Partners support decentralization in Mali's Timbuktu region
Wednesday, 15 October 2003: The United Nations Capital Development Fund, the UN Development Programme and several partners are working with the Malian Government and rural communities in Mali's northern Timbuktu region to help people gain skills in planning and managing development activities.
The project supports the Government's efforts to improve lives and livelihoods through decentralization, giving localities greater authority and resources for development. In the arid and semi-arid Sahelian environment, the challenges are great.
Agriculture is a mainstay of the region, including cultivation of rice, sorghum, tubers, as well as raising livestock. About 60 per cent of population lives below the poverty line.
The Ministry of Interior began the five-year initiative in 1999, encompassing 27 municipalities with 444 villages in the Timbuktu, Diré, and Gourma-Rharous districts.
UNDP, partnering with the Belgian Survival Fund, the UN Capital Development Fund and the World Food Programme, is providing technical assistance. The Government is providing 2 per cent of the US$8.6 million budget and the communities about 5 per cent.
The project is training elected officials, local government staff and central government employees, as well as community leaders, members of civil society groups and private service providers. It is also reaching out to citizens through the media to raise awareness about decentralization.
To promote wide participation in local decision making on development, the initiative has helped communities set up planning committees. These include community council members, as well as local men and women serving as resource people. The committees set local development priorities — such as construction of schools, health centres, irrigation systems and roads — and track their implementation.
"Thanks to the project, we are happy to see that decentralization is taking shape in the region," said Segui Kanté, Cabinet Director of the High Commission of Timbuktu. "We salute the initiative for helping build the capacities of local elected officials through training."
This positive assessment was reinforced by the results of a recent survey by Radio Jamana, which found that local people view the project as contributing the most to the region's development.
This article originally appeared in
UNDP Newsfront on 15 October 2003.
