Abidjan - Cote d'Ivoire — Three scientific workshops that provided an opportunity for participants to reflect on the mechanisms for deepening West African integration and generate ideas for the implementation of the single currency as well as the fight against poverty were organized by the ECOWAS Commission from 23rd July 2010 in Abidjan.

The workshops which took place over five days brought together sixty opinion leaders, representatives of civil society, academics and researchers from the region to make proposals for the involvement of key stakeholders in the realization of the vision 2020 ECOWAS for a citizen-centred Community.

The first scientific workshop held between the 23rd and 25th of July focused on strengthening the capacity of local experts in order to create a corps of researchers from ECOWAS countries who are familiar with modern techniques of collecting, processing and analysis of data through advanced software. The second workshop held between the 24th and 27th of July 2010 which was held in collaboration with the Faculty of Sociology at the University of Abidjan concentrated on the state of knowledge and the impact of poverty on people in West Africa.

Thirty papers were presented and discussed during the workshop, focusing mainly on the role of integration in reducing poverty, the fight against poverty in the LDCs, critical analysis of the actions of ECOWAS in the fight against poverty, the strategy against poverty in West Africa, the impact of EPAs on poverty, female poverty, strategies for human survival, the role of the informal sector, the link between armed conflict and poverty and finally, the effectiveness of assistance.

The final workshop, which held between the 25th and 27th of July 2010, focused on the single currency project for West Africa and brought together experts who discussed monetary issues, banking, finance economies, inflation, debt, growth, external shocks, the demand for money, credit, microfinance, legal aspects of access to the single currency and finally the role of ECOWAS in the regional monetary integration.

The ECOWAS Commissioner for Macroeconomic Policy, Professor Lambert Bamba who N'Galadjopésidé praised the high level of the contributions indicated that they will be compiled into a book by ECOWAS for dissemination throughout the region in order to bring all the actors to the same level of information.