"Border Reforms are Easing Travel for West Africa\u2019s Women Traders"

" Border Reforms are Easing Travel for West Africa\u2019s Women Traders \r\n\r\n ECOWAS is rolling out gender-smart border reforms, legal clinics, mobile tools, and simpler rules, to curb harassment and open new opportunities for the women powering West Africa\u2019s cross-border trade. \r\n\r\n Bonface Orucho, bird story agency \r\n\r\nAt the Aflao\u2013Lom\u00e9 border crossing between Ghana and Togo, the line of women carrying tomatoes, textiles, and household goods snakes past customs booths and into a dimly lit corridor.\r\n\r\nFor years, women traders here have described the same routine: long waits, confusing paperwork, and the risk of losing cash or goods to \u201cinformal charges.\u201d\r\n\r\nNow, flyers pinned to the wall advertise a new legal clinic. Traders are told they can seek help if officials harass them or if they are asked for unreceipted payments.\r\n\r\nSome carry a phone app that explains in plain language which forms they need and what official fees are required.\r\n\r\nFor women like Ama, a tomato seller from Ghana\u2019s Volta region, that small shift feels like the start of a new trading environment.\r\n\r\n\u201cI no longer panic about what I don\u2019t know,\u201d she explained in one of the training sessions organized by border authorities. \u201cAt least now we are told the rules and where to go when something is wrong.\u201d\r\n\r\nAma is among thousands of women who form the backbone of West Africa\u2019s small-scale cross-border trade.\r\n\r\nAccording to the ECOWAS Gender Development Centre (EGDC), women make up the majority of informal traders in the region, with some estimates placing their share at about 80% in small-scale cross-border trade.\r\n\r\nYet these women face harassment, opaque procedures, and a lack of facilities, factors that have long kept their commerce risky, costly, and invisible to policymakers.\r\n\r\nTo change that picture, ECOWAS and the International Trade Centre (ITC) have launched a package of \u201cgender-smart\u201d reforms.\r\n\r\nAt a February 2025 workshop in Abidjan, the two institutions, alongside partners endorsed a set of solutions: legal clinics at border posts, gender-sensitivity training for customs and transport officials, simplified declaration forms for small consignments, and mobile, visual tools to guide traders through procedures.\r\n\r\n\u201cThese measures are not just about fairness, they are about unlocking Africa\u2019s trade potential,\u201d said Sandra Oulate, Director of the ECOWAS Gender Development Centre, at the Abidjan meeting.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe need to ensure regional trade policy becomes a tool for inclusive growth, where women are not just participants, but empowered leaders.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe reforms build on a growing recognition that informal cross-border trade is central to food security and local economies.\r\n\r\nWomen traders are often the ones moving tomatoes, maize, fish, and textiles across nearby frontiers. When borders are unsafe or costly, the price of food rises, households suffer, and regional markets fragment.\r\n\r\nYet the barriers are persistent. A 2024 survey by the Trade Facilitation West Africa (TFWA) program covering six major corridors found that more than 40% of traders had been exposed to bribery.\r\n\r\nMany rated border facilities, from toilets to lighting, as \u201cvery inadequate.\u201d And over 90% reported limited or no knowledge of basic trading rules.\r\n\r\nThe consequences extend beyond individual livelihoods.\r\n\r\nAccording to the World Bank, full implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) could raise Africa\u2019s income by about US$450 billion by 2035.\r\n\r\nHowever, without targeted reforms, women traders who dominate small-scale trade may remain locked out of those benefits.\r\n\r\nThat is why regional institutions are pushing hard to align border reforms with the AfCFTA\u2019s Protocol on Women and Youth in Trade, adopted in February 2024.\r\n\r\nThe protocol obliges African states to eliminate non-tariff barriers that disproportionately affect women, establish national focal points, and even develop a regulation to grant preferential market access for women and youth traders.\r\n\r\nIt also formally defines \u201csmall-scale cross-border trade,\u201d a first in continental trade law.\r\n\r\nFor policy experts, this convergence is significant.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe AfCFTA protocol provides the legal backbone, but real change happens at the checkpoint,\u201d according to Salimata Thiam, an EGDC representative.\r\n\r\n\u201cA simplified declaration form in a woman\u2019s language, or a legal officer who listens to her case, does more to build trust than a treaty alone.\u201d\r\n\r\nOn the ground, some of these measures are already being tested.\r\n\r\nIn 2024, ECOWAS and TFWA organized caravans along the busy Abidjan\u2013Lagos corridor, staging community town halls to explain cross-border rules and to listen to traders\u2019 concerns.\r\n\r\nIn Ghana, the International Organization for Migration runs trainings on protection from sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEAH), equipping women traders with reporting channels.\r\n\r\nCivil society groups are also stepping in.\r\n\r\nIn June 2025, Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF) launched a project along the Ghana\u2013Togo border, offering legal aid and rights awareness for women agricultural traders. The initiative complements ECOWAS\u2019s legal clinics by providing direct case handling and advocacy.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nAt a July 2025 closing ceremony of the ECOWAS awareness caravan in Lagos, ECOWAS officials reaffirmed that women are central to West Africa\u2019s regional market.\r\n\r\nAccording to Fatou Sow Sarr, the Human Development Commissioner, women\u2019s trade has too often been sidelined in policy, despite making up the bulk of informal commerce along key corridors.\r\n\r\nShe urged member states to align reforms with women\u2019s everyday realities.\r\n\r\nAccording to Thiam, these reforms matter because \u201cwomen traders often lack alternatives.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cWith limited access to formal finance, they rely on daily turnover from border sales to feed families and keep children in school. When harassment or confiscation wipes out their income, the shock ripples across entire households.\u201d\r\n\r\nYet challenges remain.\r\n\r\nMany traders still avoid official posts altogether, crossing rivers or dirt paths at dawn to bypass bureaucracy and bribes.\r\n\r\n\u201cThat is why harassment is often under-reported in surveys, especially when the abuse is sexual. And without sustained funding, legal clinics and mobile apps could fizzle after pilot stages,\u201d Thiam shared.\r\n\r\n\u201cThat is why accountability will be key.\u201d\r\n\r\nECOWAS officials have pledged to track key indicators, from the number of women assisted by legal clinics to the number of border officers trained in gender sensitivity. They are also working with ITC and WILDAF to log and resolve complaints, turning anecdotal reports of harassment into actionable cases.\r\n\r\nBeyond West Africa, the reforms are being closely watched by other regions.\r\n\r\nThe East African Community has long piloted Simplified Trade Regimes, while COMESA has introduced gender desks at selected posts.\r\n\r\n\u201cIf ECOWAS succeeds in scaling its clinics, forms, and mobile tools, it could set a model for making AfCFTA commitments tangible at borders across the continent,\u201d Thiam explained.\r\n\r\n bird story agency "

"Border Reforms are Easing Travel for West Africa\u2019s Women Traders"

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