West African Studies Regional Atlas On West Africa

This atlas describes the West African region, its population, settlement, territories, its economy and its vulnerabilities. It analyses the developments and the ways in which West Africa is conforming to a constantly changing global environment.

This book explains the structure and geographical and organisational mobility of criminal and migratory movements in the Sahara and the Sahel with a view to helping establish better development strategies for the region.

Presents a cross-cutting analysis of the main development challenges for the West African region and offers suggestions on how to meet them.

This report examines the co-operation potential of West African regions, the structure of cross-border policy networks, and the spatial vision that policy makers have of cross-border co-operation.

This publication examines the role of border regions in shaping patterns of violence since the end of the 1990s in North and West Africa. Using the innovative OECD Spatial Conflict Dynamics indicator (SCDi), the report looks at the growing relationship between political violence and borderlands at the regional level, by analysing more than 170 000 violent events between January 1997 and June 2021 and through the exploration of case studies in the Central and Eastern Sahel.

The report proposes the development of innovative public policies based on the reinforcement of the social capital of women and policy approaches that promote better integration of the initiatives undertaken by governments, international and non-governmental organisations to empower women and strengthen their resilience.

In 1950, there were only 152 urban agglomerations in West Africa. Since then, the number of agglomerations has increased to almost 2 000 town and cities which are home to 41% of the region’s total population.

North and West Africa are undergoing rapid urbanisation. While cities and urban areas have always been sites of conflict, given their political and economic importance, many insurgencies, rebellions and separatist movements are associated with rural areas.