WARDA was formed in 1971 by 11 countries with the assistance of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). Until end September 2007, it comprised 17 member states: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. In September 2007, four more countries joined WARDA: Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo and Uganda. Egypt joined WARDA in June 2008. With this the total number of WARDA member countries has gone up to 22, including countries from West, East, Central and North Africa.