Source: IMF

Mali: Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper

Mali: Joint Staff Advisory Note of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper

Source: Rural Poverty Portal

Multilaterals

Délégation de la commission européenne
Stratégie de coopération et programme indicatif 2003-2007

International Monetary Fund  (IMF)

• Policy framework paper
• Poverty reduction strategy papers

Programme des Nations Unies pour le développement (PNUD)

• Cadre de coopération du Mali
• Cadre de coopération de pays 1998-2002
• Cadre de résultats stratégiques
• Ebauche de programme de pays avec le Mali 2003-2007
• Bonne gouvernance
• VIH/Sida

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)

• Country programme for Mali 2003-2007
• Cadre stratégique de lutte contre la pauvreté (CSLP)
• Plan-cadre des Nations Unies pour l’aide au développement au Mali (UNDAF)
• Bilan commun pays - Mali 2001 (CCA)

World Bank

• Country assistance strategy
• Mali poverty reduction strategy papers
• Comprehensive development framework

World Food Programme (WFP)

• Country strategy outlines | Schéma de stratégie de pays
• Country programme 2003-2007 | Programme de pays 2003-2007

Bilaterals Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
Programming  framework

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ)

• GTZ in Mali
• Priority areas

Groupe Agence française de développement (AFD)
Activité du groupe au Mali

KfW Entwicklungsbank

• Overview
• Priority areas

Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)

• Stratégie de la Coopération Suisse au Mali 2006-2011
• Development cooperation

United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

• Country strategic plan 2003-2012
• Complete USAID/Mali program

Source: Rural Poverty Portal

Rural poverty approaches, policies and strategies in Mali

In May 2002 the Government of Mali issued its first Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), outlining its general strategy for poverty reduction. The 2002-2006 PRSP led to an improvement in Malians’ living conditions, especially in their access to education, health care and water. But weak economic growth hindered any significant reduction in rural poverty. This prompted the government to make development of productive sectors and production support infrastructure the core of its poverty reduction strategy.

The new PRSP, designated the Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, covers the period 2007-2011 and focuses on two specific objectives:

• spurring economic growth by developing the rural production and mining sectors
• promoting the well-being of poor people by maintaining the momentum of initiatives in the social sector and strengthening them through reforms geared to achievement of the Millennium Development Goals

For more information:
Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), 2002

Source:IFAD

Source: Rural Poverty Portal

Rural poverty in Mali

National poverty reduction strategies have reduced the proportion of the country’s poor people from 68.3 per cent in 2001 to 59.2 per cent in 2005. Still, Mali is one of the world’s poorest countries, ranking 175th out of 177 countries in the United Nations Development Programme’s 2006 Human Development Index.

Three forms of poverty affect people in Mali:

• poverty of living conditions, defined as inadequate access to water, education, health care and housing
• monetary poverty, characterized by a lack of assets and income
• poverty of potential, characterized by scant access to land, equipment, credit and employment

More than 73 per cent of the country’s rural people live below the poverty line. Poverty is widespread in rural Mali, but it does not affect all poor people in the same way. Over the past decade trends have shown a shift in the geographical distribution of poverty.

Read the full article 

We hear quite a lot about major corporations and their negative impact on the African continent. However, just recently I was contacted by a representative for Hallmark Cards who had read this blog and wanted to tell me about a textile project they are running in Mali. As many of you know Mali is famous for bogolan mudcloth textiles.

Hallmark is now a partner with the (RED) campaign. Like other PRODUCT (RED) partners, Hallmark’s gifts and cards raise money for the Global Fund’s fight against AIDS and other diseases in Africa, but this campaign also supports Malian artisans and their local economies. Artisans in Bamako, Mopti, San, and Sevaré are working with Hallmark to produce the Mud Cloth Bag that is part of Hallmark’s collection of PRODUCT (RED) items, generating jobs and income for these artisans. I’ve attached a picture of one of the Mud Cloth Bags for you to see (there are several designs). This is the first export to use Mali’s African Growth and Opportunities Act textile visa.

