ECOWAS to Hold the 6th National Volunteer Agencies’ Forum

The ECOWAS Youth and Sports Development Center and the National Agency for Employment Promotion of Benin are organizing in Cotonou, Benin from May 27-29, 2024, the 6th annual forum of national volunteer agencies in West Africa.

The primary aim of this gathering is to foster discussions and advocate for innovation in volunteering across the ECOWAS Region.

The central theme of this forum is "Innovating for Impact: Transforming Volunteering through Innovation."

This forum is part of ECOWAS desire to create direct exchange spaces between national and international volunteer agencies and actors and the ECOWAS Youth and Sports Development Center for the promotion of youth and volunteering in West Africa. This holistic and inclusive approach is an essential foundation for facilitating dialogue and strengthening institutional partnerships among key stakeholders.

The Cotonou forum will be an opportunity for participants from the 15 ECOWAS Member States and institutional partners to not only address the theme selected for this edition but also to assess the implementation status of the resolutions from the 5th Forum and publish the 2021 Good Practices’ Guide on the contribution of volunteerism to the response to epidemics. There will be technical meetings and panel discussions, and representatives from France Volunteers, UN Volunteers, CONFEJES, the AU, and non-governmental organisations that participated in the 5th Forum are also expected at this forum.

The official opening ceremony will feature speeches by the Commissioner for Human Development and Social Affairs of the ECOWAS Commission and the opening remarks by the Beninese Minister of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and Employment Promotion, His Excellency Modeste Kerekou. This meeting will facilitate brainstorming sessions, establish databases for volunteer networking, and gather contributions for choosing the theme of the next Forum.