West Africa has historically been characterized by immigration, emigration and transit migration flows. Labour migration remains essentially informal: most migrants within the region are not registered and do not benefit from the right of residence and associated protection. This and other realities on the ground do hamper the full exploitation of the potential benefits of migration in West Africa for its regional integration and development process. The protection of migrants is pinnacle to boost the development impact of human mobility. The rational being that a better protected migrant can be more actively involved in the social economic life in the host community. The migration and development nexus has not yet been properly understood nor appropriated in the sub-region. Studies confirm however the untapped development potential of south – south migration. Closing these knowledge and capacity gaps through research, innovative pilot-projects and policy dialogue will further strengthen the development process of West Africa. A first phase will primarily look at identifying appropriate beneficiaries and strengthen their capacities to allow them to become active and effective stakeholders in the field of migration and development as well as protection. A second phase will then focus on implementing innovative pilot-projects ideally linked to newly developed policies. The main partner of the program will be the governments within the ECOWAS region and the ECOWAS Commission but strong partnerships will be established with selected civil society organizations and international organizations where their specific expertise is necessary. This is the case for the ACP observatory which will be mandated to establish a baseline and improve the data base. As there is a risk of political instability in the sub-region negatively impacting the implementation of the program close cooperation and information exchange with Swiss representations in the region assessing the political stability in the sub-region enabling a timely adaptation of projects if required. The West Africa Program is proposed to cover the period from 2012 – 2020 with a tentative budget of around 10 Mio CHF for the entire period. The opening credit of CHF 350’000 will be used to organise a regional conference with the key stakeholders of the region and other additional measures.

There will be a public international tender for the mandate to identify and coordinate civil society organizations and to strengthen their capacities to participate at the national and regional policy dialogue. Depending on context and content pilot projects on national and local levels may be subject to tender processes.