For more information, please visit www.hallmark.com/red1 - there, you can learn more about the Mud Cloth Bag, and Hallmark’s involvement with the (RED) campaign.

 

 

Seen on IRIN NEWS 

MALI: Making pipe dreams come true

BAMAKO, 13 November 2007 (IRIN) - For years, women in the Malian village Sotuba squabbled over the two state-run standpipes, having walked two or three kilometres in search of water for their families.

Then, three years ago, a young entrepreneur, Bakary Koïta, contacted the national water provider, Energie du Mali (EDM), and drilled his own private standpipe. He recruited unemployed youths to fill jerry-cans with water and take them by cart to people’s homes.

“Obviously, the price is a little higher, but the women no longer have to come all the way,” Koïta told IRIN. “The conflicts, problems and little quarrels surrounding the water points are now limited.”

Koïta is part of a long-standing trend in West Africa and the developing world for small private operators to supply water. Increasingly, researchers are recognising this potential for the future of water provision in countries where national water suppliers are failing to meet the demand in rapidly growing cities.

One billion customers

The French engineering firm Hydroconseil estimates that one billion people in the developing world, 40 million in West Africa, and at least half a million in Mali, access water through small providers.

Mostly located in small towns and in the peripheries of urban areas, they range from individuals managing a standpipe and cart-pushers delivering water, as in Mali, to those investing in more developed networks of pipes, as in Mauritania. Most are local entrepreneurs new to the water sector.

A 2006 report by Hydroconseil and Building Partnership for Development in Water and Sanitation (BPDWS), a global network of business, government and civil society, found these providers active in providing water in areas “unserved” by the national water utility - and in many cases, doing a better job.

“The surveys showed them often outperforming larger formal providers in meeting demand for household connections, usually without any external subsidies,” the report stated.

Mali, for example, has “great water-resource potential . largely superior to the country’s needs”, but it is badly managed and unevenly distributed, according to the 2007 African Economic Outlook, an annual report by the African Development Bank and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

The UN says half of Malians have no or inadequate access to a household connection, standpipe, borehole, or protected well.

“The provision of services like water by small-scale private and local providers will be the future,” said Hydroconseil chairman Bernard Collignon.

Illicit, informal, unregulated

In Moribabougou, a suburb of the Malian capital, Bamako, private water vendor Oumar works with an old cart, a donkey and a barrel. Where 72 percent of Malians live on less than US$1 a day, he can make up to 5,000 CFA francs ($11.20) daily.

While these operators can be very successful, they do face constraints. Most are not formally recognised and operate illegally.

“[Governments] know they are there; they know they are an important part of the economic life of the country; but they don’t know how to handle them,” Collignon added.

Without licences, many are unwilling to make serious investments in the water business, for fear of being shut down or expropriated. They are also excluded from cheap loans and investment programmes. A 2005 World Bank report identified a lack of affordable financing as a constraint for most small private service providers.

Some countries, however, have been successful in formally engaging them. The Mauritanian government has built small water systems and contracted them out to 400 private providers, who serve 13 percent of the population.

Resistance

Even so, says David Schaub-Jones, co-author of the BPDWS report, the concept makes many people uncomfortable.

“People say this is creeping privatisation; this is the state abdicating its responsibilities,” he said. Others worry the services do not always meet health and engineering standards - water may be collected from unsafe sources such as rivers, analysts point out. “Another school of opinion says they are a bunch of bandits, extorting money from people who have no options.”

In Moribabougou, one private provider charges 300,000 CFA francs ($671) for installation and 3,000 francs ($6.71) per 1,000 litres.

“What to do?” asked one customer. “We don’t have any choice if we don’t want to die of thirst.”

Meeting MDGs

The authors of the report believe small-scale providers will play a crucial role in meeting the UN Millennium Development Goals - for 75 percent of sub-Saharan Africa to have access to potable water by 2015.

