Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games: ECOWAS wants to make sport a lever for youth integration and empowerment

As the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games (YOG) approach, ECOWAS intends to give the event a scope that extends far beyond the sporting arena. United around the diplomatic, economic, and social implications of this first Youth Olympiad to be held in Africa, community stakeholders are counting on these Games to strengthen regional integration and place youth at the heart of development policies.

The representative of the Minister of African Integration, Foreign Affairs and Senegalese Abroad welcomed the collaboration between the Senegalese National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSS) and the ECOWAS Commission.

According to him, the Forum of Ambassadors and Presidents of NOCs represents a major opportunity to mobilize Member States around the Dakar-2026 Youth Olympic Games and promote the values of solidarity, peace, cooperation and self-improvement.

The Youth Olympic Games are thus intended to serve as a bridge between the peoples of West Africa. The participation of young athletes, particularly from ESA countries, is seen as a symbol of the enduring ties between populations, despite political differences between states. Sport therefore emerges as a key instrument for rapprochement and regional integration.

"Whatever the discipline, sport promotes social cohesion, cross-border exchanges and their corollary, closer ties between peoples, sharing and economic development. It is a powerful catalyst for regional integration. Finally, in a regional context marked by institutional fragility, with the withdrawal of the ESA countries from the community organization, this meeting constitutes a strong signal of the unity and solidarity that remain anchored within ECOWAS."

Moreover, by participating in the Dakar Games, young athletes from the AES countries will be alongside their compatriots from ECOWAS and will thus provide living proof that our community is one, that the ECOWAS of the people is indeed a reality, despite certain political decisions which commit the States, but not the populations themselves," reassured the representative of Minister Cheikh Niang.

For Professor Fatou Sow Sarr, ECOWAS Commissioner for Human Development and Social Affairs, the fundamental challenge remains youth. "The essential problem in our region today is youth," she emphasized, recalling the considerable demographic weight of young people in the sub-region.

Faced with migration, unemployment, and the risk of destabilization, she believes it is necessary to change the paradigm and build public policies based on the aspirations of young people themselves. This is the objective of the youth forum process conducted over two years in several ECOWAS countries, which is intended to lead to a new regional policy.

This new approach must also rethink the role of sport. For the commissioner, it can no longer be considered solely as a factor of integration or social cohesion. It must also become a genuine economic sector capable of creating jobs and opportunities for young people.

According to Professor Fatou Sow Sarr, training, qualifications, digital technology, and artificial intelligence are all areas likely to open up new career opportunities. The skills acquired in the sports industry can be valued beyond national borders and allow young Africans to better integrate into the international economy.

The Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games could play a pivotal role in this dynamic. The infrastructure renovated or developed for the Games should not be exclusively for competitions. It could host cultural and economic activities and contribute to creating a lasting legacy.

President Bassirou Diomaye Faye also emphasized this logic of legacy, particularly through the development of local sports infrastructure and programs aimed at youth.

Economic benefits are also expected in trade, services, employment, and tourism. The representative of the Minister of Foreign Affairs highlighted the opportunities offered by the ECOWAS trade liberalization scheme to facilitate the movement of goods and make Senegal a commercial hub during the Games.

Beyond infrastructure and economic benefits, President Fatou Sow Sarr sees the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games as an opportunity to reaffirm the continent's capacity to take control of its own destiny. "The time has come to tell the world that Africa can manage on its own," she declared, advocating for better utilization of African skills and resources for the benefit of the continent's people.

For her, youth must be at the heart of this ambition. The Youth Olympic Games should allow them to discover their talents, but also to strengthen their sense of belonging to a regional area marked by a shared history and identity.