erin, Ismaila Gueye, Olatunji Olonode and Nantene Coulibaly.