LVIA in Mali

LVIA has had a presence in Mali since 1985, when the first studies took place within the country. The aim of these studies was to explain how a shortage of water was preventing improvements from being made in people’s living conditions, and to establish the framework for future initiatives by the NGO.

After the first experimental installation of a wind pump in 1989, in the village of Esangue, situated between Gao and Timbuctu, LVIA launched its first project to bring a water supplyto the Gao region, an initiative financed by the Ministry of Overseas Affairs. The project included the installation of 15 wind pumps in as many villages, training local people and making them aware of their responsibilities within the context of management of the installations, and communication of hygiene standards related to proper use of water.

The insecurity caused by the rebellion by the Tuareg, which affectedGao during the second half of 1991, meant that LVIA had to suspend the project in the region, even though it was 70% complete. By mutual agreement with the Ministry of Overseas Affairs, the project was slightly reduced in scope and relocated. LVIA therefore worked in Bandiagara, in the Mopti Region, about 600 km south of Gao, where seven wind pumps were installed. The activities related to these pumps could therefore be developed within the region.

Formation and projectation with local communities

Hostilities between the government of Mali and the Tuareg rebels were brought to an end with a symbolic “Flame of Peace” ceremony held in Timbuctu in March 1996, and in 1997 an emergency plan financed by ECHO began. Its aim was to ensure peace within the region by facilitating the return of refugees and the reintegration of former combatants into society. LVIA played an active role in the emergency projects between 1997 and 1999. The organisation returned to work in the Gao region, in particular the Gao and Menaka cercles[subdivisions of a region]. Its initiatives targeted the health sector (rehabilitation of health centres and provision of equipment, support for vaccination campaigns and staff training), food security (development of rural banks and training for the boards of management, development of cropland and grassland management), the water sector (construction and rehabilitation of wells, repair of pumps already installed) and animal husbandry (purchase and distribution of food for livestock).

At the end of the emergency phase in 2000, LVIA set up two projects in the Gao and Menaka cercles, with finance from the European Union. The initial aim was to relaunch the socio-economic development process, on the basis of the results achieved during the previous two years. The targeted sectors were agriculture, with a view to promoting food security in the north of the country; water, in order to facilitate access to water through the construction or rehabilitation of water installations and support for a new local structure capable of developing within the sector; microfinance, via support for rural credit funds; and health, through support for local structures and efforts to reduce maternal and infant mortality.

These initiatives have been reconsidered with a view to adapting them for use on a larger scale, and in 2004 they became three projects financed by the Ministry of Overseas Affairs, the Unidea–UniCredit Foundation and the European Union. Initiatives in the healthcare sector now play a leading role in LVIA’s strategy for its operations in Mali.

 

LVIA is member of FONGEM, Forum of the European NGOs wich work in Mali