ECOWAS Empowers Women in Benue with Economic and Digital Skills
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has launched a major initiative to equip women in Benue State with economic and digital skills aimed at strengthening livelihoods and promoting sustainable peace.
The project, implemented in partnership with the Benue State Government, targets women-led, community-based organisations working on Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) initiatives in conflict-affected communities.
The launch coincided with a five-day capacity-building programme involving 12 participants drawn from community-based organisations, civil society groups, and internally displaced persons (IDP) camps.
The trained participants are expected to cascade the knowledge to at least 60 women and girls across selected IDP camps and host communities throughout the state.
Speaking at the event, the ECOWAS Director, Dr. Sintiki Tarfa-Ugbe, described the initiative as a strategic intervention designed to strengthen grassroots impact.
“This initiative is a strategic intervention that empowers women-led organisations to drive durable solutions at the grassroots while harnessing digital tools to promote inclusion, resilience, and peace. Strengthening women’s economic agency and digital capacity is essential to building sustainable peace in fragile and displacement-affected communities,” she said.
The Secretary to the Benue State Government, Barr. Aber Serumum Deborah, commended ECOWAS for the programme, noting that it would “reinforce grassroots peacebuilding efforts and enhance women’s participation in implementing the state’s Durable Solutions Action Plan”.
She added that the project would support livelihood recovery for women and girls affected by conflict, while strengthening community ownership of peace and reintegration processes.
Aligned with the ECOWAS Vision 2050 framework, the initiative seeks to bolster the institutional capacity of women-led organisations and equip conflict-affected women and girls with practical economic and digital skills needed for long-term stability and self-reliance.