“In some situations - slums for example, where you have a very dense area with poor people - probably the only way to meet the MDGs will be to build the public service with private providers,” Collignon said.

These providers can fill the gap in the short to medium term, Schaub-Jones said, and eventually be incorporated into whatever longer-term framework the state creates.

© IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.irinnews.org

[This item comes to you via IRIN, the humanitarian news and analysis service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the United Nations or its Member States. Reposting or reproduction, with attribution, for non-commercial purposes is permitted. Terms and conditions: http://www.irinnews.org/copyright.aspx

The Mande charter controversy: A Magna Carta for Africa?

Posted by sociolingo on May 25th, 2007

There is an interesting debate going on in the H-Africa email list for African history and culture about the so-called Mande Charter. I also found an OECD document which is the report of a workshop in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso in 2006: The KURUKAN FUGA Charter: An example of an Endogenous Governance Mechanism for Conflict Prevention. You can download the pdf file of the full report HERE.

Etienne Smith gave a very detailed reply to the original query on the H-Africa list about the charter which you may find interesting even if you do disagree with him. (see below).

In the “invention of tradition”; process occurring now in Mali, Senegal and Guinea around this issue, I think we need to distinguish between two so-called “Charts”;: the Charte du Mande (”1222″ and the “Charte de Kurukan Fuga”; (”1236″;). Both versions claim to date back to Sunjata’s reign and his victory against Sosso, but they provide different dates, and the formalised text is somewhat different (texts included below for comparison).

The “Charte du Mandé”; is based on oral traditions of the Mandinka hunters associations and, to my knowledge, was first published in
1991 (Cissé & Kamissoko 1991: 39). It is this version, transcribed by Youssouf Tata Cissé which figures in the 2003 book (Cissé, Fofana & Sagot-Duvauroux 2003) you mentioned.

The “Charte de Kurukan Fuga”; was reconstructed by Mandinka « traditionnistes » from Senegal, Mali and Guinea at a workshop on community radios in the Guinean town of Kankan in march 1998. This workshop was financed by the Francophonie and Swiss Cooperation. The traditionnistes first confronted their version in a closed hearing.
The Guinean judge Siriman Kouyaté then translated the proceedings into French and organised it in 44 articles and a Preamble to turn it into the equivalent of a modern constitution (Kouyaté 2003). This constitutional version is supposed to be published soon by the African Union, with a preface by Djibril Tamsir Niane.

For the online version of this newly born constitution, see http://www.africa-orale.org/charte.rtf .

Souleymane Kanté (Amselle 2001:198), and before him Djibril Tamsir Niane (Niane 1960:13 already referred to the Kurukan Fuga gathering and statement. The 1236 (sometimes 1235) date, is an invention of the French colonial administrator Maurice Delafosse.

Like the Charte du Mande, the Charte de Kurukan Fuga is presented by its promoters as a “hidden treasury”; from the West African past. It is already the basis for claims of endogenous origins of modern concepts (decentralisation, local democracy, environment conservation, feminism, human rights, cultural diversity, welfare state). In 2000 in Bamako, a calendar of the “year 764 of Kurukan Fuga”; was issued. In Senegal, the Charter of Kurukan Fuga is already included in textbooks next to the Constitution of Senegal and major UN texts on human rights.

West-African intellectuals like Djibril Tamsir Niane, Siriman Kouyaté, Raphaël Ndiaye, Cheikh Hamidou Kane, Martin Faye, Mangoné Niang, Youssouf Tata Cissé are explicitly looking in either of the Charts for equivalents of the Western Magna Carta (1215), Bill of Rights (1628, 1689), Habeas Corpus (1679) and Déclaration des Droits de l’Homme et du Citoyen (1789). It is a real transnational cultural enterprise, involving Western NGOs, of codifying great African political “texts”; that can compete with their Western counterparts.
Interestingly, these intellectuals are also promoting the reinvention of joking relationships which are said to have been institutionalised by Sunjata at Kurukan Fuga (article 7 of the reconstructed “chart”;). Let’s be clear that it is more a process of political re-imagination of the past (and thus a statement on the present governance and fragmentation of West Africa) than something to read literally (Canut & Smith 2006: 717-720).

