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Mali
Armed conflict continues to hamper development
The armed conflict in the north of Mali escalated again in 2012, hitting the local population hard. The region was subsequently secured by the army and French troops, with a peace treaty signed in March 2015. The elections in August 2013 brought a democratically legitimate government to office, but the military and political situation is still unstable. To ensure peace, people’s living conditions need to improve rapidly. Agriculture is Mali’s most important economic sector and offers great potential, which must be further tapped. More than 40% of the population lives in poverty and nearly a third is chronically malnourished. Food security therefore remains one of the country’s biggest challenges even in spite of its successes.
The conflict in Mali from 2012 to 2013 damaged the country’s reputation as a solid democracy. The ensuing peace process focused strongly on ensuring that the largely functional municipalities could contribute to the stability of the country and continue to provide public services as democratically legitimate local institutions.
Mali’s government is therefore relying on a process of increased decentralisation and transferring more powers to the regions. This aims to promote dialogue and reconciliation among sections of the population and help overcome the country’s crisis.
With co-financing by the Fonds National d’Appui aux Collectivités Territoriales (FNACT), KfW Development Bank is helping to meet the social and economic infrastructure needs of all 760 Malian regional bodies on behalf of the German Federal Government. FNACT finances investments defined in community development plans. Examples of institutions receiving funding are schools well as health stations, city halls and their respective equipment, as well as markets.
Moreover, KfW is financing the construction of a classroom for the Malian administrative school Centre de Formation des Collectivités Territoriales (CFCT), which will train Mali’s municipal officials.
Water holds the key to Mali’s agricultural success: using simple irrigation techniques, 2.2 million hectares of land could be used for farming. Just 380,000 hectares are being used as cropland today. In the foothills of the Sahara to the north, the water from the Inner Niger Delta is pumped into rice fields using motorised pumps: the perimeters are traversed by canals and thus enable controlled irrigation. Retention dams ensure that the river water in flooded areas can be used effectively. Small dams accumulate rainwater on the rocky plateau of the Dogon region. In the rainy south of Mali, where farmers grow crops for the entire country, larger dams help to increase production. In addition, new project components such as the establishment of fish farms are intended to help expand the product range.
The success can be measured: productivity on rehabilitated, newly developed land has nearly doubled from an average of 3.5 to now 6 tonnes per hectare. The incomes of families are climbing significantly. Agriculture ensures the food supply, especially in remote regions, and it creates jobs: an important contribution to preserving peace, especially since the projects are conflict-sensitive and thus enjoy support across ethnic and religious divides.
Counteracting the crisis in Mali with decentralised irrigation (PDF, 774 KB, non-accessible)
Poverty and disease prevail in places where there is no clean water. Diarrhoea and malaria are the main causes of death in children in Mali, where 20% of all children do not reach their fifth birthday. Women and girls, whose job it has traditionally been to fetch water, sometimes have to cover vast distances to the next watering hole, all the while carrying heavy loads.
In some of the cities of the Kayes region in the west of the country, a solar-powered electric pump now does the work for them. New wells supply water to several standpipes in the middle of the town close to their houses through supply units and pipelines several kilometres long. People now have enough clean drinking water, even when temperatures reach 40°C in the shade. KfW Development Bank plans to finance another 60 to 70 of these kinds of supply systems in the next few years, primarily in rural regions and small towns, but also in the urban area of the city of Kayes.
The result will be new supply systems with wells, a mains system, solar-powered pumps and storage capacities. Public standpipes will be set up as a first step, followed later by private connections for individual houses and farm communities. The new wells will convey water from deep layers below ground directly to the residential areas. The supply of water alone, however, is not enough to solve the hygiene problems seen in Mali’s urban areas. As a result, KfW is also financing public latrines at these locations on behalf of the German Federal Government. Hygiene campaigns aim to convince people that they can contribute to fighting infectious diseases themselves.
Further information
- Learn more about the impact of our work in Mali in our transparency portal
- Read more about our completed projects in the evaluation reports on Mali
- The BMZ's priorities in Mali can be found directly on the Ministry's website
- On the website of the Federal Foreign Office you will find detailed information about Mali
Local office
KfW Office Bamako
Director KfW Office: Silvia Paschke
202 Rue 22 Badalabougou Est
BP 100 Bamako
Mali
Phone: +223 20 70 48 00
Fax: +223 20 23 99 55