Mieux produire pour mieux vivre

Par World Vision Mali

A Barakolombougou, un village situé à une centaine de kilomètres de Bamako, les communautés espèrent récolter en abondance cette année. Leur espoir n’est pas seulement fondé sur la quantité de pluie, mais elles comptent sur la fiabilité des terres qu’elles ont apprêtées suivant des techniques de régénération naturelle assistée et de préservation de sols récemment acquises grâce à l’appui de World Vision.

« Avec une bonne pluviométrie, nous sommes certains de récolter abondamment cette année, et peut être même plus que nous n’aurions besoin pour notre nourriture », dit Fragnan Coulibaly, un sexagénaire et président du comité villageois pour la pratique de la régénération naturelle assistée, le FMNR (Farmer managed natural regeneration).

Après quelques séances de formation, les communautés ont réalisé que les déficits agricoles de ces dernières années n’étaient pas seulement liés à l’insuffisance des pluies, mais aussi à la gestion qu’elles font de leurs terres.

C’est ainsi que pour contribuer dans la recherche d’une solution durable à l’insécurité alimentaire quasi récurrente qui maintient les communautés rurales dans une situation de vulnérabilité permanente, World Vision a choisi la résilience pour rendre les communautés autonomes et responsables de leur devenir.

Grâce à l’appui du Gouvernement du Royaume Uni, l’organisation a mis en place un projet de résilience pour promouvoir la gestion communautaire des ressources à travers la régénération naturelle assistée et la préservation des sols par des techniques de lutte contre l’érosion tels que le cordon pierreux ou la technique du Zai pour retenir l’eau et aussi l’élaboration du compost qui augmente naturellement et considérablement la production agricole.

Quant à Mahamane Sanogo, Coordinateur du projet et Ingénieur agro-forestier « les communautés ont accueilli ces techniques avec un vif intérêt, car juste après la démonstration plusieurs personnes ont déjà commencé à pratiquer les techniques apprises dans leurs champs, ce qui nous laisse croire que d’ici peu, les paysans eux-mêmes pourraient répliquer les connaissances acquises aux communautés avoisinantes. »

 

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Why we should not forget about Mali ?

By Maria Mutya Frio, Communications Manager, World Vision West Africa

 

The French army is leaving soon, the media is now more interested in the Pope and in Pistorius, and the displaced people of Mali are thinking of going back home. Why should we still care about Mali?



More than 10 million people will go hungry in Mali, one of whom is Natasha Kounta, a widower and mother of three children. She fled Timbuktu last year and settled in the capital Bamako along with her cousin and children. Natasha’s plight is no different from the thousands who fled the armed conflict: she was caught unaware of gunshots just outside her home, she gathered her children, took a lorry with very few belongings, traveled for a week and finally settled in Bamako. She and her family live by whatever food she can get for the day.

Last year’s food and nutrition crisis that gripped the Sahel region including Mali is not over yet. The recent armed conflict disrupted markets, harvests were dismal, food prices continued to skyrocket and household food supply dwindled as displaced people were taken in by generous Malian families. And as the next planting season approaches, farmers who lost their livelihoods can no longer afford to buy seeds (or have gone into debt last year), or humanitarian and food assistance remains constrained due to insecurity. FEWSNet predicts that with these factors, Mali could face another food crisis as early as April, particularly in the northern regions.

Displaced Malians were taken in by other families,
straining an already dwindling food supply. Credit: WVI

 And as it stands, about a million children are still highly vulnerable to food insecurity. UNICEF estimates that at least a quarter of all children in Mali under the age of five suffers from malnutrition. No child should ever have to lose his or her life over a disease that is preventable and treatable. One life lost is one too many.

The cycle will go on. The Sahel region has been hit three times in the last seven years by food and nutrition crises primarily due to a “resilience deficit.” Communities lack the capacity and the structures not only to bounce back from chronic hunger caused by low agricultural production and armed conflict, rather they lack the ability to address the structural causes and adopt strategies to withstand shocks.

Children caught in armed conflict need to be protected. We’ve all heard the stories about children being abducted as child brides who were raped or young boys enlisted at rebel camps. Amnesty International’s initial assessment of human rights violations indicated evidence of child soldiers: “These children were carrying rifles. One of them was so small that his rifle was sometimes dragging on the ground.”

Whether children fall into Government custody or integrated back into their communities, it is imperative that they receive appropriate psycho-social support and that their rights as a child be respected. The same goes for children who were exposed to violence, those who fled, whose schooling were disrupted, and those separated from their families. More child protection specialists should be sent on the ground to train communities, health professionals, educators, volunteers and families.

The education of 700,000 children had been affected and 200,000 are still denied access according to UNICEF. That’s boys and girls in various levels whose schooling were disrupted due to the conflict, and are still fearful to go back or with no educational system to go back to. At least 115 schools in the north were closed, destroyed and looted, some of which indicated the presence of unexploded ordinances. Many teachers have not yet returned to work. This has overcrowded schools in the south with the influx of newly displaced children from the north.