**

Charte du Mande (”1222″;). Source : Cissé & Kamissoko 1991: 39.

1. Les chasseurs déclarent :
Toute vie (humaine) est une vie.
Il est vrai qu’une vie apparaît à l’existence avant une autre vie, Mais une vie n’est pas plus “ancienne”, plus respectable qu’une autre vie, De même qu’une vie n’est pas supérieure à une autre vie.
2. Les chasseurs déclarent :
Toute vie étant une vie,
Tout tort causé à une vie exige réparation.
Par conséquent,
Que nul ne s’en prenne gratuitement à son voisin, Que nul ne cause du tort à son prochain, Que nul ne martyrise son semblable.
3. Les chasseurs déclarent :
Que chacun veille sur son prochain,
Que chacun vénère ses géniteurs,
Que chacun éduque comme il se doit ses enfants, Que chacun “entretienne”, pourvoie aux besoins des membres de sa famille.
4. Les chasseurs déclarent :
Que chacun veille sur le pays de ses pères.
Par pays ou patrie, faso,
Il faut entendre aussi et surtout les hommes ; Car “tout pays, toute terre qui verrait les hommes disparaître de sa surface Deviendrait aussitôt nostalgique.”
5. Les chasseurs déclarent :
La faim n’est pas une bonne chose,
L’esclavage n’est pas non plus une bonne chose ; Il n’y a pas pire calamité que ces choses-là, Dans ce bas monde.
Tant que nous détiendrons le carquois et l’arc, La faim ne tuera plus personne au Manden, Si d’aventure la famine venait à sévir ; La guerre ne détruira plus jamais de village Pour y prélever des esclaves ; C’est dire que nul ne placera désormais le mors dans la bouche de son semblable Pour allez le vendre ; Personne ne sera non plus battu, A fortiori mis à mort, Parce qu’il est fils d’esclave.
6. Les chasseurs déclarent :
L’essence de l’esclavage est éteinte ce jour, “D’un mur à l’autre”, d’une frontière à l’autre du Manden ; La razzia est bannie à compter de ce jour au Manden ; Les tourments nés de ces horreurs sont finis à partir de ce jour au Manden.
Quelle épreuve que le tourment !
Surtout lorsque l’opprimé ne dispose d’aucun recours.
L’esclave ne jouit d’aucune considération, Nulle part dans le monde.
7. Les gens d’autrefois nous disent :
“L’homme en tant qu’individu
Fait d’os et de chair,
De moelle et de nerfs,
De peau recouverte de poils et de cheveux, Se nourrit d’aliments et de boissons ; Mais son “âme”, son esprit vit de trois choses :
Voir qui il a envie de voir,
Dire ce qu’il a envie de dire
Et faire ce qu’il a envie de faire ;
Si une seule de ces choses venait à manquer à l’âme humaine, Elle en souffrirait Et s’étiolerait sûrement.”
En conséquence, les chasseurs déclarent :
Chacun dispose désormais de sa personne, Chacun est libre de ses actes, Chacun dispose désormais des fruits de son travail.
Tel est le serment du Manden
A l’adresse des oreilles du monde tout entier.

**

Charte de Kurukan Fuga (« 1236 »).
Source: www.afrik.com/IMG/doc/LA_CHARTE_DE_KURUKAN_FUGA.doc
For the English version, see: http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/60/55/37341473.pdf

I - DE L’ORGANISATION SOCIALE:

