West and Central Africa Regional Consultation Report

Our West and Central Africa  (WCA) regional consultation report centres on the region’s priorities, the humanitarian research and innovation (HRI) system currently in place and provides insights into implementing culturally and contextually appropriate HRI responses.

The WCA region, comprising eight Central African countries and 16 West African countries, faces a complex and deteriorating humanitarian situation. Over the past two decades, crises have been exacerbated by climate-induced disasters, escalating insecurity, armed conflicts, and recent challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic and global inflation. These issues, compounded by widespread poverty and structural vulnerabilities, have led to over 65 million people requiring humanitarian assistance and protection in 2024. This report evaluates the state of humanitarian research and innovation (R&;I) across the WCA region.

Key findings:

• Role of R&;I : Barriers to R&;I include limited funding, lack of awareness, competing priorities, technical expertise shortages, difficulty accessing sites, and restrictive humanitarian frameworks. Uptake of R&;I is hindered by outdated data, political resistance, limited dissemination, and low regional visibility of research efforts.
• Priority R&;I Topics: Key areas needing attention include climate change, conflict dynamics, humanitarian system functions, and local context adaptation. Sector-specific areas like food security, nutrition, education, and livelihoods were also highlighted.
• Alignment of Investments: There is a noted misalignment between R&;I investments and pressing regional needs. Contributing factors include top-down priority setting, political reluctance, and limited awareness of R&;I's potential impact.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Despite interest and some engagement, local and national actor participation in humanitarian R&;I remains limited, especially in decision-making. Barriers include a reliance on external expertise even when local capacity exists.
• Priority-Setting Processes: Organisations use various methods to determine R&;I priorities, such as stakeholder consultations, emerging trend monitoring, and alignment with donor or government directives. However, affected communities and local actors are often excluded from these processes.
• Responsiveness to Emerging Issues: Factors limiting timely R&;I responses include funding shortages, political challenges, workforce limitations, access issues, and low prioritisation of R&;I.

Recommendations:

• Promote R&;I Awareness: Increase understanding of R&;I's roles and impact through success stories and advocacy.
• Embed R&;I Across Crisis Phases: Incorporate R&;I into phases of humanitarian response, not just during emergencies.
• Prioritise Key R&;I topics: Validate regional findings and create a ranked list of R&;I priorities to inform a cohesive regional agenda.
• Encourage localisation: Ensure R&;I is locally led, with active involvement from local actors and affected communities to ensure relevance and effectiveness.
• Strengthen Capacity: Invest in training and education to develop a skilled R&;I workforce in the region, focusing on both technical skills and leadership.
• Improve R&;I Uptake: Create a bilingual, user-friendly R&;I repository for easy access to regional and global resources and data.
• Enhance Collaboration: Foster formal and informal platforms for dialogue, partnerships, and collaboration, including with the private sector and development actors.
• Increase Funding: Allocate more dedicated R&;I funding separate from operational budgets. Encourage flexible funding models and local investment to build sustainable R&;I capacity.

These findings emphasis the need for a localised, inclusive, and well-funded approach to humanitarian R&;I in West and Central Africa to effectively address the region's growing humanitarian challenges.

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This WCA consultation was undertaken by the World Vision International West and Central Africa Regional Office and the Alfred Deakin Institute, Deakin University as part of our landmark Global Prioritisation Exercise (GPE) for HRI. The consultation was led by Marian Abouzeid and Isaac Massaga.  Data collection was undertaken by Elijah Agnew Mbwavi Muhati, data transcription and translation were undertaken by Elijah Agnew Mbwavi Muhati and Isaac Massaga. Data analysis was undertaken by Tosin Olaluwoye, Marian Abouzeid, and Chaza Akik with contributions to preliminary analysis by Zeinab El-Dirani.

Find out more about the GPE[.slimline-cta_paragraph][.slimline-cta-box]