By: Momodou Justice Darboe
The West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM) has successfully executed 891 workshops/seminars from 1996 to the end of June 2023 in pursuit of its mandate, revealed WAIFEM’s Director General Dr. Baba Yusuf Musa.
In 1996, the central banks of Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia and The Gambia established WAIFEM and the raison detre is to build capacity for enhanced macroeconomic and financial management in the constituent member countries.
Since its establishment nearly three decades ago, the institute has trained 24,942 individuals from the West Africa sub-region and beyond.
In its march toward building capacity in the constituent member states, WAIFEM joins forces with a number of reputable institutions to ensure its programme delivery meets high and international standards.
“These institutions include, among others; International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the Commonwealth Secretariat, Debt Relief International, and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA),” the WAIFEM director general Dr. Musa informed staff of the various central banks that converged in Banjul recently for the IMF/WAIFEM regional workshop.
Meanwhile, WAIFEM has also extended its reach to the private sector by establishing the Business Development and Consultancy Unit (BDCU), which targets the private sector in West Africa. It’s, however, hoped that some of the benefits of the BDCU’s programmes may trickle down to the central banks and relevant public sector institutions.
The BDCU organizes workshops details of which can be found at www.waifem-cbp.org.