UNCDF in Mali
Our work
The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), in close collaboration with national and local authorities and development partners, supports the implementation of decentralization and climate change strategies in Mali. Through catalytic finance and technical assitance, UNCDF promotes local economic development, mobilizes local investments, and supports climate adaptation in vulnerable communities.
UNCDF works to strengthen local governance systems, expand access to finance, and promote inclusive economic opportunities. Through innovative financing mechanisms and policy support for financial inclusion policy, UNCDF contributes to women's economic empowerment, supports small and medium entreprises (SMEs), and strengthens climate resilience in beneficiary municipalities.
Strengthening climate resilience and local development
The Local Climate Adaptive Living Facility, LoCAL, is UNCDF’s flagship programme in Mali, designed to strengthen climate resilience while promoting inclusive local development.
Following a successful testing phase in 2015 in two communes of the Kayes region, the programme expanded during a transition phase funded by the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) to two additional communes in the Mopti region. This expansion highlighted the links between climate adaptation, sustainable resource management, and local stability.
Since 2016, the Governement of Mali, through the Agency of Environment and Sustainable Development (AEDD), has supported the implementation and scaling up of the LoCAL mechanism. To date, the programme has mobilized over $2 million in technical assistance, supporting approximatively 60 local projects, aimed at improving natural resource management and promoting women’s economic empowerment.
In 2024, UNCDF LoCAL and UNDP launched a Climate Security Programme in the Koulikoro region, with financial support from Belgium. The initiative has already reached more than 6,000 beneficiaries and created 1,007 jobs, including 798 for women, contributing to a more dynamic and inclusive local economy.
LoCAL continues to strengthen the resilience of Malian communities facing climate-related challenges.
Market gardening equipment used by farmers in Simby, Kayes. Photo: UNCDF.
Vegetable production from the Pignari Bana irrigation perimeter, Mopti region. Photo: UNCDF.
Supporting private sector companies contributing to food security
In Mali, under the Africa Adaptation Initiative Food Security Accelerator (AAI FSA), UNCDF supports the Agrobiotech Pépinières du Sud, a Bamako-based agritech SME operating a plant tissue culture laboratory with greenhouse facilities. The company produces large quantities of healthy, disease-free, and climate-resilient plants using lab-based propagation and greenhouse systems.
Running from 2023 to 2028, the AAI Food Security Accelerator uses blended finance, advisory, and technical assistance to strengthen African agri-food systems by mobilizing investment into innovation, food security, and sustainable land use.
This flagship operation demonstrates how catalytic finance can scale high-impact agricultural technologies in fragile, food-insecure contexts. It improves yields and expands farmers’ access to quality planting material.
Through this investment, Agrobiotech is expanding production of certified plantlets for key crops including cassava, plantain, yam, sweet potato and potato. This addresses structural productivity constraint, strengthens the resilience of food systems and supports smallholder farmers where seed systems remain limited.
Agrobiotech’s HAS cassava plant (phase 2). Photo: UNCDF/AAI FSA.
Agrobiotech’s cassava plants in hardening under controlled greenhouses (phase 3).
Photo : UNCDF/AAI FSA.
Latest news and stories
Our partners
UNCDF’s work in Mali is made possible thanks to its partnerships with the Embassy of Belgium, the Government of Denmark, the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund (PBF), the Government of Mali, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UN Women, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).
Documents
This section brings together key documents related to UNCDF’s work in the country. It includes a curated selection of publications, papers, and reports that reflect the scope of engagement at country level, from programme design to implementation and outcomes.
These documents offer additional context on how initiatives are developed and delivered, and how partnerships contribute to advancing national priorities. They are intended to support transparency, facilitate knowledge sharing and serve as a practical resource for partners, stakeholders and others seeking a deeper understanding of UNCDF’s work.
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Contact us
For any questions regarding UNCDF's work in Mali, including partnerships, sectoral and thematic investment opportunities, or ongoing initiatives, please contact our team on wcac.region@uncdf.org.
