From its inception ECOWAS was conscious of the priority of Education and Training towards imparting employable skills to the teaming youths of the Community, only recently, the Commission organised a series of capacity building sessions in Member States on the use of multimedia approach for the development and revision of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) curriculum and instructional materials. Additional content of capacity building sessions in five countries (Cape Verde, Guinea, Liberia, Niger and Sierra Leone) included the use of the internet to source modern animations and other resource materials to enhance the quality of teaching and learning, competency based approach to teaching that lay more emphasis on practical; integration of entrepreneurship education into TVET curriculum to address challenges associated with values, attitudes and dignity; and the use of ICT in the teaching and management of TVET.

Furthermore, a survey was conducted in five countries (Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal) in the course of the year towards revitalization of TVET Management Information Systems and Delivery in order to optimize the comparative advantage of Member States for the overall benefit of the Community and source   for funds for identified gaps.

The Status report on Girls’ Education was prepared by the Commission with the collaboration of experts on education of girls and other vulnerable groups in Banjul in April 2013. The meeting also identified and documented best practices that could be replicated at the Regional level, namely in the areas of advocacy and sensitization; information sharing on Regional and Global trends towards achieving the MDGs in 2015 and beyond.

Towards the promotion of higher education with emphasis on the production of high level professionals for the region, the project of a West African University was adopted in 2012.  The terms of reference for the feasibility study was developed by some of the Chancellors and Vice Chancellors of ECOWAS Member States Universities in September, 2013.

As part of plans for comprehensive intervention, the ECOWAS Experts on education discussed the girls’ education; equivalence of certificates; E-learning; Education Management Information Systems (EMIS).