1st Steering Committee Meeting- Regional Programme Support to Pandemic Prevention in ECOWAS Region

Regional Programme Support to Pandemic Prevention in ECOWAS

Region (RPPP-2) holds 1st Steering Committee Meeting.

Participants of the first annual Steering Committee Meeting of the Regional Programme Support to Pandemic Prevention in the ECOWAS Region (RPPP2)

The first annual Steering Committee Meeting of the Regional Programme Support to Pandemic Prevention in the ECOWAS Region (RPPP2) was held in Lomé, Togo from 24th to 26th November to ensure that the project meets its strategic aims and objectives.

The meeting was chaired by Dr Melchior Athanase Joël Codjovi Aïssi, Director General of the West African Health Organization (WAHO). Participants included representatives from the European Union Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Regional Animal Health Centre (RAHC), Regional Center for Surveillance and Disease Control (RCSDC), the programme’s focus countries, and from development partners. In his opening remarks, Dr Aïssi referred to the numerous public health events that have taken place in the ECOWAS region since 2019 and thanked the partners for their efforts in supporting the region. He emphasized the need to increase efforts to strengthen communication and collaboration between partners.

The members and observers of the Steering Committee discussed evaluation reports carried out by BMZ and the EU, reviewed the next steps for the EU Action, and worked toward developing a shared vision for project implementation on day one. Day two focused on the achievements in the first year of implementation, the planned activities for the year ahead, and the revised indicator framework including the M&E system. Presentations and discussions on day three were dedicated to the implementation at country level.

The central outcomes of the Steering Committee Meeting were the approval of the Terms of Reference for its operation, the agreement of the activities of the EU Action, the planning and the approval of the activities to be implemented in 2023, and the approval of the revised indicator framework.

The RPPP2 project assists the ECOWAS Commission, the WAHO, the RCSDC, and the RAHC in establishing a regional system for pandemic prevention and control, based on the One Health approach. It will be co–funded by the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) with the co-funding by the EU being finalised and is implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.