Great Green Wall: A Continental Coordination Drive Launched from Dakar by the African Union and the PAGGW

Dakar, Senegal, 26 March 2026 – The Pan-African Agency of the Great Green Wall (PAGGW), in close collaboration with the African Union Commission, and with the support of the Global Mechanism of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the African Development Bank (AfDB) and other technical and financial partners, organised a high-level technical consultation meeting in Dakar from 24 to 26 March 2026, devoted to the new Great Green Wall (GGW) strategy and its decade-long implementation framework.

This strategic meeting brought together PAGGW member States, representatives of the African Union and several international partners, around a common objective: to strengthen the coherence, coordination and effectiveness of the implementation of the Great Green Wall Initiative at the continental level. By initiating and leading this consultation framework, the PAGGW reaffirmed its central role as the leading technical and operational structure for the implementation of the Initiative in the Sahel-Saharan area. It positioned itself as a key player in facilitating dialogue between the various continental, regional and national bodies, helping to bring visions closer together and to build consensus around governance mechanisms.

Under the facilitation of its Executive Secretary, Mr Almoustapha Garba, the proceedings made it possible to clarify the respective roles of stakeholders and to lay the foundations of a clearer, more inclusive and more effective institutional architecture. The PAGGW also highlighted its achievements, particularly through the implementation of the Decade Priority Investment Plan (PIPD 2021-2030), demonstrating its expertise and its capacity to generate concrete results on the ground. Participants agreed on the need to establish a streamlined continental coordination mechanism that avoids duplication and builds on existing structures. To this end, a proposal for a provisional consultation framework was adopted, notably incorporating representatives of the African Union, the Sahelian and southern regions, as well as technical and financial partners.

In this process, a strategic mandate was entrusted to the PAGGW, which is responsible for developing a structured proposal that will serve as the basis for the next stages of political validation. This responsibility reflects the confidence placed in the Agency to guide and shape the future governance of the Initiative across the continent.

Towards a more coherent and ambitious implementation of the GGW

The proceedings also made it possible to identify the main challenges related to coordination, in particular the fragmentation of interventions, the overlapping of mandates and the need for better alignment between the continental, regional and national levels. Strong recommendations were made to strengthen African leadership, improve resource mobilisation and harmonise planning, monitoring and evaluation, and communication tools. This meeting constitutes a decisive step in preparing for upcoming international milestones, notably the Conference of the Parties on Desertification (COP17). It paves the way for a continental ministerial dialogue that will have to validate the proposed mechanisms and consolidate the governance of the Initiative.

The Pan-African Agency of the Great Green Wall is the institution mandated by the African Union to coordinate and support the implementation of the Great Green Wall Initiative in the Sahel-Saharan countries. It works for land restoration, climate resilience and the sustainable development of territories.