Mali

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Thematic Focus
• Progress on Aid Effectiveness
• Achievements

Overview

CIDA has been providing development assistance to Mali since 1962. Over the years, projects aimed at reducing poverty, improving the health of women and children, and supporting public reforms and good governance in Mali have achieved considerable success.

Even before the crisis that began in early 2012, Mali was already one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world, ranking 175 out of 187 countries in the United Nations Development Programme's 2011 human development index. In 2011, of a total population of 15.8 million, 50 percent lived on less than US$1.25/day and 46.6 percent was under 15 years of age. The country had higher rates of infant and maternal mortality, disease, and malnutrition than most countries in sub-Saharan Africa and an adult illiteracy rate of 70.6 percent.

By the end of 2011, the country was beginning to face a food crisis, the third one since 2005, with low and erratic rainfall causing a decrease in food production. CIDA provided additional humanitarian assistance to help Malians cope with the 2012 food and nutrition crisis in the Sahel and will continue to do so.

Aggravated by population displacements linked to insecurity in northern Mali and a political crisis following the coup d'état that occurred on March 22, 2012, the food crisis evolved into a humanitarian crisis in Mali. Canada condemned the coup and has suspended aid programs involving direct payments to the Government of Mali.

An economic slowdown and the suspension of aid by many other donors means that the availability and the quality of basic social services, such as health and education services, are very limited.

CIDA's bilateral program is currently focusing on providing basic services to Malians living in southern Mali, with a particular attention on food security and nutrition. This assistance is provided through multilateral and civil society organizations.

Thematic Focus

In 2009, as part of Canada's new aid effectiveness agenda, Mali was selected by CIDA as a country of focus. CIDA's program in Mali is directly aligned with the Government of Mali's 2012-2017 Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP III) (in French), which identifies good governance, accelerated growth and sustainable job creation, equitable access to quality social services, and protection against vulnerabilities as that country's priorities.

Children and youth, including maternal, newborn and child health

CIDA is helping Mali to decrease the mortality rate for children under the age of five through improved maternal and child health services. Under the Africa Health Systems Initiative—CIDA's multi-country program—the Agency continues to strengthen Mali's health systems to achieve concrete progress toward the Millennium Development Goals. CIDA is also putting an emphasis on basic education with a view to increasing gross enrolment rate at primary school and providing quality education.

Food security

CIDA supports irrigation and agricultural development projects and promotes the use of new methods and techniques to increase food security and economic growth. In this way, subsistence farmers will increase production, both for their own consumption and for selling in local markets. This effort will help make progress toward food security and price stability in urban centres. CIDA also helps to increase access to credit. This, in turn, will help boost Mali's exports to neighbouring countries, where there is a growing demand, helping increase regional food security.

Governance

CIDA's continued support of the public sector will help ensure fair and effective access to judicial services for citizens and businesses, the accountability of public officials, and adherence to contractual obligations. This will improve the business climate for investments and increase economic opportunities for the poor.

CIDA will also strengthen the capacities of civil society organizations to monitor reforms and ensure national policies focus on poverty reduction.

Progress on Aid Effectiveness

CIDA is fostering greater coordination among Mali's international partners and donors to harmonize development efforts. As chair of the donor group in 2010, Canada helped shape high-level policy dialogue with the Government of Mali. This type and level of interaction and influence continues to be key to CIDA's ability to contribute to effective development and sustainable results in Mali.

In 2008, donors demonstrated their willingness to work together and harmonize development efforts through a joint country assistance strategy aimed at improving the effectiveness of support to PRSP II by 2011 by ensuring an adequate division of labour. CIDA is helping to develop the next joint country assistance strategy, which will improve alignment, ensure greater division of labour among donors, and increase joint programming.

Achievements 2011-2012

Children and youth, including maternal, newborn and child health

• Distributed 615 tons of fortified food to 3,007 mothers and 24,233 infants and children
• Helped the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria provide HIV/AIDS treatment to 28,000 people, detect and treat 17,000 cases of tuberculosis, and distribute 720,000 insecticide-treated mosquito nets to prevent malaria between 2002 and 2012
• Provided three doses of a life-saving vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B, and polio to more than 66,500 infants in 2010, contributing to increasing the national ratio of infants protected from 69 percent in 2007 to 92 percent in 2010
• Helped deliver more than 1.2 million new textbooks, ensuring that every primary school student had two textbooks
• Helped increase the primary education completion rate from 56 percent in 2009 to 58 percent in 2011 (for girls, the increase was from 47 percent to 51 percent)

Food security

• Provided 5,481 tons of food rations to 164,878 people, including 82,863 women, in rural areas
• Helped develop 7,453 hectares of newly irrigated land, which yielded 12,778 tons of paddy rice and 900 tons of fresh produce annually, enough to meet the food needs of 157,000 people

Governance

• Helped the Office of the Auditor General of Mali update its auditing methods using international standards
• Helped train judges, police, army, and jail administrators in human rights, particularly women's rights

Achievements 2010-2011

Children and youth, including maternal, newborn and child health

• Increased vaccination coverage rates in Timbuktu from 58 percent in 2008 to 80 percent in 2009, in Gao from 90 percent in 2008 to 100 percent in 2009, and in Kidal from 39 percent in 2008 to 44 percent in 2009
• Helped increase the rate of assisted childbirths by 6 percent since 2007
• Helped increase the percentage of people living within five kilometers of a functional community health centre from 51 percent in 2006 to 59 percent in 2010 by training medical staff and building clinics
• Helped increase the rate of childbirths assisted by trained health-care providers from 61 percent in 2008 to 64 percent in 2010
• Helped increase the primary school enrolment rate from 77.7 percent in 2008 to 79.8 percent in 2010 and helped increase the primary school completion rate from 55.7 percent to 59.7 percent during the same period
• Contributed to establishing a national model for distribution of textbooks to schools, which played a significant role in students receiving more than three textbooks each
• Helped increase access to primary education by 9.4 percent for girls and 2.1 percent for boys since 2008

Food security

• Helped increase cereal production—the staple food in Mali—from 3,693,240 tonnes in 2006-2007 to 6,334,440 tonnes in 2009-2010

Governance

• Helped the Office of the Auditor General of Mali reduce fraud by conducting performance evaluations

Achievements 2009-2010

Children and youth (2008-2009)

• Helped increase the proportion of assisted births by six percent
• Helped increase the proportion of people living within five kilometres of a functional community health centre to 58 percent
• Helped increase access to basic education by 4.7 percent for both boys and girls

Food security

• Through support of Mali's rice initiative, helped rice producers (both women and men) produce a record 1,604,647 tonnes of paddy rice, with production continuing to grow
• Through Canadian volunteer technical support in microcredit, helped select rural women's associations achieve a 38 percent increase in their revolving loan fund, so that 90 percent of their members were able to diversify their food production and increase their revenue

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