The West Africa Institute was established in

Praia Praia (, Portuguese language, Portuguese for "beach") is the capital and largest city of Cape Verde.

Cabo Verde , national_anthem = () , official_languages = Portuguese , national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole , capital = Praia , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym ...

in 2010 to provide the missing link between policy and research in the

regional integration Regional Integration is a process in which neighboring countries enter into an agreement in order to upgrade cooperation through common institutions and rules. The objectives of the agreement could range from economic to political to enviro ...

process.

Origin

The idea emerged from 15 research workshops organized in each of the 15 member states of the

Economic Community of West African States The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS; also known as in French and Portuguese) is a regional political union, political and economic union of fifteen countries located in West Africa. Collectively, these countries comprise an ...

(ECOWAS) on the theme of regional integration by UNESCO’s programme for the Management of Social Transformations. In 2008, the

Summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topography, topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used ...

of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS in

Ouagadougou Ouagadougou ( , , ) is the capital and largest city of Burkina Faso and the administrative, communications, cultural, and economic centre of the nation. It is also the country's largest city, with a population of 2,415,266 in 2019. The city's n ...

(Burkina Faso) unanimously endorsed the idea to create the West Africa Institute In 2009, UNESCO’s General Conference established the West Africa Institute as one of its category 2 institutes, which means that it functions under the auspices of UNESCO. A year later, the Government of Cabo Verde passed a law establishing the institute in the capital. The institute is the fruit of a public– private partnership involving ECOWAS, the

West African Economic and Monetary Union The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS; also known as in French and Portuguese) is a regional political and economic union of fifteen countries located in West Africa. Collectively, these countries comprise an area of , and in ...

, UNESCO, the

pan-African Pan-Africanism is a worldwide movement that aims to encourage and strengthen bonds of solidarity between all Indigenous and diaspora peoples of African ancestry. Based on a common goal dating back to the Atlantic slave trade, the movement exte ...

Ecobank Ecobank, whose official name is Ecobank Transnational Inc. (ETI), is a pan-African banking conglomerate, with banking operations in 36 African countries. It is the leading independent regional banking group in West Africa and Central Africa, se ...

and the Government of Cabo Verde.

Mission

The West Africa Institute is a

service provider A service provider (SP) is an organization that provides services, such as consulting, legal, real estate, communications, storage, and processing services, to other organizations. Although a service provider can be a sub-unit of the organization t ...

, conducting research for regional and national public institutions, the

private sector The private sector is the part of the economy, sometimes referred to as the citizen sector, which is owned by private groups, usually as a means of establishment for profit or non profit, rather than being owned by the government. Employment The ...

civil society Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...

also organizes political and scientific dialogues between policy-makers, regional institutions and members of civil society. There are ten research themes: * the historical and cultural bases of regional integration; *

citizenship Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

; *

governance Governance is the process of interactions through the laws, social norm, norms, power (social and political), power or language of an organized society over a social system (family, tribe, formal organization, formal or informal organization, a ...

; * regional

security Security is protection from, or resilience against, potential harm (or other unwanted coercive change) caused by others, by restraining the freedom of others to act. Beneficiaries (technically referents) of security may be of persons and social ...

; * economic challenges to market integration in

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Maurit ...

; * new

information and communication technologies Information and communications technology (ICT) is an extensional term for information technology (IT) that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals) and computers, ...

; * education; * the problem of shared resources (land, water, minerals, coastal and maritime security); *

funding Funding is the act of providing resources to finance a need, program, or project. While this is usually in the form of money, it can also take the form of effort or time from an organization or company. Generally, this word is used when a firm uses ...

non-governmental organizations A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

in West Africa; and *

migration Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration * Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another ** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...

References

{{Free-content attribution , title = UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030 , author = UNESCO , publisher = UNESCO Publishing , page numbers = 478 , source = , documentURL = http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002354/235406e.pdf , license statement URL = , license = CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0

External links

West Africa Institute
Organizations established in 2010 Research institutes in Africa 2010 establishments in Cape Verde