West Africa Regional Resources
About the Impact Center
Those pictured were trained on several themes such as Farming God's Way, bio-digester construction, compost making, gardening, and livestock.
The ECHO West Africa Impact Center seeks to extend their services to equip those working across the Region to more effectively engage women and men in the area of agriculture. Functioning primarily as a
technical support organization, the Impact Center Team joins with community development organizations and workers to enable small-scale farmers and gardeners to nurture their soil and animals,
increase their production, improve their nutrition, and enhance their livelihoods.
ECHO’s training focuses not only on agriculture, but on improving the living conditions of small-scale farmers, and we are interested in agriculture, health, food, environment, income, etc. Our trainings are very practical and at the end of each session each participant is able to practice what they have learned and pass along their training to others.
Following the training campaign comes the period of follow-ups and evaluations. Our training teams traveled to almost all the localities where they gave training to follow up on the implementation of the techniques taught. So, for example, Bobo, Kouka, Solenzo, Bomboila, Koran, Dedougou, Djibo, Kayibo, Laye, Leo, Ourbono, Siby, Dakoro, Sanekui, Toma, and Tougan were followed and accompanied in the application of the various techniques taught By ECHO.
Trainings conducted in 2022
The ECHO West Africa Team directly equipped 3,392 women and men in 2021. They have been systematically following up with the trainee groups/communities to encourage and support their implementation of the plants, practices, and methods/technologies that were shared.
Trainings are actively underway in 2022 and are being conducted with communities, partner organizations, and educational institutions. For security reasons, scheduled trainings are not being listed. However, the West Africa Impact Center Team will welcome your interest and inquiry. Please contact e-mail them at: WestAfrica@echocommunity.org
Services
- Hosting conferences and forums which offer training and networking opportunities to network members;
- Facilitating regular regional workshops in West African countries, often in partnership with local organizations, to provide technical training and networking opportunities to the network;
- Providing a wide range of technical resources through ECHOcommunity.org and from the office located in Burkina Faso;
- Offering technical responses to network members inquiring with agriculture and community development questions;
- Offering consultations to network members on a case-by-case basis;
- Involvement in regionally important research and information dissemination.
Upcoming events: West Africa
Latest Resources: West Africa
Africa Soil Health Consortium
ASHC defines integrated soil fertility management or ISFM as : "A set of soil fertility management practices that necessarily include the use of fertilizer, organic inputs and improved germplasm combined with the knowledge o...
Potential role of neglected and underutilized plant species in improving women’s empowerment and nutrition in areas of sub-Saharan Africa
Maria Vittoria Conti, Ausilia Campanaro, Paola Coccetti, Rachele De Giuseppe, Andrea Galimberti, Massimo Labra, Hellas Cena, Potential role of neglected and underutilized plant species in improving women’s empowerment and nu...
Neglected and Underutilized Species (NUS) for Improved Food Security and Resilience to Climate Change
A Contextualized Learning Manual for African Colleges and Universities
Kasolo, W., Chemining’wa, G., and Temu, A. 2018. Neglected and Underutilized Species (NUS) for Improved Food Security and Resilience to Climate...
Neglected crops of Africa
Okigbo, R. N. and Ugwu, C. S. (2021). Neglected crops of Africa. International Journal of Agricultural Technology 17(6):2197-2210.
The neglected crops have not been fully realized in their potential. They are well ...
Africa Manifesto and Plan of Action on Forgotten Foods
Food security globally is constrained by several factors including the heavy reliance on very few key staple crops. In Africa, food insecurity has been increasing due to the effects of climate change, insecurity caused by te...
About West Africa
"West Africa is a highly diverse region in terms of agro-climatic conditions and agricultural production potential, as well as with respect to the distribution of vulnerable populations. In general, the northern regions of coastal countries and the landlocked Sahelian countries are relatively food insecure and impoverished. Additionally, rapid urbanization in the region is leading to increasing numbers of urban poor. The population in this region is expected to grow 100 percent between 2010 and 2050, compared to the global growth rate of 38 percent. Population growth combined with low increases in productivity could further tighten resources and increase food insecurity.
Chronic undernutrition and food availability are core challenges to food security in West Africa. Critical gender concerns related to food security include the inability of women to hold on to land and to make decisions regarding household expenditure and consumption, as well as women having less capital than men.
There is ample evidence that the agriculture sector—which accounts for 35 percent of West African gross domestic product and 15.3 percent of regional export earnings—and in particular food staples, is the best engine for generating sustained, rapid and pro-poor economic growth." - Feed The Future