WACOMP is a partnership initiative between the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the European Union (EU).
It has a bearing on regional economic integration and highlights a commitment to the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the EU and West Africa.
The overall objective of the project is to strengthen the competitiveness of West Africa and to enhance the ECOWAS countries’ integration into the regional and international trading system, including the newly established African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
WACOMP is currently being implemented in the ECOWAS member states (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Conakry, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo) and in Mauritania, through national components in each country, as well as a regional one.
For each country, priority value chains have been identified and the type of activities selected involves a combination of long- and short-term technical assistance, training, coaching, equipment and studies.
The country components will be implemented by selected specialized agencies or through national execution while the regional component will be led by the ECOWAS Commission with the technical assistance of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the International Trade Centre (ITC).
WACOMP is funded through a EURO 120 million contribution from the Regional Indicative Programme (RIP) for West Africa (2014 – 2020) under the 11th European Development Fund (EDF) of the European Union.
In Ghana, the EU is contributing a total of 6,200,000 EURO with other funding support of 150,000 EURO from UNIDO making a total of 6,350,000 EURO of donor fund.
The programme seeks to improve the competitiveness of Ghanaian exports with a focus on three selected value chains:
– cassava and its derivatives,– fruits (mango and pineapple),
– cosmetics and personal care products,
through enhanced value-addition, low carbon sustainable production and processing aimed at increased access to regional and international markets.
WACOMP Ghana was launched in March 2019 and embraces the vision of the Third Industrial Development Decade for Africa (IDDA III) and is also aligned to UNIDO’s mandate of fostering Inclusive and Sustainable Industrial Development (ISID).