Oxfam's work in Mali in depth

Background

On the fringe of the Sahara desert in the Sahel region of West Africa, 65 per cent of Mali's land is desert or semi-desert. Life expectancy for Mali's population of 13 million is just 47. Wealth and natural resources are also very unequally distributed across the country. Those living in the most marginalised northern regions of the country suffer from recurring periods of drought and widespread food shortages.

Bad land management policies are a constant source of tension between the farmers and nomadic herders who struggle to share the increasingly meagre resources of the northern regions. Life is still a daily struggle for the majority of the population in this part of the country and things are getting worse. Global climate change and desertification are leading to more frequent periods of drought, resulting in chronic food shortages. With each difficult year, people are becoming increasingly vulnerable to malnutrition and less able to survive the long hunger periods.

 

Oxfam in Mali

Oxfam GB has been working in Mali on rural development projects for over 30 years.  During this time we have run periodic humanitarian programmes in response to food crises. We have also regularly carried out advocacy activities and has been closely involved in the management of conflicts arising from the Tuareg rebellion of the 1990s. During the past two years, and in collaboration with our local partners and communities, Oxfam’s programme has focused on an innovative voucher-for-work scheme. It has also included de-stocking, seed fairs, animal vaccination and the subsidised sale of animal feed, and emergency preparedness training.

 

Our focus

In Mali, we work in the rural regions of Gao, Kayes and Sikasso where there are high levels of poverty. We support communities to:

• Rebuild their wealth and livelihoods
• Improve their access to basic services like education, water and sanitation
• Reduce conflict
• Strengthen their capacity to advocate for national policies that take their needs into account

Currently Oxfam is focusing on livelihoods, essential services, nutrition, and water and sanitation.

 

Securing livelihoods

We are supporting livestock farmers and cotton producers to secure incomes to improve their quality of life. 

Support to livestock farmers

Representing ten per cent of Mali’s population, nomadic livestock herders are some of the most marginalised and vulnerable people in the country. They live in dry, arid areas where they move with their herds in search of pasture and water. However, areas of pasture are becoming increasingly scarce as the desert advances from the north and more land is used for farming.

Many pastoralists are being forced to abandon their traditional livelihoods, settling with their families to earn a living from small-scale farming and animal rearing. With every recurring crisis, more nomadic herders lose their livelihoods and this thousand-year-old culture is threatened with extinction.

Oxfam’s programme is supporting livestock farmers to :

• access and have power in markets in terms of trading livestock products
• support pastoral production systems and facilitate access to basic services
• Influence pastoral sector policies at national and regional levels

Cotton producers

This five-year programme aims to increase the income and livelihood security of 200,000 poor farmers, especially women, in cotton growing regions of Mali. It focuses on introducing more sustainable production practices and strengthening local and national producer organisations by 2012.

We support small-scale male and female farmers to form local co-operatives in order to strengthen their position when selling their produce. We also provide women with extra support to help enhance their role within the decision making of producer organisations, whilst increasing their social and economic assets through cotton based agriculture. Our programme promotes innovation, value addition and diversification to help increase farmers’ incomes and food security.

We work with our partners to:

• Increase and secure incomes and greater livelihood security for family farmers in programme areas of cotton producing regions of Mali. We do this through advocating for a national price support mechanism and providing financial and technical support for diversification, scale up and improved production of organic and fair trade cotton
• Increase organisational capacity, legitimacy and financial viability of organic, fair trade and conventional cotton farmer co-operatives in programme target areas. We do this through facilitating organisational self-assessments, tailored trainings targeting co-operative leaders and ‘relays’ or ‘animators’, and ongoing monitoring and support from technical advisers
• Increase rural women’s empowerment in cotton producing areas. We do this through enhancing female representation in the co-operative movement, and improving women’s access to, and control of, economic resources
• Increase effectiveness of co-operative unions and national producer federations in Mali in representing their members
• Supply affordable and relevant services, and influence the national policy environment for co-operative development

 

Essential services

Oxfam’s education work in Mali supports civil society and governments to achieve the Millennium Development Goals on education through direct community intervention and policy advocacy at local, national and international levels. 

Our programme increases the capacity of partners to hold their government to account to deliver better and more relevant primary education to all children.  We place a great emphasis on girls’ education to challenge gender inequalities in the education system and within society at large. 

Water and sanitation are closely integrated into our education programme as part of our work on Essential Services. The programme recognises a strong correlation between access to water and access to education, particularly for girls.

Oxfam works with the local authorities to build boreholes in schools that are for human consumption only, thus ensuring that girls have more time to attend school and also that the likelihood of disease due to poor water quality is reduced. We also provide training and materials to promote good hygiene so as to reduce the level of absenteeism due to poor health. Linked to the provision of water, the programme supports the development of school gardens and canteens, as well as providing materials and training on gardening and promoting healthy dietary practises.

We also do some advocacy work on access to basic services. In 2008, Oxfam International chose Mali as a focus country for the 'Health and Education for All' campaign, and invested new resources and staff to support national-level advocacy around education. Early work will involve supporting the national-level Education For All coalition.

 

Water, public health and nutrition

Through this programme we aim to improve access to water and health services for malnourished communities in Bamba (Bourem district). The main beneficiaries are women and children under five.

Clean drinking water

We help secure access to drinking water by helping guarantee minimum requirements of water in a sustainable way. We do this through:

• building water points and introducing new water supply options, i.e. low-cost water technologies including hand-drilling techniques and rope pump construction 
• supporting local bodies in the management of their water sources
• working with local bodies (regional hydrology department, local authorities and villages) to help better understand their capacities and needs, and support them in managing their water systems
• training water management associations  in cost-recovery and management strategies, to ensure continued upkeep of water points
• supporting village-based technicians and local artisans in the maintenance of water points and organisation of a transparent spare parts supply chain
• training technicians in pump installation, maintenance, and repair at the village level

Infant nutrition

We also focus on improving the understanding and practices about infant nutrition, hygiene and health issues. This is done through collaboration with relevant government departments, local authorities and community-based organisations, and carrying out special sensitisation activities and demonstrations.

We help to develop messages promoting good health (especially aiming at preventing malaria and diarrhoea) and adequate feeding practices, especially among children under five and pregnant mothers.

We also set up low-cost latrines built with local materials, as well as carrying out soap distributions and running sensitisation sessions to promote good hygiene practices.

 

Governance

This new programme aims to support the practice of democratic local governance in Mali. It will contribute to reaching the country’s Millennium Development Goals through participative management and the exercise of citizen control on public action.

Our main activities will include:

• capacity building of local actors
• advocacy to improve transparency regarding the use of resources intended for basic social services
• support to the development of a culture of transparency. Starting with one administrative area in the northern region, this approach will be used as a pilot to be replicated in other regions of Mali to enhance the ownership and the management of Essential Services at local level

 

Regional programmes

West Africa Regional Pastoral Programme

West Africa Regional Conflict Transformation Programme

 

Last updated: January 2009