In Mali, the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) has supported the provision of remedial education for children internally displaced as a result of the takeover of northern Mali by fundamentalist Islamic groups. This support came as part of the AKF USA grant to Mali on education, in association with the Mopti Teaching Academy, the main institution for education in the Mopti region, which has been a partner of AKF’s early education activities since 2007.
Following a coup d’état in March 2012, rebel and Islamic groups in Mali exploited a political vacuum and a weak military to take over the three northern Regions of the country, claiming independence for an area accounting for two-thirds of the landmass of Mali. Over 300,000 people subsequently fled northern Mali in the face of ethnic and religious persecution and serious human rights violations. Many displaced people took refuge in Mopti Region, directly south of the rebel-controlled area. These individuals are extremely vulnerable, as they lack assets and access to social services and are forced to rely on the support of host families during a period when food insecurity is high.
The Aga Khan Foundation responded to the needs of this vulnerable population by supporting the education of displaced children so that they could successfully complete the 2011/2012 school year through a remedial education program. AKF provided education supplies for internally displaced children and their teachers, along with health supplies for students (such as mosquito nets) and their classrooms (such as disinfectant).
“I think this is a positive story that highlights how Aga Khan Foundation is responding to the current political and security crisis in Mali,” says Steve Mason, CEO for AKF Mali. “AKF is committed to improving people’s quality of life in Mopti Region, and we are adapting our programs to respond to the pressing needs of internally displaced people who have arrived and who continue to arrive in Mopti from the North.”
“In spite of the painful events, Aga Khan Foundation is one of the few non-governmental structures that are working with rural populations on the ground,” noted Levy Dougnan, with Radio Jamana Djenne, in an article in Les Echos, a French-language newspaper published in Bamako.
The remedial education activities complement other work by the Aga Khan Foundation to improve access to quality education and boost literacy in a context where only 24 percent of adults are literate. AKF has supported over two dozen mini-libraries linked with women’s literacy groups, women’s farmer groups, and local pre-schools. The program has also adapted traditional stories as books for new readers, including The Adventure of Soundjata (also called the Epic of Sundiata), a central story in Malian culture. More than 300 pre-school children and nearly 3,000 primary school children are benefiting from AKF’s activities, along with nearly 60 pre- and primary school teachers. According to program reports, the busiest time for the mini-libraries is July through October, before the rainy season when the crops demand attention.
The political crisis in Mali has been exacerbated by a food security crisis caused by irregular rainfall during the 2011-2012 agricultural season and sharp increases in food prices. The food security crisis has hurt livelihoods, increased malnutrition rates and created a need for humanitarian aid. AKF’s response included securing new funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and USAID, to respond to urgent needs in agriculture, livestock, education and health. AKF’s response plan focuses on ensuring that beneficiaries have the materials and skills necessary to engage in off-season agriculture and to ensure a successful 2012 farming season, while building their resilience against future crises. AKF has also scaled up efforts to prevent, identify and treat child malnutrition through parent education and school feeding activities, and by establishing nutritional rehabilitation foyers and training community health workers.
In the city of Mopti, the Foundation has also helped to create jobs in a city that depended on the (now depleted) tourist industry. This included supporting the capacity building and equipment needs of “Siguida Kanou,” a small waste-collection enterprise. Siguida Kanou was created in 2006 when the city helped young entrepreneurs start small businesses. “We are working in many areas in Mopti, and the city has even awarded us two waste collection contracts,” says Siguida Kanou manager Mamadou Cisse. “With support from the Aga Khan Foundation, this project has finally succeeded in creating employment for young people in Mopti.”
Despite daunting challenges during the last year, AKF has managed to maintain all its activities in Mopti and scale them up to address the most pressing needs. It is making significant progress toward the ambitious objective of its Mopti strategy: substantially improving the quality of life for the region’s people in a manner that is sustainable over the long term.