Abuja, 20th April, 2020. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is holding a virtual meeting of stakeholders on the 28th of April, 2020 to validate a coherent and holistic human capacity development strategy.

The capacity development enhancement being evolved by ECOWAS, is majorly targeting education, skills development and Labour sectors.

The virtual meeting is being called on account of the need for urgency in tackling skills and productivity deficiencies in addition to the recognition by ECOWAS, of human capital as a critical lever in the search for long lasting solutions.

The human capacity strategy is also meant to tackle youth unemployment, low productivity and creativity while stemming the tide of burgeoning illiteracy rates in the region.

Through strategic partnership with the African Development Bank and Government of Japan, ECOWAS commissioned a diagnostic study of the region with a view to developing a coherent and holistic human capital strategy for ECOWAS as a way of addressing key challenges in the identified sectors.

In this regard, the stakeholder forum will help facilitate the emergence of a public dialogue while presenting a platform to share technical feedback on the evolved draft strategy in order to ensure a robust and pragmatic strategy for the ECOWAS region.