In the face of major challenges in West African coastal areas – erosion, flooding, pollution – the WACA Program has committed to strengthening community resilience through tailored solutions. After several years of field activities, it is essential to draw lessons from the interventions implemented to optimize their impact and inform future initiatives.

It is with this goal in mind that a capitalization process for WACA ResIP 1 has been initiated, structured in three major stages:

• São Tomé and Príncipe (January 11-17, 2025) – Review of investments and solutions implemented in island nations.
• Saint-Louis, Senegal (January 26-30, 2025) – Analysis of coastal protection works and ecosystem restoration actions.
• Lomé, Togo (February 24-28, 2025) – Regional workshop for synthesizing and validating results.

Through these meetings, WACA stakeholders have shared their experiences, identified best practices, and discussed strategic lessons for the next phases of the program (WACA ResIP 2 and WACA+). This collaborative process aims to ensure optimal knowledge dissemination and strengthen intervention approaches for the sustainable management of the West African coastline.

The capitalization process will lead to the development of a capitalization document that will summarize the lessons learned from the program's early stages, highlighting effective strategies, challenges encountered, and innovative solutions implemented. This document will serve not only to document best practices but also to analyse the results achieved and propose concrete recommendations for future project implementation.