1st session of the National Strategic Steering Committee in Mali

Validation of the governance structure of the Right2Grow program in Mali by the 1st session of the National Strategic Steering Committee

On December 21, Right2Grow program implementers gathered for the first session of the strategic steering committee in Mali. The steering committee is a key body in the conduct of the Right2Grow program. It ensures that operations are carried out according to the general objectives and maintains a dynamic of continuous communication between the different actors involved in the implementation of Right2Grow. He/she will be able to give impetus and, if necessary, allocate or redeploy resources.

The objective of this first session of the National Strategic Steering Committee was to strengthen the program's accountability mechanism. More specifically, it was to inform stakeholders about the level of implementation of the program, to ensure ownership of the governance system, and to gather recommendations and orientations from stakeholders for effective implementation.

• The discussions, which were held mainly in the local Bamanankan language, resulted in the reorganization of the periodicity of the steering committees at the communal, district and regional levels. The Committee decided that the steering committee sessions should be based on the accountability frameworks put in place in the context of decentralization in Mali. Youth organizations were also taken into account more explicitly in Mali's governance structure at all levels. Mali's governance document was validated by the members of the Steering Committee.

The meeting was attended by 22 people including 6 women and 16 men:

• The two country directors of Action Against Hunger and World Vision
• The representatives of the Wash and nutrition journalists networks
• The 6 NGOs/CSOs partners of implementation
• The representatives of the technical services of the State including the head of the Coordination Unit of Nutrition in Mali of the Ministry of Health
• The communities, including the women's community organizations
• Mayors of communes from the regions of Kayes, Koulikoro and Sikasso.
• Networks of WASH and Nutrition journalists