Organized by the Alliance for Agroecology in West Africa (3AO) and West Africa Organic Network (WAfrONet) in partnership with ECOWAS and ActionAid Nigeria, the Forum on Agroecology and Organic Agriculture in West Africa, held in Abuja (Nigeria) from 21 to 24 October 2024, focused on the theme: Financing the transformation of sustainable food and nutrition systems for food sovereignty in West Africa through organic farming and agroecology: what policies, mechanisms and instruments? The forum, which brought together about 400 participants, was a powerful reminder that agroecology and organic farming constitute a powerful means for improving food and nutrition security in West Africa.

As the region strives to build a food-secure future, agroecology and organic farming offer a concrete solution. By adopting sustainable farming practices, the region can enhance biodiversity, improve soil health and promote ecosystem services. Agroecology and organic farming also enable small-scale farmers, particularly women, to take charge of their livelihoods and contribute to local economic growth.

While recalling the progress already made, the challenges to be overcome and the solutions to be found, the forum's discussions and exchanges addressed themes such as the development of synergies, possible actions and measures by regional institutions to improve the mobilization of financing, network access to financing mechanisms, in particular climate funds, research on financing and action research initiatives. Several keynote presentations and parallel thematic panels on the sustainable and inclusive use and management of agricultural and pastoral land, the management of forest areas and fishery resources, participatory guarantee systems, the role of young people and women, the production and dissemination of farmers' seeds, digitalization to support scaling-up, and agroecological and organic inputs also helped to enrich the debates. Parallel thematic panels also considered public policies and strategies, partner interventions, etc.

On the sidelines of the forum, ECOWAS strengthened the capacities of over fifty (50) technical experts from the ministries in charge of agriculture in the fifteen (15) member states, ECOWAS executives and representatives of regional producers' organizations on access to climate funds. The training was supported by three (03) ECOWAS projects working on climate resilience, namely the Agroecology Program, the ECOWAS Institutional and State Capacity Building Project on Access to Climate Finance to Support the Regional Climate Strategy, and the Regional Project for the Promotion of Climate-Smart Agriculture in West Africa.

The forum provides a unique platform for knowledge sharing, networking and learning between agroecology and organic farming advocates, with a view to increasing production, scaling up best practices and improving market access. Essentially, regional organizations (ECOWAS, CILSS CORAF and UEMOA) and states were called upon to integrate agroecology, organic farming and climate-smart agriculture into national and regional policies, and to facilitate the mobilization of funding and resources, capacity building, monitoring and evaluation, communication and knowledge management.