The ECOWAS Sahel strategy experts have recommended the development of a socio-economic database of the Sahel region among  measures aimed at ensuring greater stability and peaceful development,.

At the end of the fourth meeting of the ECOWAS Sahel strategy coordination platform in Abuja on the 10^th of November 2015, participants also called for more visibility and communication of the salient elements of the strategy while maintaining the flow and exchange of information with both sponsors and partners of the initiatives.

The experts pushed for the monitoring of the mobilization of resources for the implementation of the Action Plan of the Strategy with emphasis on internal resource mobilisation within the region.

There were solidarity messages, suggestions and intervention statements from the representatives of the AU Commission, Sahel and West Africa Club (SWAC), CILSS,

The G5 Sahel, the World Bank, as well as the representatives of Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria

Stressing the relevance of the inclusive approach, participants welcomed the flexibility of the five-year action plan and expressed satisfaction with the emphasis put on key projects, which will facilitate the disenclavement and interconnection of territories.

They also commended the coordination effort and the political dialogue initiated by ECOWAS towards the implementation of projects for the development and stability of the Sahelo-Sahelian zone while recommending that ECOWAS should take the lead on development issues, within the context of the strategy.

During the meeting, deliberations centered on initiatives of other stakeholders in the Sahel, the action plan of the ECOWAS Sahel strategy, the coordination mechanism of the Strategy, as well as the Sahel Action Thematic Groups including stakeholder-interventions bordering on the implementation status of their initiatives in the Sahel, their coordination mechanisms as well as areas of potential synergy with ECOWAS.

Calling for more concerted efforts to realize the objectives of the strategy, the President of the ECOWAS Commission Kadré Désiré Ouedraogo sued for a redoubling of vigilance. President Ouadraogo said that given the increasing factors of vulnerability, insecurity and threats to sustainable peace in the region, ECOWAS needs to redouble vigilance towards addressing the root cause of the issue with a view to boosting development dynamics and stability for the Sahel-Saharan zone, in collaboration with other initiatives in the region.

Speaking through the Commissioner of Macroeconomic Policy and Economic Research Dr. Ibrahim Bocar Ba, who chaired the proceedings, President Ouedraogo expressed gratitude to all the delegations and welcomed the fruitful collaboration with UEMOA and the Permanent Interstates Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS), toward the formulation of the ECOWAS Sahel Strategy.

He urged the experts and delegates to look beyond current challenges facing the region and focus on the several opportunities that could be exploited for the benefit of its population, among which is pastoralism, trade, tourism, and the large mining and oil reserve potential.

The strategy coordination platform meeting came on the heels of the meeting of the Technical Secretariat. The meeting was attended by representatives of members of the ECOWAS Sahel Strategy Coordination Platform made up of CILSS, G5 Sahel, the West African Development Bank (BOAD), the AU Mission in Mali and the Sahel (MISAHEL), African Development Bank (AfDB), Member States of ECOWAS, Algeria, and Morocco, the Sahel and West Africa Club (SWAC), representatives of diplomatic missions, international and regional organizations, civil society organizations as well as ECOWAS partners.