Mali is a landlocked country in northwestern Africa, where roughly 80 per cent of the work force is engaged in agriculture. The second major source of income for the country is livestock, which accounts for about a fourth of total export earnings. At least 75 per cent of Malians live in rural areas, and about ten per cent are nomadic. The country, which is often subject to cyclic drought conditions, is one of the world's major producers of peanuts and peanut oil.

UNCDF has been active in Mali since the early 1970s, working closely with the UN Development Programme (UNDP), other multilateral and bilateral donors and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to assist the government with a wide range of projects. The UNCDF programme in Mali is characterized by a synthesis of different approaches, such as a 14-year investment in the North, which has concentrated on the delivery of small-scale irrigation systems, and an eco-development programme in Seno Gondo that was designed to promote social and economic development through a participatory planning process of human, financial and natural resources.

The UNCDF programme in the Seno Plain is comprised of a number of projects that are all designed, in an interrelated manner, to address poverty by supporting productive activities (agricultural and pastoral) while promoting participatory natural resource management and restoration. The Seno Plain Region used to be a fertile region exporting millet and cattle to northern Mali. Over the past decades, however, the combined elements of drought, demographic growth, progressive desertification and insect attacks have created a downward spiral of soil erosion, decreasing agricultural productivity, increasing impoverishment of the population, decapitalization through the loss of cattle and pressure to migrate to the capital city and abroad. The people of the region have caused rapid deforestation and erosion. One primary component of this project involves a water supply project that has provided 130 boreholes to communities in the dry Sahelian region. The wells were equipped with either hand-or windpumps, and village maintenance systems have been established.

Local Governance

UNCDF's local governance programme in Mali, which was launched in 1998, includes an initiative to provide non-sectoral capital funding in partnership with local governments in the region of the ancient city of Timbuktu. Through this project, the Fund, in close collaboration with UNDP, is assisting the Government of Mali to address the policy, capacity and fiscal constraints to poverty alleviation. This project will help the Government of Mali to develop and test a range of participatory planning procedures to empower local authorities to meet locally-determined priorities. Furthermore, the project is providing valuable lessons for similar UNCDF projects in other countries.

This Eco-development Fund is well integrated in the local and national institutions and was designed to contribute to the decentralization process in Mali. The project is expected to provide a sound basis on which the Government can develop national policies and procedures for the planning, allocation and management of decentralized services nationwide. Similar to other UNCDF initiatives elsewhere, this project began with a stakeholder workshop that involved the participation of all sectors of the local society (Tuareg, Maure and Sonrai), from NGOs and traditional leaders to women's groups and local authorities. The various sectors were brought together for one week in Timbuktu to discuss the project possibilities, to identify needs and priorities, and to determine the scope and parameters of the project document.

The UNCDF Support to Rural Communes in Mopti project provides 107 communes in the Mopti Region with comprehensive institutional and financial support. The project covers a total population of about 1,300,000 persons. Despite its enormous potential, Mopti is considered the poorest region in Mali because of its fragile environment and vulnerability to recurrent ecological crises.

The project provides local governments with a financial facility aimed at supporting their funding budgets for rural development and poverty reduction, which include agricultural and livestock production and water management initiatives. Since it began in 2002, the project has earmarked almost 4.8 million US dollars for local governments in Mopti (the fund is channelled through a national institution, the Agence Nationale d’Investissement des Collectivités Locales, ANICT).

The project is also testing a pilot action that provides local governments with targeted funds (environmental or green windows) for investments related to the conservation, protection and management of natural resources. The objective of the ‘Support to Local Environmental Governance Fund’ initiative (Fonds d’Appui à la Gouvernance Environnementale Locale, FAGEL) is to complement the local development fund and focus on environmental investments. For the initial phase, the fund is made available to a limited number of rural communes whose natural resources are particularly threatened and whose environmental problems have severe social and economic impacts.

The agricultural and environmental initiatives funded by FAGEL:

• Conform to national and regional agricultural guidelines and environmental regulations;
• Are within the scope of local government;
• Correspond to the technical and managerial capacities of local communities and user groups;
• Have a comparative advantage and are not already carried out by other projects supported by the government and/or other donors.

Microfinance

Microfinance is another important element of the UNCDF Mali country programme. In these projects, UNCDF works closely with UNDP, the Malian Ministries of Planning, Rural Development and Decentralization, and many NGOs.