The maiden West African Education Civil Society (WA-ECS) event is expected to develop governance policy for the WA-ECS platform and strategy for policy influencing in the respective member countries.

The conference, which commenced yesterday, has participants from Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in education transformation from Ghana, Burkina Faso, Liberia, Togo, Nigeria, Gambia, Sierra Leone, La Cote D’Ivoire, Senegal, Benin and Mali.

It is being organised by EduWatch, a Ghanaian CSO, with support from Oxfam, an international NGO. 

Collaboration

The Executive Director of Africa Education Watch (Eduwatch), Kofi Asare, underscored the importance of collaboration among CSOs in education in West Africa to build a network to pursue the transformative education objectives set out by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

That, he said, was because there was an apparently unbalanced attainment of targets and objectives outlined in Pillar Four of the ECOWAS Vision 2050, which entails human capital development through enhancing access to quality education, health care, social protection and investment in skills development, among others.

“Our governments are committed to implementing the ECOWAS Agenda 2050, which has inclusive development, and human capital.

“So once our governments commit, it becomes a responsibility for CSOs and NGOs to demand local action from them,” he said.

Accountability

Mr Asare further highlighted the need for accountability, stressing that to enable the achievement of the objectives of Vision 2050, member states needed to prioritise the implementation of Pillar 4, which seeks to achieve transformative, inclusive and sustainable development.

“While we do that, EduWatch will continue to engage with the ECOWAS Commission on Education, Science and Culture at the sub-regional level, together with its partners to ensure accountability at the ECOWAS level.

“So we are going to have dual layers of accountability - at the national level by CSOs demanding action from their local government, or their national government,” he said. 

Addressing challenges

The Interim Country Director of Oxfam, Mohammed Anwar Sadat Adam, said as West African CSOs and stakeholders in the education space, they ought to position themselves in a way that would ensure their respective governments put in place measures to address real challenges in the sector.

He expressed hope that the conference would result in a unified strategy for civil society actors to influence transformative education policies and programmes to equip the youth with employable skills beyond basic literacy and numeracy.

Mr Adam commended the organisers and reaffirmed Oxfam’s commitment to supporting credible civil society engagement in policymaking and governance within the ECOWAS region.

He said that would serve as a model across Africa and ultimately align with the African Union’s vision for transformative education.