ECOWAS Commission to develop Integrated Human Capital Strategy

The ECOWAS Commission, in its quest to improve human capital outcomes across the region, is developing an Integrated Human Capital Strategy.

As part of the development process, partnering consultants are visiting the Member States, including Ghana, to conduct a situational assessment of the challenges on ground limiting the impact of HCD interventions, and to gather stakeholder insights on how ECOWAS can provide regional support moving forward.

The objective of the Integrated Human Capital Strategy is not to create new country strategies for each Member State, but to define how ECOWAS supports countries in realizing their HCD objectives through interventions at the regional level. The development of the strategy is focused on three thematic areas, including:

• Health and Nutrition;

• Education, Skills and Labour Participation; and

• Entrepreneurship, Financial Inclusion and Digital Payments

The team of consultants supporting ECOWAS arrived in Ghana on 27th January 2020 to engage key stakeholders, including Ministers and their Directors from selected Ministries and Departments.

Other stakeholders engaged over the two-week period of the in-country visit included Donors, Civic Society Organizations and Private Sector Players.

To conclude the country visit to Ghana, a workshop was held to:

• Share insights from the regional and Ghana baseline analysis which sheds light on our starting point;

• Share the findings from the stakeholder interviews during the country visit around challenges hindering progress and key success factors for tackling those challenges.

• Work with all previously engaged parties to prioritize the focus areas for ECOWAS interventions moving forward.

Following the workshop, preliminary findings were made available to stakeholders to ensure accuracy of the information collected during the visit of the consultants. Comments from on the preliminary findings from stakeholders have since been made available to the ECOWAS Commission.

Preparations are ongoing to facilitate a validation workshop for the strategy.

Similar country visits and workshops will be held in the other Member States, before the Integrated Human Capital Strategy is developed.