KAIPTC-WYPSI, successfully hosted a five-day regional strategic leadership training for the ECOWAS Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Regional Steering Group aimed to strengthen leadership, coordination, and implementation capacities for advancing the WPS agenda across ECOWAS Member States.
The programme brought together National WPS Focal Points, representatives of the ECOWAS Commission, development partners, regional women’s networks, and civil society organisations.
Opening the workshop, the Acting Commandant of KAIPTC, Air Commodore David Anetey Akrong, reflected on progress made since the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, noting that West Africa had taken important steps to promote women’s participation in peace and security processes. He also highlighted persistent implementation challenges, including weak institutional coordination, inconsistent stakeholder engagement, and limited leadership capacity within national WPS mechanisms.
Air Commodore Akrong observed that the region’s evolving security environment—marked by violent extremism, political instability, and climate-related insecurity—required stronger and more strategic leadership to drive sustainable progress. He explained that the training was designed to enhance leadership, negotiation, and coordination skills, enabling participants to strengthen national WPS systems aligned with the ECOWAS Regional Action Plan and the African Union Continental Results Framework.
Ghana’s Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Dr. Agnes Naa Momo Lartey, reaffirmed Ghana’s commitment to advancing the WPS agenda. She highlighted key national achievements, including the passage of the Affirmative Action Gender Equity Act (Act 1121), the appointment of gender focal persons across security institutions, and progress made under Ghana’s Second National Action Plan on WPS (2020–2025).
Dr. Lartey noted that the training was particularly timely as the international community marked 25 years of UNSCR 1325. She encouraged participants to leverage the knowledge and networks gained to strengthen coordination and enhance national mechanisms that support women’s participation, protection, and leadership in peace and security.
Development partners also reaffirmed their support for ECOWAS. Representing GIZ Ghana, Dr. Dirk Abmann, Country Director, underscored the commitment of Germany and the European Union to gender-responsive peace and security. He emphasised that sustainable peace requires the meaningful participation of women at all levels of decision-making and highlighted the importance of peer learning and regional networks in strengthening national WPS coordination structures.
The workshop combined expert-led sessions with experiential learning approaches, including group work, simulations, negotiation exercises, and peer exchanges. Participants also developed context-specific national coordination action plans aimed at improving WPS implementation in their respective countries.
The training formed part of KAIPTC’s broader efforts to support regional and national institutions to improve policy coherence, accountability, and collaboration in advancing women’s leadership in peace and security. The programme was organised by the Directorate of Humanitarian Affairs at the ECOWAS Commission in collaboration with KAIPTC and the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP), with funding support from the German Government and the European Union through the ECOWAS Peace, Security and Governance (EPSG) Project.