Article 1er: La société du grand mandé est divisée en seize (16) porteurs de
carquois, cinq (5) classes de marabouts, quatre classes (4) de
nyamakalas. Chacun de ces groupes a une activité et un rôle
spécifiques.
Article 2: Les nyamakalas se doivent de dire la vérité aux Chefs, d’être leurs
conseillers et de défendre par le verbe les règles établies et l’ordre sur
l’ensemble du royaume.
Article 3: Les morikanda Lolu (les cinq classes de marabouts) sont nos maîtres
et nos éducateurs en islam. Tout le monde leur doit respect et
considération.
Article 4: La société est divisée en classes d’âge. A la tête de chacune d’elles est
élu un chef. Sont de la même classe d’âge les personnes (hommes ou
femmes) nées au cours d’une période de trois années consécutives.
Les Kangbès (classe intermédiaire entre les jeunes et les vieux) doivent être conviés pour participer à la prise des grandes décisions concernant la société.
Article 5: Chacun a le droit à la vie et à la préservation de son intégrité
physique. En conséquence, toute tentation d’enlever la vie à son
prochain est punie de la peine de mort.
Article 6: Pour gagner la bataille de la prospérité, il est institué le Kön¨gbèn
Wölö (un mode de surveillance) pour lutter contre la paresse et
l’oisiveté.

Article 7: Il est institué entre les mandenkas le sanankunya (cousinage à
plaisanterie) et le tanamanyöya (forme de totémisme). En
conséquence, aucun différent né entre ces groupes ne doit dégénérer,
le respect de l’autre étant la règle.
Entre beaux-frères et belles-s½urs, entre grands parents et petits-enfants, tolérance et le chahut doivent être le principe.
Article 8: La famille KEITA est désignée famille régnante sur l’empire.

Article 9: L’éducation des enfants incombe à l’ensemble de la société. La
puissance paternelle appartient en conséquence à tous.
Article 10: Adressons-nous mutuellement les condoléances.
Article 11: Quand votre femme ou votre enfant fuit, ne le poursuivez pas chez le
voisin.
Article 12 : La succession étant patrilinéaire, ne donnez jamais le pouvoir à un
fils tant qu’un seul de ses pères vit.
Ne donnez jamais le pouvoir à un mineur parce qu’il possède des liens.
Article 13: N’offensez jamais les nyaras.
Article 14: N’offensez jamais les femmes, nos mères.
Article 15: Ne portez jamais la main sur une femme mariée avant d’avoir fait
intervenir sans succès son mari.
Article 16: Les femmes, en plus de leurs occupations quotidiennes doivent être
associées à tous nos Gouvernements.
Article 17: Les mensonges qui ont vécu 40 ans doivent être considérés comme
des vérités.
Article 18: Respectons le droit d’aînesse.
Article 19: Tout homme a deux beaux-parents: Les parents de la fille que l’on
n’a pas eue et la parole qu’on a prononcé sans contrainte aucune. On
leur doit respect et considération.
Article 20: Ne maltraite, pas les esclaves, accordez leur un jour de repos par
semaine et faites en sorte qu’ils cessent le travail à des heures
raisonnables. On est maître de l’esclave et non du sac qu’il porte.
Article 21: Ne poursuivez pas de vos assiduités les épouses: du Chef, du voisin,
du marabout du féticheur, de l’ami et de l’associé.
Article 22: La vanité est le signe de la faiblesse et l’humilité le signe de la
grandeur.
Article 23: Ne vous trahissez jamais entre vous. Respectez la parole d’honneur.
Article 24: Ne faites jamais du tort au étrangers.
Article 25: Le chargé de mission ne risque rien au Mandé.
Article 26: Le taureau confié ne doit pas diriger le parc.
Article 27: La jeune fille peut être donnée en mariage dès qu’elle est pubère sans
détermination d’âge. Le choix de ses parents doit être suivi quelques
soit le nombre des candidats.
Article 28: Le jeune homme peut se marier à partir de 20 ans.
Article 29: La dote est fixée à 3 bovins: un pour la fille, deux pour ses père et
mère.
Article 30: Venons en aide à ceux qui en ont besoin.

II - DES BIENS:

Article 31: Il y a cinq façons d’acquérir la propriété: l’achat, la donation,
l’échange, le travail et la succession. Toute autre forme sans
témoignage probant est équivoque.

