THUR AUG 20 2026-theGBJournal| The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is stepping up efforts to harmonise migration and macroeconomic data across member states, seeking to close one of the region’s biggest policy gaps: the lack of comparable, reliable statistics needed to coordinate economic policy and manage cross-border population movements.
The regional Commission’s Directorate of Research and statistics, in this regard, is holding two regional workshops in Abidjan from August 18 to 22 under the PHASAOC project, part of a broader drive to modernise statistical systems, improve access to data and strengthen how governments use evidence in policymaking.
The initiative has significance beyond statistical housekeeping.
For a region pursuing deeper economic integration, differences in how countries collect, classify and publish data can make it difficult to assess progress towards macroeconomic convergence, design coordinated policies or accurately measure the scale and direction of migration.
The first workshop is focused on migration statistics, with officials reviewing and validating the third edition of the Regional Report on International Migration in West Africa.
The exercise will also promote the publication of more detailed, disaggregated migration data in line with guidelines adopted by the ECOWAS Council of Ministers.
Better migration data could give governments a clearer picture of movements of workers and populations across West Africa, helping policymakers assess labour-market pressures, plan public services and understand the economic contribution of regional mobility.
The second workshop addresses the region’s more fundamental economic-data challenge.
It is designed to strengthen the capacity of members of National Coordination Committees and National Economic Policy Committees to implement common regional frameworks for compiling and publishing macroeconomic statistics.
Officials will also examine updates to the ECOMAC and ECOBASE databases and work towards harmonising national statistics covering 2000 to 2025.
The objective is to make national datasets more comparable and reliable, allowing ECOWAS institutions and member governments to assess economic performance on a more consistent basis.
For ECOWAS, the effort comes at a critical point as the bloc seeks to deepen regional economic integration and improve policy coordination.
Reliable and comparable statistics are essential to determining whether economies are moving towards common convergence targets, identifying divergences early and strengthening the credibility of regional economic surveillance.
The workshops therefore represent an attempt to move regional integration beyond agreements and institutions towards a more data-driven system of policymaking — where governments can measure economic convergence and migration trends using broadly consistent standards.
The longer-term test will be whether the harmonised frameworks translate into regular, timely and trusted national data. Without consistent implementation across member states, a common regional statistical architecture risks remaining largely a technical exercise rather than becoming a foundation for stronger economic coordination.
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