Strengthening Peace Support Operations: ECOWAS organizes Workshop on Training in Planning, Management, and Liquidation on Curriculum Development

By Emmanuel Daudu

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission, through the Directorate of Peacekeeping and Regional Security (DPKRS), with the technical and financial support of the ECOWAS Peace and Security Architecture and Operations (EPSAO) project has organized a two-day Joint Review Workshop on the development of a Curriculum for the Training in Planning, Management and Liquidation of Peace Support Operations Missions from February 27 to 28, 2024, in Abuja, Nigeria.

According to the ECOWAS Programme Officer IT and Communication, Mr. Kouadio Serge in a media summary he signed and made available to journalists in Abuja, the objective of the workshop is to review, harmonize and validate the draft curriculum for training on planning, management, and liquidation of ECOWAS Peace Support Operations missions.

He said, the two days
meeting was attended by training experts of the ECOWAS Commission Peace Support Operations and the ECOWAS Standby Force, training officers from the National Defence College (NDC) and GIZ Nigeria.
“Over the two days, the experts discussed the draft curriculum developed and submitted by the consultant, the methodology and the training strategy to be adopted by the Peace Support Operations Division of the ECOWAS Commission

Speaking on behalf of Dr Cyriaque AGNEKETHOM, (ECOWAS Director of Peacekeeping and Regional Security), Dr Sani Adamu, Acting Head of the Peace Support Operations Division, stressed that “given recent political developments within the West Africa region, having a curriculum that will enhance the capacity of the ECOWAS Standby Force which includes the military, police, and civilians in Peace Support Operations, planning, management, and liquidation for a successful mission is apt. He further informed that the ECOWAS Commission is about to launch its first Peace Support Operations Depot in Lungi, Sierra Leone. Therefore, the development of this curriculum came at the right time.

Dr Cyriaque AGNEKETHOM also welcomed the continued support of the EPSAO project implemented by GIZ on behalf of the European Union (EU) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), he acknowledged and thanked National Defence College Abuja Nigeria, for the longstanding partnership as the ECOWAS Training Centre of Excellence on Peace Support Operations at the Strategic Level.