ECOWAS, ACSS forge academic partnership to address regional conflicts

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has formalized a new partnership with the Africa Centre for Strategic Studies (ACSS) through the signing of a Memorandum of Academic Agreement.

The signing ceremony took place on November 12, 2024, in Washington D.C., with ECOWAS Vice President H.E. Damtien L. Tchinchibidja leading the delegation.

Colonel (Ret.) Dan Hampton, Acting Director of ACSS, emphasized the importance of the agreement, stating, “This partnership between ECOWAS and the ACSS represents a crucial step towards strengthening collaboration and fostering innovative approaches to address the region’s challenges.”

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The partnership aims to leverage joint research efforts to identify and address the root causes of conflicts, with a strong focus on human rights. The agreement also includes initiatives for capacity building, strategic leadership, and the exchange of best practices, utilizing advanced technologies and methodologies for data collection, processing, and forecasting, particularly for early warning systems.

Vice President Tchinchibidja expressed ECOWAS’s enthusiasm for the collaboration, highlighting its potential to drive impactful outcomes.

“ECOWAS is particularly enthused by the prospect of also collaborating with ACSS towards capacity building, strategic leadership, and exchange of ideas on best practices, including the use of new approaches, models, and technologies for data collection, processing, and forecasting, particularly for Early Warning but also beyond,” she stated.

The vice president was joined by Ambassador Kinza Jawara-Njai and other officials from the ECOWAS Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations in New York.