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USAID Assistance to Mali

U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
FACT SHEET

WASHINGTON, DC 20523
PRESS OFFICE
http://www.usaid.gov
(202) 712-4320

2003-024

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 5, 2003

USAID ASSISTANCE TO MALI

BUDGET (in '000s) FY 2001
(Actual)		 FY 2002
(Estimated)		 FY 2003
(Request)
Development Assistance/Child Survival $ 34,487 $ 36,476 $ 34,628
Economic Support Fund $ 750 $ 0 $ 0
PL 480 Title II $ 2,372 $ 0 $ 0
Democracy and Human Rights Fund $ 70 $ 70 TBD
Special Self-Help Fund $ 76 $ 83 TBD
Foreign Disaster Assistance $ 0 $ 75 TBD
Total $ 37,755 $ 36,704 $ 34,628

Note: USAID's program in Mali is one of eight direct U.S. assistance programs in West Africa, and USAID maintains a fully staffed office in Bamako.

OBJECTIVES

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)'s assistance program for Mali is concentrated in five strategic areas: health, basic education, economic growth, democratic governance and communications. USAID's current country development strategy supports the Malian government's goal of poverty reduction through private-sector-led growth and increased access to health and educational services.

MAJOR PROGRAM AREAS

Health: The overall goal of this program is to increase use of proven, effective health services in order to address the continued high under-give mortality, material mortality, and fertility rates in Mali. To maintain low rates of HIV/AIDS, the program will also support interventions that target populations at high risk of infection and transmission.

Basic Education: The Basic Education program will increase the quality of basic primary school education. Recognizing that children often have different learning needs and styles, emphasis will be placed on providing teachers with the tools to improve learning of all students. The priorities addressed by this program include: improving teacher learning and support; assessing student achievement; playing a leading role in curriculum development; mobilizing community groups to manage schools and participate in improving the quality of learning; and assisting the decentralized Ministry of Education offices in order to help link financial decisions to school and student performance.

Economic Growth: The Accelerated Economic Growth program works to increase productivity and income generated by specific economic activities in the cereals, livestock and non-traditional agricultural subsectors by: developing irrigation infrastructure; increasing access to financial services; boosting Mali's competitiveness in producing, processing and marketing cereals, livestock, and non-traditional products; conducting and stimulating policy analyses, dialogue and reform; building and strengthening the capacities of public and private sector organizations; stimulating better use of technology and natural resource management practices; and increasing access to both technical and market information.

Democratic Governance: The Democratic Governance (DG) program seeks to strengthen civil society, community organizations, and local government. To enhance democratic governance by community leaders and decentralized governing entities, the program is assisting community organizations to become effective development partners in targeted local regions. Effective democratic governance also aims at strengthening community organizations' capacities to influence public decision-makers in the planning of development activities. USAID's support is focused on two major areas of intervention: helping targeted community organizations to engage in democratic governance and civic action, primarily at the local level; and establishing an environment that empowers community organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and federations to carry out civic actions and to actively participate in determining public decisions.

Communication: The Communication for Development program will expand access to Internet and increase the use of private rural radio to disseminate information. The program seeks to achieve this by promoting open policies in the information and communication sector, increasing the number of Malians who can obtain and use current development information, and enhancing modes of communication.

OTHER PROGRAM AREAS

Economic Support Fund (ESF): ESF was established to promote economic and political stability in strategically important regions. ESF provides grants for a variety of economic purposes, including infrastructure and development projects. In Mali, ESF supports upgrading voter registration, provides technical assistance and logistical support to carry out elections, conducts civic and voter education campaigns, promotes women's involvement in the political process, and provides training for newly elected officials to upgrade their skills in constituency building, budgeting and priority setting.

Public Law 480 Title II (PL 480): Nearly 800 million in the world are "food insecure," and many live in sub-Saharan Africa. Chronic poverty, the persistent lack of economic opportunity either to produce adequate amounts of food or to exchange labor for income needed to purchase food in adequate amounts, is the chief cause of food insecurity. USAID donates commodities to cooperating sponsors to address food security needs through five-year development projects and through emergency food assistance. In Mali, the Goundam Food Security Initiative responds to the risks of heightened food insecurity by promoting irrigated vegetable gardening and potato cultivation, improving access to micro-credit, and constructing potable water wells. The Goundam program also trains women's groups to improve the nutrition of their children and conducts growth monitoring activities to verify the benefits among their children. Direct food-for-work distributions provide a food safety net for the most vulnerable citizens.