Article 32: Tout objet trouvé sans propriétaire connu ne devient propriété
commune qu’au bout de quatre ans.
Article 33: La quatrième mise-bas d’une génisse confiée est la propriété du
gardien.
Article 34: Un bovin doit être échangé contre quatre moutons ou quatre chèvres.
Article 35: Un ½uf sur quatre est la propriété du gardien de la poule pondeuse.
Article 36: Assouvir sa faim n’est pas du vol si on n’emporte rien dans son sac
ou sa poche.

III - DE LA PRESERVATION DE LA NATURE:

Article 37: Fakombè est désigné Chef des chasseurs. Il est chargé de préserver la
brousse et ses habitants pour le bonheur de tous.
Article 38: Avant de mettre le feu à la brousse, ne regardez pas à terre, levez la
tête en direction de la cime des arbres.
Article 39: Les animaux domestiques doivent être attachés au moment des
cultures et libérés après les récoltes. Le chien, le chat, le canard et la
volaille ne sont pas soumis à cette mesure.

III - DISPOSITIONS FINALES:

Article 40: Respectez la parenté, le mariage et le voisinage.
Article 41: Tuez votre ennemi, ne l’humiliez pas.
Article 42: Dans les grandes assemblées, contentez vous de vos légitimes
représentants et tolérez-vous les uns les autres.
Article 43: Balla Fassèkè KOUYATE est désigné grand Chef des cérémonies et
médiateur principal du mandé. Il est autorisé à plaisanter avec toutes
les tribus en priorité avec la famille royale.
Article 44: Tous ceux qui enfreindront à ces règles seront punis. Chacun est
chargé de veiller à leur application.

References :

AMSELLE, Jean-Loup
2001. Branchements. Anthropologie de l’universalité des cultures, Paris, Flammarion.

CANUT, Cécile and SMITH Etienne
2006. “Pactes, alliances et plaisanteries : Pratiques locales, discours global.” Cahiers d’Etudes Africaines 184/46(4):687-754.

CISSÉ, Youssouf Tata & KAMISSOKO, Wâ
1991. La grande geste du Mali. Vol. 2 Soundjata ou la gloire du Mali, Paris : Karthala-ARSAN.

CISSÉ, Y. T., FOFANA , A. & SAGOT-DUVAUROUX, J-L.
2003 La Charte du Mande et autres traditions du Mali, Paris, Albin Michel

KOUYATE, Siriman
2003. Le cousinage à plaisanterie, notre héritage commun, Conakry :
Editions Ganndal.

NIANE, Djibril Tamsir
1960. Soundiata ou l’épopée mandingue, Paris : Présence africaine.

I’ve written a fair bit on here about traffic and driving in Mali. Checking on the Mali newspapers I see the good news that a very much needed third bridge across the Niger in Bamako is to be built thanks to the Chinese government.

Here is an artist’s idea of what the new bridge will look like:

The new bridge will be the largest in Mali,  The project is expected to take two years to finish. The bridge will be 1,450 metres in length, 24 metres broad with two lanes in each direction plus cycles tracks and pavements plus a kilometre of access roads. The bridge will also facilitate access to the proposed biggest hospital in Mali at Yirimadio.

It will be financed by the Chinese government and built by Chinese engineering companies to the east of the capital in the area of Sotuba. The Malian government will pay for the link road to Route 6. The President, Amadou Toumani Touré, announced on Thursday 18th May during his inspection of the site together with a Chinese delegation, that work on the bridge is expected to begin towards the end of this year or early in 2008. The contract has been signed between the Malian and Chinese governments. The Chinese government has also agreed to support the construction of a ‘maison des femmes’ (house of women) in each of the 8 regions of the country.

The bridge is part of a general upgrading of Route 6 to a motorway. As part of this projects have been proposed to build two motorways between Bamako and Koulikoro and Bamako and Fana, with another later from Fana to Segou. These will be built by cooperation between Mali and Spain. There is also a proposition to build a new dam - Kénié - on the Niger.

