Beginning in August 2025, the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), through its Media for Peace and Social Cohesion (MfPSC) Programme, will launch the Depolarisation and Democratic Norms Series (DDNS) – a quarterly webinar series aimed at addressing the rising polarisation in West Africa.
The initiative will foster dialogue and generate practical solutions for promoting consensus building, unity, tolerance, and democratic resilience across the region. Specifically, the webinar will:
• Create awareness of polarisation as a major underlying cause of instability, policy paralysis, and democratic recession in West Africa.
• Mobilise a community of depolarisation actors to counter polarisation at both regional and national levels.
• Improve media capacity, programming, and reporting on polarisation, its effects, and solutions.
Each webinar will convene key stakeholders such as policymakers, political party actors, civil society representatives, media professionals, academics and researchers, youth and women’s groups, and representatives from ECOWAS and development partners to explore the causes and consequences of polarisation and develop actionable policy recommendations.
Insights and recommendations from the webinars will be compiled and published as policy briefs, think-pieces, and discussion papers. These outputs will help inform national and regional responses to polarisation, support the development of evidence-based policies, and guide future peacebuilding efforts.
Although West Africa has long been regarded as a stronghold of democracy on the continent, recent years have seen a wave of democratic backsliding marked by military coups, terrorism, inter-ethnic violence, shrinking civic space, divisive political rhetoric, misinformation and disinformation, and state threats. These developments threaten regional integration and stability. The DDNS initiative responds to these challenges by creating a platform for inclusive dialogue and collaborative problem-solving.
Register now for the maiden edition of the webinar series scheduled for August 27, 2025, on the theme Polarisation and Democracy in West Africa. Future sessions will address other urgent issues such as state threats, misinformation and disinformation, the role of the media in peace and security, and the evolving role of ECOWAS in a changing geopolitical context.
