The West Africa Quality System Programme (WAQSP), in liaison with the communication department of the ECOWAS Commission, organized from November 26 to 28, 2018, at the Ohinene Residence, in Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire), two training and awareness workshops for ECOWAS accreditation expert assessors on ISO IEC 17011 v 2017 and West African media managers on Regional Quality Infrastructure. These activities have seen the effective participation of the European Union and ECOWAS through their representatives, and the Director General of Industrial Activities of Côte d'Ivoire, representing the Minister of Trade, Industry and Promotion of SMEs.

The objectives targeted through these workshops are, on the one hand, to strengthen the capacities of the accreditation expert assessors of the ECOWAS member States on the ISO IEC 17011 standard, its specificities and requirements, and on the other hand to allow a pool of West African public and private media leaders, to learn about the quality and its challenges, the state of implementation of the WAQSP and the results obtained, on the ECOWAS Quality Infrastructure Scheme, on the ECOWAS Quality Award (criteria and rules of participation), the ECOWAS mark of conformity to standards as well as the Competitiveness Programme of West Africa (PCAO) which has an important component on quality.

During the work that lasted three (03) days, the communicators presented the accreditation bodies that make up the Regional Accreditation System (ECORAS), in this case GhaNas, Ninas and SOAC. They reiterated their roles in bringing healthy and safe products to the consumer's happiness, which is the final target of the process. Expert assessors, in particular, have learned a lot about the requirements of the 2017 version of ISO IEC 17011.

At the opening ceremony, the resident representative of UNIDO indicated that by 2030, African consumers will represent about 500 million people, mostly assets, who will face products of various origins, good or bad quality. What justifies these workshops that are part of the anticipation on the issue of quality in the region, said Mr. Issouf Ouattara, the representative of the resident representative. Mrs. Roxana Toran Villaroya from the Delegation of the European Union in Côte d’Ivoire welcomed the results obtained by the WAQSP since its launch before reaffirming the support of the European Union to ECOWAS. The Chargé d'Affaires of the ECOWAS Representation in Côte d'Ivoire, General Costa Emilio, representing the Commissioner of Industry and Promotion of the Private Sector of the Commission of the Regional Organization, Mamadou Traoré, indicated that these meetings are in conformity with the ECOWAS Treaty which has fixed development and regional cooperation in the industrial field and Quality, as priorities. The Director General of Industrial Activities of Côte d'Ivoire, Mr. Komenan Mougo, representing the Minister of Trade, Industry and Promotion of SMEs, expressed confidence that the participants will now be able to play their part in the promotion of Regional Quality Infrastructure, National and Regional Quality Awards, and Regional Certification Mark.

At the end of the workshops that covered all aspects of quality and its interests for consumers and the region, the participants (expert assessors and journalists) obtained their certifications from the organizers. Journalists, meanwhile, have joined the setting up of a Network of West African Journalists for Quality to contribute, through their press productions, to build in the region the culture of quality at the consumers’ level.