Mali

In Mali, the political and security crisis and the occurrence of the corona virus pandemic have an impact on the prevalence of acute malnutrition. Despite the efforts made, one child in four still suffers from chronic malnutrition and 10% of children under five are acutely malnourished according to the latest available surveys.

Pregnant women

Young children are not the only ones suffering from malnutrition: according to a survey conducted in 2019, 20% of pregnant and lactating women have insufficient dietary diversity. Nutrition is only funded at less than 1% of the state budget.

Access to water

According to the latest general population census (2009), the rate of access to basic drinking water service in 2020 is 66% in rural areas, 80% in semi-urban and urban areas and 70% at national level. Prioritising access to water in urban areas to the detriment of rural areas where the growing needs of the population and agro-pastoral activities cause social unrest/conflict and a drop in food production.

Community involvement

Community involvement in decision-making remains weak and is reflected in the failure to integrate nutrition and WASH into most commune economic, social and cultural development plans.

Right2Grow in Mali

The intervention of the Right2Grow programme in Mali is dedicated to the emergence of citizens who use their rights and dialogue with actors to achieve changes in social behavior and policies. These citizens do this through multiple coordinated actions with a close link between the communal and national levels. Women and men, young people and people living with disabilities will be organized in analysis and pressure groups.

Empowerment of women

The programme will be implemented in the regions of Kayes, Koulikoro, Sikasso and the District of Bamako and places a continuous and integrated emphasis on gender, including the empowerment of women in communal activities and decision-making. These also include analyses of municipal and national budgets. Campaigns will raise awareness about the role of the private sector, climate change and COVID-19 in order to have responsible and engaged citizens. This whole process will be supervised by national NGOs/CSOs, whose role is also to provide these pressure groups with national programmatic information related to the regions of intervention.

The main challenges of the programme are:

• Gender mainstreaming in the programme implementation process
• Synergy of action of the program with other NGOs intervening on the themes of Right2Grow
• The availability of financial information on the sectors covered at local and national level