Against a backdrop of global change mainly due to climate change, energy crisis, loss of biodiversity, etc., the current economic development model, which is not very respectful of natural resources, is increasingly being questioned. The ECOWAP 2025 Strategic Orientation Framework, adopted in 2016, therefore advocates the need to change the agricultural development paradigm.

Agroecological transition (AET) is set up as the essential pivot in the face of agricultural challenges West Africa is going through. The key to turning this vision into reality lies in mobilising appropriate financial resources. Main lesson learned is the need to secure long-term funding to sustainably support agroecological transition. Such resources must guarantee ongoing technical and financial support, giving agroecological projects the best chance of success. Diversification of funding sources is therefore a MUST.

To this end, ECOWAS has been implementing, since 2018, the West African Agroecology Programme with a total budget of €16.2 million. In addition, as part of the drive to build on the achievements of the Programme, another project, DéSIRA+, with a total budget of €20 million, still funded by the EU and AFD to support innovation activities that address agroecological issues on a larger scale will soon kick off. Finally, a study commissioned by ECOWAS as part of the Agroecology Programme has identified sources of private and public funding for agroecological transition, which will support the ECOWAS Regional Agriculture and Food Fund (RAFF).

Mobilising resources from these funding sources is the ECOWAS Commission's next objective towards increasing funding for agroecological transition in West Africa. International climate funds also represent a major opportunity for financing agroecological transition on a large scale. However, coordination challenges need to be addressed to maximise the impact of the resources.