The ECOWAS Gender Development Centre (EGDC) And the Folke Bernadotte academy commit to strengthening the peace and security architecture in west Africa

From November 4th to 6th, 2025, in Abuja, Nigeria, a training workshop was held for staff of the Ecowas Gender Development Center (EGDC), in partnership with the Folke Bernadotte Academy (FBA).

The workshop aimed to strengthen the role of participants as senior gender experts within the ECOWAS Commission. It identified key challenges related to gender mainstreaming within the institution’s structures and reviewed recent research on the subject, while consolidating collaboration between the EGDC and the FBA.

Discussions focused on the EGDC’s progress in implementing the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) Agenda, strategic gender advice, and analytical tools such as SWOT. The two institutions agreed to continue these capacity-building exercises in order to improve coordination between the EGDC internal and external partners. These initiatives will aim to harmonize mandates, strengthen gender-sensitive approaches, and optimize ECOWAS’s contribution to regional peace and security efforts.