Dakar 2026: ECOWAS Youth Volunteers Drive Powerful Message Of Unity
Princess-Ekwi Ajide
For two young West Africans, the 2026 Dakar Youth Olympic Games have become more than an international sporting event.
They are an opportunity to build friendships across borders, promote regional unity and demonstrate the power of youth participation.
Naosa Roberts from Liberia and Sheikh Mbenga from The Gambia are among the ECOWAS youth volunteers deployed in Dakar to support activities at the Games.
Coordinated by the ECOWAS Centre for Youth and Sport, their responsibilities include welcoming participants, orientation, mentoring and logistical support under a partnership between ECOWAS and Senegal’s National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSS).
For Roberts, the experience has broadened her understanding of what it means to represent her country.
“Before coming to Dakar, I was mainly thinking about the honour of representing my country, Liberia. But here, I realise that I am also representing an entire region,” she said.
She noted that despite differences in language, culture and background, young people across West Africa share common aspirations for peace, greater opportunities and a better future.
Mbenga sees the volunteering experience as an opportunity to demonstrate the importance of civic responsibility and collective action.
“Volunteering is not merely a logistical task. It is a way of taking action for one’s community and region,” he said.
He described the cooperation among young people from different West African countries in Dakar as a reflection of “exactly the West Africa we want to build”.
Through their participation, the two volunteers are giving practical expression to ECOWAS’s vision of youth-led regional integration, solidarity and human development.
Their experience underscores a message that extends beyond the sporting arena: West Africa’s future depends not only on cooperation among governments but also on young people willing to work together across national boundaries.
For Roberts and Mbenga, the Olympic adventure is therefore about more than supporting athletes.
It is about showing what a united West Africa can achieve.
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