As the narrative on Mali fades in the public eye, let’s not forget that our engagement is not over yet. Now more than ever that the Malian people need humanitarian assistance that will hopefully, eventually transition into recovery and further development, with a hope and a prayer that peace and security be restored once again.

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A Typical Day in the Life of a Displaced Person in Mali

By Muganzi M. Isharaza, Communications Officer, World Vision

It is 5am in a small town in central Mali. The sun, while not yet visible, has already started casting away the dark cold night. And in a tiny two-roomed house, hardly larger than twelve square meters, Miriam, age 32, awakes. She walks around the children who stir in their sleep, careful not to step on or wake them. Altogether, there are nine children squeezed in one room, while the second room acts as a pantry and “living room,” though there’s hardly any space for them to sit. With only one room to sleep in, they are still among the lucky ones: for many other internally displaced persons (IDPs), having all her children with her, in one tiny space, is actually a luxury.

“Some of the other families that fled Timbuktu had no choice but to leave their adult children there to take care of the land and property,” she says, “and now, every night they worry about whether or not their children are alive.”

Miriam fled Timbuktu with her children on January 9, but her husband, Yussuf, had insisted on staying there to take care of the family’s property; as of January 30, she had yet to hear from him and does not know whether he has survived. She’s heard of the successful recapture of Timbukutu by the Malian and French armies, but that does little to settle her mind. (Muganzi Isharaza/World Vision)

This worry has not stopped for the Touareg families like Miriam’s who fled into Central Mali from Timbuktu and other places in the North. Touaregs are light skinned Malians and have traditionally lived in the Northern part of the country. However, because the anti-Government militants in this region are often of a similar light complexion, many other Malians believe that all Touaregs support the armed opposition groups who imposed vicious laws on the fabled Northern Malian city before the French troops came.  Because of this, revenge attacks against Touaregs and even killings have been reported in several parts of the country.

Miriam prepares breakfast for her children, before waking them up at 6:30, prepares them for school and at 7, serves their breakfast and sends them off. She then sweeps the yard, tidies up the two rooms she now calls home and then heads to the market.

Aid worker diary: The young girls and boys of Mali

By Maria Mutya Frio, Communications Manager at World Vision

 

Credit: Maria Mutya Frio/ World Vision

Today is unlike any other Wednesday. I am in Mali talking to families who fled the violence in the latest armed conflict to rock the West African country. In recent weeks, I have watched Mali grab headlines as government and French troops launch a military campaign against armed opposition groups. Reportedly enforcing a strict interpretation of Sharia law, these groups had been occupying Mali’s northern provinces since last year. As I read the news, I shake my head – not another war. At a certain point, I go numb from reading stories about the military intervention. But I carry on with my day.

Today is different. I am in San province working for the charity organization World Vision which is responding to the needs of displaced people who came in exodus from the north. I am face to face with the displaced Malians who shake my hand and look me in the eye as they share their stories. Suddenly the statistics on TV have a human face.

In December, Namina* escaped from Timbuktu, the historic homeland of the Tuaregs and one of the areas which fell under rebel groups’ control. Namina left with her three daughters and six other children from her village. Her neighbor and their 16-year old daughter Sata were left behind.

Child combatants in Mali need urgent protection 

 By World Vision

 Protection for child combatants fighting with rebel groups must be at the heart of any training given by EU troops to Malian forces, says World Vision UK.

Earlier today the EU announced a training mission in Mali (EUTM Mali) which is intended to help improve the military capacity of the Malian Armed Forces.

“Children are particularly vulnerable to recruitment into Militia groups as well as various forms of sexual violence, including forced marriage. They are therefore in urgent need of protection” said Chance Briggs, director of World Vision Mali.

Child soldiers in Mali. Copyright: IRIN

 Earlier this week the United Nations warned of  serious human rights violations in Mali including summary executions, rapes, acts of torture and the recruitment of child soldiers by rebel groups.
Justin Byworth, Chief Executive of World Vision UK, said: “We are calling on the UK government to take the lead and ensure child protection is built in alongside combat training. This is especially important when child combatants are captured. They must be dealt with according to International humanitarian law.  It's important to work with Malian troops and the Malian legal system to ensure that all grave violations of the rights of civilians, especially those of children, are identified, prevented and stopped.”

Moringa tree, from “fence tree” to “rescue tree”

Words and photos by Amadou Baraze, Communications Officer, World Vision Niger

Ramata says she learned to garden from her 70-year-old grandmother, who used to grow calabash. With the recurrence of food crises in Niger, Ramata and her mates decided to seek a portion of land from the mayor of their village to practice gardening.

"There was food crisis here, but my family and I did not experience its consequences and all this thanks to our Moringa trees. We ate some of the produce and sold the other part to buy grain and also cover some of our needs. We are very grateful to World Vision which introduced Moringa growing to us," says Ramata, 37, a mother of three children.