UNCDF Approves New Initiative to Contribute to the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals at the Local Level in Mali

Elders of the Bandiagara Region, in the area covered by the new project. Photo by Angelo Bonfiglioli (UNCDF/FENU)

15 July 2005: The United Nations Capital Development Fund has approved a new project in Mali that will draw key lessons learned from previous projects/programmes supporting decentralization in Mali that have been supported by UNCDF and by other donors.

The new project, called "Local Governments & Local Development" (Projet 'Collectivités Territoriales et Développement Local' -- CTDL) is expected to contribute substantively to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals in particularly poor areas (Mopti and Timbuktu Regions), by improving the access of local populations to basic social services and infrastructure and by fostering decentralized and sustainable forms of management of natural resources. More particularly, the project will support the leadership of local governments in planning, implementing and monitoring a comprehensive and holistic development at local level. In so doing, the project will strengthen the horizontal and vertical relationships among local governments (at the level of the Commune, the Cercle and the Region), and the interactions among local governments, community organizations, the civil society and the private sector. A financial facility will allow local authorities to invest in sustainable forms of management, protection and rehabilitation of the natural resource base, in order to improve local food security and reduce poverty.

The project, which will directly or indirectly affect a total population of more than 1.5 million of people, will be co-financed by UNCDF, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the Government of Luxembourg. Additional contributions from other donors/partners also will be solicited. The project will start at the beginning of 2006.