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 Mission
Together with governments, regional institutions and civil society/private sector organisations, the Sahel and West Africa Club (SWAC) supports the development and implementation of action-oriented policies and investments that take into account the complementarities between local, national and regional levels. It supports West African initiatives to promote medium- and long-term development. The SWAC also helps identify strategic questions on the region’s future and facilitates exchanges between regional actors and OECD member countries that lead to concrete actions on the ground.
Origin & Evolution
Originally founded by OECD member countries as “Club du Sahel” in 1976 to raise international support and awareness of the drought crisis in the Sahel region, the Club extended its geographic coverage in 2001 to encompass all 17 West African countries, home to approximately 290 million people. While taking into account the problems and challenges of the region, the SWAC along with its African partners has developed a prospective vision of West Africa which focuses on the identification and promotion of the dynamics of change as well as the drivers of change. Today, the SWAC’s mission is to help identify and address strategic questions related to medium- and long-term development in West Africa.
Objectives
The SWAC's main objectives are to:
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Help identify strategic questions related to medium- and long-term development in West Africa;
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Contribute to mobilising and strengthening African capacities within a network approach;
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Support initiatives and efforts by West Africans to promote medium- and long-term development in the region;
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Facilitate exchanges between regional actors and OECD member countries;
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Promote constructive debates that lead to innovative decisions within and outside the region aimed at building a better future for the region.
Work Areas
Taking into account realities and needs on the ground, the SWAC focuses its work on four areas of concentration:
Work Methods
The methodological approach, “doni doni”, adopted by the SWAC aims at supporting efforts undertaken by Africans themselves. It is based on an iterative, consultative and participative approach. This process involves three types of partners (West African partners, partners from outside West Africa and the SPG members) and combines field work, consultations with various actors, experience sharing, analyses, research, exchanges and discussions. It belongs to a multidimensional approach:
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A temporal, spatial, regional approach
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A field-based approach
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A scientific and multidisciplinary approach
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A network approach;
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An approach based on partnership.
Relationship to the OECD, Governance & Funding
Attached to the OECD as a semi-autonomous body, the Club is led by a Secretariat composed of a small technical team based in Issy-les Moulineaux near Paris. It is financed essentially through voluntary contributions from OECD member countries and organisations, who are represented in the Strategy and Policy Group (SPG), the Club’s Board of Directors.
The SPG meets twice a year (thematic meeting held in a West African country and a strategic and administrative/ budgetary meeting held in an OECD country) to examine the work accomplished and to approve the SWAC’s multi-year work plan. The SPG is comprised of representatives from contributing countries with the participation of West African countries as well as the main regional partner institutions and networks. As a member of the OECD Development Cluster, the SWAC has also developed synergies with other OECD Directorates.
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