THE European Union has announced a €4.85 million support for institutions of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
The support programme is aimed at enhancing the effectiveness, efficiency and impact of the EU aid in West Africa under the Institutional Support to ECOWAS.
The programme was co-funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the German government’s foreign aid agency.
Speaking at the programme’s launch, the Head of Cooperation of the EU Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Mrs. Cecile Tassin-Pelzer, said: “The Institutional Support Programme, which we are launching today, was developed as a follow-up to previous programmes to strengthen the Public Finance Management and Institutional Reforms initiated by ECOWAS.
“The programme began in Dec. 2020 and aims to ensure that the ECOWAS Commission, as well as the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID), attain international standards in finance, audit, accounting and human resource.
“This programme has provided support for the validation process of revised ECOWAS Staff regulation support towards the preparation of harmonised human resource policies and procedures as well as the drafting and validation of a new ECOWAS Code of Ethics,” Tassin-Pelzer said.
Head of Component, Institutional Support for ECOWAS (ISE) Natalie Ba said for several years, Germany has been supporting ECOWAS in strengthening its strategic management competencies and their preparations for the EU-pillar assessment.
She said: “These two areas of support go hand-in-hand and offer a great deal of potential for synergies. The pillar assessment is a very deep and thorough evaluation of the internal processes of an organisation. It looks at all aspects of the inner workings and processes within an organisation and allows it to better implement its objectives.”
Commissioner for Human Resources, ECOWAS Commission Prof. Dias Jeremias, who represented the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, at the event, explained that Institutional Support to ECOWAS (ISE) was set up to enhance the effectiveness, efficiency and impact of the EU aid in West Africa.
GIZ also handed over IT equipment to the ECOWAS Commission to ensure effective service delivery at the West African regional body.