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Beitrag zum Sahel and West Africa Club - Arbeitsprogramm 2013-14
Short Description:
Overall goal
The Sahel and West Africa Club is a group of West African regional organisations, countries and international organisations that work together towards the development and integration of the West African region. The Club’s mission is to pool together Members’ experiences, ideas and perspectives to help build more effective regional policies. Drawing on factual studies and independent analyses, the Club devises strategic guidelines and policy tools for Members and other stakeholders.
The Club is also a space for policy dialogue. As a member of the OECD Development Cluster, the SWAC Secretariat contributes to the work of the Organisation and ensures that West African concerns and initiatives are taken into account in global debates, particularly those on food, energy and security issues which are priority areas of Austrian’s development cooperation in West Africa.
Austria is member of the Club since it has been founded in 1976 to raise international support for and awareness of the drought crises in the Sahel. In response to growing regional interdependence, its geographic coverage was extended in 2001 to encompass all West African countries. Founded on the principle of sharing knowledge and experience, the Club capitalises its resources in support of the agenda and leadership of West Africa’s regional organisations. In January 2011, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) and the Permanent Inter-State Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS) joined the Club as Members.