The West Africa Section runs programmes in Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, and manages regional programmes in the West Africa region.
West Africa
The West Africa Section runs programmes in Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, and manages a range of regional programmes in the West Africa region. In Nigeria, it mainly provides humanitarian assistance in response to the crisis caused by the armed group Boko Haram.The section takes an integrated approach combining development cooperation and humanitarian aid (the humanitarian-development nexus).
It works to improve local governance, conflict prevention, human rights, food security, employment and income generation as well as basic education and vocational skills development. Climate change is also considered in the section's activities, including mitigation and adaptation measures to climate change. The section works together with socio-professional organisations and think tanks in order to facilitate regional integration. At multilateral level, it has established partnerships with a number of intergovernmental organisations in the region such as the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
The section coordinates its programmes with the FDFA State Secretariat, the Peace and Human Rights Division (for peacebuilding activities), as well as the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) and the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).
