The ECOWAS Commission, as part of the Regional Strategy for Youth Employment in Agricultural Value Chains donated US$2,238,000 to 10 Agricultural Research Centres in the Region and five Agroecology and Organic production Centers and Songhai Centers.
The grant which was presented in cheque on February 25, 2025, in Porto Novo, Benin is intended to train 3,850 young people, 40% of whom are women to Boost Youth Employment in the Region.
The cheques were presented by Mrs. Massandjé TOURE-LITSE, the Commissioner of Economic Affairs and Agriculture, of the ECOWAS Commission on behalf of Omar Alieu TOURAY, President of the ECOWAS Commission, at the opening ceremony of the workshop to sensitise and mobilise the various beneficiary Centres of the 2024/2025 Grant on the content of the Regional Strategy for Youth Employment in Agricultural Value Chains and the issues related to the professional integration of young people in the agro-sylvopastoral and halieutic sector at the Songhai Centre in Porto Novo.
In her opening remarks, Mrs. Massandjé TOURE-LITSE highlighted that “this initiative is fully in line with ECOWAS vision of promoting sustainable, inclusive and innovative agricultural development. Training young people means investing in our collective future. It means giving them the tools they needed to transform our agriculture, improve productivity and strengthen the competitiveness of our agricultural sectors. It is also a way of combating unemployment by offering them concrete prospects for self-employment and entrepreneurship.”
While welcoming participants to the workshop, Director of the Songhai Centre, Godfrey NZAMUJO, commended ECOWAS for taking this decisive step.
“What we are launching today is far more than a training program. It is the foundation of a new economic paradigm—one where agriculture, industry and services work in synergy to drive sustainable development, environmental regeneration and wealth creation. It is an opportunity to redefine development in Africa, shifting from short-term interventions to transformative, scalable solutions that directly address the root causes of poverty, unemployment and ecological degradation,” he added.
The breakdown of the grant is as follow; US$936,000 for the SONGHAI Centres; US$708,000 for CORAF and 10 National Agricultural Research Centers (CNRA) in the Member States, US$594,000 for the Agroecological and Organic Production Centers for the implementation of the Organic and Ecological Agriculture Initiative (EOA-I) of the Conference of Heads of State of Government of the African Union on behalf of the States of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)