Democracy and Human Rights Fund (DHRF): DHRF's grants program provides assistance to indigenous organizations that implement short-term, highly targeted country-level activities in support of human rights and democratic institutions. In Mali, DHRF supports human rights groups to educate Malian citizens, political leaders, and civil society leaders on the need to update Mali's criminal code. The program also supports women's legal clinics to assure greater access to legal services needed by women and supports a women's network focused on increasing awareness of civil rights, the role of decentralized governance and the acceptance of the rule of law.

Special Self-Help (SSH) Fund: SSH supports community-based development activities. In Mali, activities include construction of village wells, purchase of radio equipment, women's groups indigo cloth dying training, fish pond construction, purchase of equipment to clean drainage ditches, renovation of a solar pumping system, purchase of grinding machines for processing shea butter and purchase of soap making equipment, provision of furnishings for literacy centers, and construction of classrooms.

Collaborative Research Support Programs (CRSPs): CRSPs involve U.S. universities, developing government researchers and farmers worldwide in interactive research for improved crop productivity and technologies. The following CRSPS are active in western African countries: sorghum and millet (seven countries), beans and cowpeas (seven countries), soil management (three countries), peanuts (five countries), integrated pest management (one country), SANRAM natural resource management (one country) and the West Africa inter CRSP natural resource management (five countries). Mali is involved in the peanut CRSP, the sorghum and millet CRSP, the bean and cowpea CRSP, the soil management CRSP, the SANRAM CRSP, the integrated pest management CRSP and the West African inter-CRSP natural resource management activity to increase the application of improved technologies that have a positive impact on people and their natural resources management efforts in western Africa.

Development Credit Authority (DCA): Under the DCA's legislative authority, USAID issues partial loan guarantees to select Malian banks. These banks will draw upon the guaranteed capital to make new loans to private sector entrepreneurs involved with expansion of Mali's rice sector.

Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS Net): FEWS Net supports establishment of food strategies and supports contingency planning by the drought prone Sahelian countries. FEWS Net responds as needed to food security threats. FEWS Net enhances concerns about reducing environmental threats that would limit sustainable development posed by climate change. FEWS Net's Regional Coordination Office is based in Mali to support improvement of the quality and effectiveness of information and response planning systems that directly enhance the capacity of West Africa countries to respond to their drought, food insecurity and natural disasters.

Public-Private Alliance (PPA): PPA initiatives in Mali include support for the expansion of Mali's sugar cane research program as part of a larger sugar sector expansion. Another PPA program is the West African Water Initiative, which supports increased access to potable water. The initiative encourages involvement by other partners in Mali's water development, such as the Hilton Foundation and World Vision, to create up to 300 additional new water wells.

Grants Program: Since 1978 USAID has approved grants to help U.S. private voluntary organizations (PVOs) develop community-based programs overseas. USAID grants under this program include:

International Agriculture Research Centers (IARCs): IARCs are financed for eight collaborative research networks in various countries throughout eastern and western Africa. In Mali, IARC programs develop and disseminate improved varieties and technologies for crops such as rice, corn, sorghum and millet, as well as build capacity and networks for government researchers and farmers.

Peace Corps Small Project Assistance (SPA) Program: The SPA is active in 75 countries. The program facilitates local grass-roots efforts by combining Peace Corps Volunteers' knowledge of local conditions with USAID technical and financial resources. In Mali, approximately 120 Volunteers work in agriculture, vegetable gardening; natural resources management; water/sanitation; small enterprise development; and health.

Strategies and Analyses for Growth and Access (SAGA) Project: SAGA provides grants and technical assistance that strengthens the capacities of national African economic research institutions. SAGA supports the Secretariat for Institutional Strengthening of Economic Research in Africa (SISERA), composed of 18 national economic research institutes including the Groupe de Recherche en Economie Appliquée et Théorique (GREAT) in Mali.

West African Regional Program (WARP): WARP provides funding to a number of public and private sector regional organizations on region-wide issues of economic integration, health, nutrition, food security, environment, natural resources management and conflict prevention. Health activities include HIV/AIDS prevention, technical support to enhance clinical services delivery, training of health workers, and dissemination of health messages.

As a member of Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS)*, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)**, and the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU or UEMOA)***, Mali participates in WARP-funded studies and analyses that provide data used in the formulation of policy, the development and promulgation of legislation and regulations, and the design and implementation of region-wide program activities, including the common external tariff.

* Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS) -- Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Chad, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Senegal.

** Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) -- Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo.

*** West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU or UEMOA) is based in Ouagadougou, and composed of the following member countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, and Senegal.

The U.S. Agency for International Development has provided economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide for more than 40 years.

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