The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) awarded grants to public and private sector project developers during an Award Ceremony held in Bamako. Mr. Siaka Magassa, Secretary General of the Ministry for the Promotion of Women, Mr. Alfredo Teixeira, Deputy Resident Representative Programme, and Mrs Safiatou Diarra, UNCDF Representative in Mali, handed out eight checks to representatives from public and private developers for commercially viable projects developed by SMEs, National Agencies, Cooperatives and NGOs in Mali.

The Award Ceremony was organized on Tuesday, 7th December and also served to provide an overview of key achievements of the IELD project in Mali. UNCDF provided targeted technical support and grants to sustainable, gender-sensitive investment projects implemented by SMEs, NGOs, and local banks. The project targeted the region of Mopti to create an enabling environment for women's economic empowerment with better access to social services, economic infrastructure, and markets in their sectors of activity.

UNCDF's approach linked women entrepreneurs in the capital, Bamako, with women's economic initiatives in the region of Mopti. The goal is to strengthen the value chains between the two regions, helping women in Mopti to expand their economic activities and find new markets and business partners in Bamako, the economic center of the country.

These investments now provide beneficiaries with market opportunities as well as the possibility for women entrepreneurs in Bamako to improve their supply chain. As a result, since 2019, the IELD project has recorded significant achievements:

• 1,000,000 dollars unlocked
• 10,000 women impacted by the project
• 700 women trained in administrative, financial and project management
• 100 equipments of production, transformation, and marketing (inputs, machines, agricultural tools, engines, fishing boats, motorcycles...) delivered
• 30 infrastructures (processing unit, storage warehouses, sales kiosks, water tower, water retention basins, solar pumping systems) made available to the beneficiaries
• 100 jobs created for women by SMEs and 500 women supported by NGOs access to income generating activities.

As a continuation of the IELD project, this initiative was launched, in August 2021, to support the national COVID and post COVID response plan in Mali. Eight structures (six SMEs, one NGO and one public agency) received grants of between 15 and 30 million CFA francs to better respond to the pandemic crisis and strengthen their economic activities.

"The workshop that brings us together today is part of the perspective of a greater integration of women in the national economy and a better access to financial resources, a concern of the Ministry for the Promotion of Women, Children and the Family", said Mr. Siaka Magassa, Secretary General of the Ministry for the Promotion of Women, Children, and the Family.

"These grants are very welcome, especially in the context of Covid-19. The beneficiaries will be able to develop their business in areas such as agribusiness, milk processing and even biofuel production and have an impact on the economy. It will greatly help women who still face difficulties in accessing finance and land" he added.

"We are very happy with this support from UNCDF because we have been strongly impacted by the Covid-19 crisis. Since the beginning of this pandemic, our exports have been relatively very slow. Our markets, which are 80% export, have been practically stopped. This funding comes at the right time" said Ms. Aminatou Touré, CEO of "Sahel Infusion", one of the beneficiaries.

The beneficiaries all expressed their commitment to use the grants wisely and impact the local economy through job creation and income generation for women.