ECOWAS Pushes For Unified Data System To Drive West Africa’s Integration
Princess-Ekwi Ajide
Reliable and comparable data is increasingly becoming the backbone of economic planning and regional integration, prompting ECOWAS to intensify efforts to harmonise statistics across West Africa.
To advance this goal, the ECOWAS Commission has convened Directors-General of National Statistical Institutes (NSIs) from its Member States in Dakar, Senegal, for a five-day meeting running from 27 to 31 July 2026.
The meeting is part of the implementation of the ECOWAS Statistical Policy and the Statistical Harmonisation and Improvement Projects (PHASAO and PHASAOC), which are designed to strengthen the production of reliable, harmonised and comparable statistics across the region.
Participants will review progress made since the last meeting, assess the implementation of the 2025 budget, validate the 2026 work programme and budget, and adopt key methodological guidelines to enhance national statistical systems and support ECOWAS’ macroeconomic convergence agenda.
The gathering also brings together experts from the ECOWAS Commission and representatives of development partners, including the World Bank, the African Union, WAEMU, AFRISTAT, WAMA, AMAO, the Islamic Republic of Mauritania and Statistics Sweden.
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