We are excited to announce that ECOWAS — the Economic Community of West African States — has become the newest member of A4AI.

The Memorandum of Understanding signed by ECOWAS and A4AI/Web Foundation outlines a broad-based agreement and reflects our commitment to working together to promote affordable internet access through advocacy, research, and on-the-ground country engagement.

ECOWAS is a regional group comprising 15 West African member states, including three of A4AI’s four African member countries — Nigeria, Ghana, and Liberia. ECOWAS’ mandate is to promote economic integration across all its member states, serving as an economic and trading union and creating a single large trading bloc.

Over the next two years, A4AI and ECOWAS will work together to:

1. Host a gender-responsive policy workshop for policymakers, in conjunction with the ECOWAS Gender Development Centre in Dakar.
2. Develop infrastructure sharing policy guidelines and model regulations for use across the ECOWAS region. These guidelines and regulations will be informed by workshops with stakeholders in the region, and by the work A4AI is doing in Nigeria and Ghana (and just kicking off in Liberia).
3. Facilitate capacity building trainings and knowledge exchanges through workshops to explore urgent policy issues in the region.
4. Outline and implement a framework to unlock Universal Service and Access Funds in the region and support these funds to become more effective in their stated goals of working to bridge the digital divide and enable wider access.

We at A4AI are very excited about this new partnership, and look forward to working with ECOWAS to improve internet affordability and access throughout West Africa.

For more information, read the full press release announcing ECOWAS as the newest member of A4AI.