World People’s Blog has an article on Aminata Dramane Traoré , a quite remarkable Malian woman who won the Prince Claus Award  for her bold and visionary leadership in empowering communities to find solutions within themselves and their culture.

Aminata Traoré is a Doctor in Social Psychology and Psychopathology, and a former Minister of Tourism and Culture in Mali. She is a former co-ordinator of UNDP, and a staunch promoter of several cultural projects (Djenné, San-Toro, Dunanso). She initiated Soi les voisins, le quartier, a project that mobilises the people that live in the same district to help rebuilt the infrastructure and the accessibility of public services. Aminata Traoré is the Co-ordinator of the Forum pour l’autre Mali, a forum that envisages to follow-up the World Social Movement in Europe. She is the author of several books: l’Etau, 1999 and Le Viol de l’Imaginaire, 2002.

Food for Life Project Underway in Mali
Thursday, March 8, 2007

ADRA is providing essential nourishment for vulnerable children in Mali, one of the poorest countries in the world.

The West African nation suffers from low literacy, low per capita income, food insecurity, and limited infrastructure. Mali has one of the world’s lowest life expectancies and highest under-five mortality rates.

The region of Gao, located in eastern Mali, along with the regions of Mopti and Timbuktu, is extremely food insecure.

In response, ADRA Mali is implementing Food for Life, a one-year project to distribute food to malnourished children at health centers and schools in nomad locations. HELP International and ADRA Germany, in partnership with the World Food Programme (WFP), are financing this project.

From January to December 2007, ADRA plans to distribute in Gao a minimum of 180 tons of enriched flour, 20 tons of oil, and 15 tons of sugar. According to the WFP agreement, the project objectives include improving the nutritional status of children by providing food for children aged six months to 59 months, schoolchildren, and their families.

More 

Nyèsigiso: Mali’s “House of Providence”

With funding from CIDA, the Nyèsigiso savings and credit union network contributes to Mali’s efforts to reduce poverty. It aims to improve the living conditions of the poor by providing access to financial services.

Ségou is Mali’s third-largest city. A new building houses one of a network of Nyèsigiso savings and credit unions. Nyèsigiso means “house of providence” in Bambara, the language of nearly 60 percent of Mali’s population. Farmers, fishers, merchants, artists, and students thus have access to fully secure banking services. “The building gives visibility and credibility to the savings and credit union, and confidence to our members,” explains Fodé Bah, the Ségou branch manager of the Nyèsigiso savings and credit union network. “The premises used to be too small and unsuited for the purpose. Merchants were afraid of thieves!”

The Nyèsigiso Network Support Project receives support from CIDA and its Quebec-based partner, Développement international Desjardins. The project contributes to Mali’s efforts to reduce poverty. By providing access to financial services, the project aims to improve the living conditions of the poor, especially women.

Ségou is home to Mali’s second-largest savings and credit union network. Nearly 30 percent of its members are women. “And the number keeps growing!” says Fodé Bah.

The project promotes gender equality by enhancing the image of women. It gives women access to a credit system designed to meet their needs. It gives them access to jobs within the savings and credit union network.

Thanks to the network, women are making economic gains. They are building their capacity to act. They are playing a more key role in civil society. They are improving their family’s well-being. The Ségou office even sends facilitators into the field to make women more aware of family planning, the importance of proper nutrition, and the prevention of AIDS and malaria.

The Nyèsigiso network has become one of Mali’s largest. It has achieved better-than-hoped-for results: 26 savings and credit unions, 123,566 members, 5.3 billion CFAF (African Financial Community francs, or about C$11.4 million) in savings, 5.7 billion CFAF (about C$12.2 million), and 8.1 billion CFAF in assets (about C$17.5 million). Thanks to a large-scale reconfiguration program, the network should soon achieve financial self-sufficiency and be fully managed by local staff.