Strengthening the resilience of women producer groups and vulnerable communities in Mali

Project details

Mali’s priorities in terms of development and global strategies are outlined in the Strategic Framework for Growth and Poverty Reduction (SFGPR 2012-2017) which focuses on 4 strategic axis: (i) Promoting sustainable growth and job creation; (ii) Equitable access to social services; and (iii) the consolidation of governance and structural reforms.

The proposed project will support economic growth of poor people in vulnerable communes by increasing the resilience of agro pastoral and fisheries production, diversifying woman incomes sources, while strengthening their capacities to respond to the increasing incidence of extreme weather events. The  project will support the implentation of the “Initiative 166 Communes.” In an effort to achieve the country’s MDGs and SDGs, the 166 Communes Initiative was launched to combat food insecurity in the 166 municipalities (communes), identified as the most vulnerable to food crises.

This initiative was executed as part of the National Food Security Programme (“Programme National de Sécurité Alimentaire” - PNSA) and stems from the Economic and Social Development Project (“Projet pour le Développement Economique et Sociale” – PDES) whose goal is to accelerate Mali’s development. The regions in which the 166 communes are located are: Tombouctou, Kidal, Gao, Mopti and Kayes and a few communes located in the regions of Koulikoro and Ségou.

Commonalities between these communes include a lack of sufficient infrastructure required to meet the MDGs, such as health and educational centers, as well as strong rural-urban migration, leaving primarily women behind without the necessary financial and material necessities to fend for themselves and their children. The total cost of the 166 Communes Initiative is US$95 million and focuses on 8 axis: (i) Agriculture and Hunger, (ii) Education , (iii) Gender, (iv) Health, (v) Energy, (vi) Water supply and Sanitation, (vii) road and transport and (viii) Environment.

The project will support this ongoing initiative by enabling Mali to enhance adaptive capacities of vulnearble groups in the context of resilience to expected climate change pressures. Climate change will limiting factor for the development of the Initiative 166 communes (in particular results that it is seeking to achieve) is no longer going to be effective without considering climate change in local development strategies. Proposed project target communes’ (Kayes, Koulikoro and Sikasso) are highly sensitive to changes in rainfall, where most households in these regions derive over 70 percent of their income from agriculture, livestock and forestry sectors, and are therefore the most vulnerable to climate change.

The barriers to increasing the resilience of Malian communes to climate change are related to the biophysical environment, the availability of financial resources and limited capacity of local communities to implement identified climate-resilient activities/practices across landscapes commune/wide capacity. The absence of coherence in perceptions of change and what needs to be done to manage uncertainties is a recipe for undermining resilience to climate change and adaptive capacity and therefore national efforts on human development. As climate change manifests and increasingly impacts the communities’ livelihood resources, regional efforts on poverty reduction is likely to be undermined and hamper the achievement and certainly the sustainability of MDG targets.

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Key results and output

Outcome 1 - Sustainable climate resilient water management systems provided to vulnerable communities, including women farmers, which in turn ought to support the development of subsistence activities

Output 1.1. Dredging and protecting channels from erosion of major rivers & ponds to restore fish habitats threatened by climate change and ensure resilience of sources of protein for men, women and children in rural communities

Output 1.2. Small scaled irrigation schemes provided to smallholder farmers, including women farmers, in high climate risks zone

Output 1.3. Local water management activities supported to strengthen roles and capacities of local water associations, including women groups

Outcome 2 - Innovative approach and sustainable climate resilient technologies provided to women farmers and producers in vulnerable communes to enhance and secure the production of local livelihood systems from climate impacts

Output 2.1. Climate resilient multipurpose farm combined with water and soils conservation, diffusion of drought-adapted crop, provision of agro-meteorological information and building of Local Strategic Grain Reserves adopted by most vulnerable women and farmer to improve and ensure the sustainability of livelihoods 

Output 2.2. Pastoral perimeters created or restored to support production and maintain resilience of livestock resources from climate impacts

Output 2.3. Dry-season gardening activities by women supported to improve food and income diversification

Output 2.4. Collective action for women farmers established to share, build capacity and incorporate most effective livelihood management strategies’ in different climate contexts and for different groups of women

Programme meetings and workshops

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Reports & publications

Videos & multimedia

Monitoring & evaluation

The implementation of the project’s activities will reflect GEF monitoring and evaluation standards and procedures as well as UNDP guidelines on monitoring and evaluation of projects on adaptation policy.

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