The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) presented the first results of a study on the role that women and youth entrepreneurship must play to improve the contribution of the fisheries and aquaculture sector to food and nutrition security. The hybrid meeting was held in Dakar, Senegal from 28-29 July 2022.

Developed in support of the Comprehensive Strategic Framework for Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture Development (CSFS FAD), the study aims to improve the access of young people and women to resources (goods and services) in the development of sustainable fisheries and aquaculture, to enable them to access decision-making spheres and to improve their contributions to the sectors.

Participants of the meeting comprised officers in charge of gender and youth in each ECOWAS Member State and Mauritania, a youth representative from the Subregional Regional Fisheries Commission (SRFC) and Yolande Nyonhoe, Projects Assistant for the Fisheries Committee for the West Central Gulf of Guinea (FCWC).

The meeting was an occasion to analyze the data presented, solicit feedback and additional information on the first results of the exchanges with actors of the ECOWAS and Mauritania. The proposed workplan and strategic action were accepted and validated by the participants, and include plans to engage in gender transformative work, to generate gender disaggregated data, to collect and analyze information to understand the diversity in the differentiated subgroups of youth.