40. the ircc is regarded by all parties concerned as a key coordinating instrument between the regional organisations and to help ensure coherence between the different individual projects and the approved regional strategy. However, the ircc has so far not ensured that an overall monitoring and evaluation system covering the whole regional indicative programme has been established. in practice, the ircc monitors the financial implementation of the regional projects, but not the progress made by these programmes against predefined targets and their contribution towards the regional integration process as such. a mid-term review of the ircc project, carried out in 2005, recommended, among other things, the setting up of a common monitoring and evaluation system and a quality-review system of financing proposals, to increase coordination between the national and regional indicative programmes. the regional organisations and the commission have, however, been slow to adjust the project accordingly, as these recommendations will only be taken up in new terms of reference for the project’s extension phase under the 10th EDf, which will become operational during the course of 2009. 41. in West africa, the Joint technical secretariat has the potential to be an important instrument for coordinating between the regional organisations and ensuring the coherence between the different individual projects and the approved regional strategy. so far, it has not been able to undertake these roles effectively, due to limited human resources capacity and limited authority. the activity reports produced by the rip monitoring mechanism project have mentioned problems such as lack of staff and the unavailability of monitoring data in the absence of timely progress reports by projects. these problems, which were also reported to the steering committee for the regional indicative programme, on which the commission is represented, illustrate the failure of the two regional organisations (EcoWas and uEmoa) and the commission to overcome basic constraints, which were already known and reported in 2007 and which prevent an effective monitoring and coordination of the regional indicative programme in West africa. 
41. i Västafrika skulle det gemensamma tekniska sekretariatet kunna bli ett viktigt instrument för samordning mellan de regionala organisationerna och bidra till att garantera att de olika enskilda projekten är förenliga med den godkända regionstrategin. hittills har det inte lyckats ta på sig dessa roller på ett verkningsfullt sätt, på grund av begränsade personalresurser och befogenheter. i de verksamhetsrapporter som togs fram av projektet RIP Monitoring Mechanism (mekanism för övervakning av det regionala vägledande programmet) har man angett problem som personalbrist och bristande tillgång till övervakningsdata som beror på att man inte i tid har fått in lägesrapporter för varje projekt. dessa problem, som även rapporterades till styrkommittén för det regionala vägledande programmet, där kommissionen är representerad, visar att de två regionala organisationerna (ecowas och Uemoa) och kommissionen inte har lyckats komma till rätta med grundläggande begränsningar, som redan 2007 var kända och rapporterades och som förhindrar en ändamålsenlig övervakning och samordning av det regionala vägledande programmet i Västafrika.