The objective of the session was to review the status of implementation of the regional IWRM process in West Africa since the statutory meetings held in Abuja in June 2024.
The meeting provided an opportunity to review the status of implementation of the resolutions of the 5th Ordinary Session of the MMC and the 2025 work programme of the WRMC; to share the main initiatives of ECOWAS and its partners, both ongoing and planned, in the field of IWRM in West Africa; and to formulate recommendations for the efficient implementation of the regional IWRM process in the context of the new geopolitical environment prevailing in West Africa.
The establishment of the Permanent Framework for Coordination and Monitoring of IWRM in West Africa (PFCM/IWRM-WA) by decision of the ECOWAS Conference of Heads of State and Government adopted in December 2001 marked a significant step forward in the implementation of the regional IWRM process in West Africa, which has involved all States and all Basin Organisations in the region since the West African Conference on IWRM held in Ouagadougou in March 1998.
The PFCM/IWRM-WA is structured around four statutory bodies, namely the Ministerial Monitoring Committee (MMC), composed of the ministers responsible for water resources in ECOWAS member states, the Technical Committee of Experts (TCE), composed of focal points who are water resource experts representing, on the one hand, member states and, on the other hand, West African basin organisations, the Sub-Regional Consultative Council on IWRM (SRCC), which is the representative assembly of all categories of actors involved in water resource management in West Africa (States, Basin Organisations, local authorities, civil society, private sector) and the Water Resources Management Centre (WRMC), which is the executive body of the PFCM and also constitutes the Water Directorate of the ECOWAS Commission.
The TCE is the pivotal body of the PFCM/IWRM-WA. This is why the organisation of the Dakar session within the statutory deadlines is part of a desire to consolidate the momentum for revitalising the regional IWRM process in West Africa, which began with the PFCM statutory meetings in June 2024 in Abuja.
The GWP-WA was represented at this session by its Executive Secretary, Mr Armand HOUANYE.
