Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Concludes Meeting of Directors-General of National Statistical Institutes by Adopting New Guidelines for Regional Statistical Harmonization

On July 31, 2026, in Dakar, Senegal, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission concluded the meeting of the Directors General of the National Statistical Institutes (NSIs) of member states. Held from July 27 to 31, 2026, this meeting was part of the implementation of the ECOWAS Statistical Policy, which aims to strengthen the harmonization of national statistical systems in order to produce reliable, comparable, and timely data to inform public policy and support regional integration. Over the course of five days, the Directors-General of the NSIs, experts from the ECOWAS Commission, and representatives of technical and financial partners assessed the progress made in implementing the Regional Statistical Program (RSP 2023–2027) and the PHASAO and PHASAOC projects. Participants also reviewed several strategic methodological documents designed to strengthen the quality, consistency, and comparability of official statistics produced in member states. At the conclusion of the meeting, the Directors-General approved several regional methodological guides intended to serve as common references for the production of official statistics within the ECOWAS region. Th