The ECOWAS Commission on Friday 13th March 2015 unveiled its new more interactive and user friendly website (old22.ecowas.int) as part of ongoing efforts to reposition and enhance the visibility of the regional organization, which marks its 40th anniversary this year.
“In a digital and globalizing world, this is an important tool for communication and interaction between our community institutions, our community citizens and partners,”’ declared the President of the Commission H.E. Kadré Desire Ouédraogo.
This step is also consistent, he said, with the objectives of the “transformation from an ECOWAS of States to an ECOWAS of People and Vision 2020.”
“In delivering our mandate to improve the lives of the more than 300 million citizens of our 15 Member States, we must do so through dynamic and proactive policies and the implementation of citizen-oriented programmes and activities,” President Ouédraogo affirmed.
The Commissioner for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Dr. Isaias Barreto Olimpio Da Rosa, concurs, saying that in the digital age of the social media, the improved website will be a source of rich information on ECOWAS with easy access by community citizens and other interested visitors/users.
“It is an ongoing process,” he said, adding: “we would strive to improve this visibility tool to the desired level to achieve a robust and dynamic web presence for our organization and the benefit of our citizens.”
The new website has a dynamic multimedia section with provision for social media interactions and a rich photo gallery.
The Commission’s Communication Director Mrs. Sandra Oulate F. Elleingand expressed happiness at the launch of the new website, which she described as one of the tools for improving the organization’s communication strategy and reaching out to the community citizens, diverse stakeholders including Governments and officials of Member States, the civil society and other partners.
She thanked the Management for providing the necessary policy orientation, the ICT Commissioner, the Community Computer Centre (CCC) and the Communication Directorate’s team for their support and contributions to the successful launch of the new website, which replaces the one that has been in use for the past 13 years.
The unveiling of the new website comes two weeks after the Commission launched its Integrated Management System, ECOLink, an automated administrative and financial regulation scheme which is consistent with the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS).
