Mali

In 2024, Luxembourg’s development cooperation with Mali continued to operate under a transition strategy, adopted in January 2021 for an initial period of two years (2021-2022) and then extended by two years until 2024. For the 2023-2024 period, the total financial envelope (bilateral, multilateral and humanitarian) was €42 million. Additional contributions were made to Luxembourg NGOs under a framework agreement, alongside support for various regional programmes and micro-projects.

Under the Rural Development and Food Security Programme, LuxDev provided support to family-run farms and helped young people access economic opportunities. The Support Programme for Agropastoral Sectors – Phase II is implemented by LuxDev and jointly funded by Luxembourg and Switzerland in the Sikasso region. It carried out a significant number of activities in 2024 seeking to make a lasting improvement to productivity and employability in the local milk and potato sectors.

Meanwhile, many activities were carried out in 2024 in rural development and vocational training under the two projects implemented by Proman – Sustainable Development in the Kidal Region – Phase IV and Sustainable Development in the Gao Region. The programmes have led to the establishment of grain and feed banks, the construction of boreholes, wells and water supply points and the establishment and deployment of mobile training units. In Kidal, Luxembourg Development Cooperation has also taken action in the health sector, supporting the rehabilitation of several community health centres and the deployment of multi-purpose mobile teams to improve access to health services for remote and vulnerable communities.

Within the framework of multilateral cooperation, a project led by UNFPA continued in 2024 with funding from Luxembourg, focusing on continuing training for midwives and sexual and reproductive health. It included the deployment of 150 midwives across the regions and support for health worker training centres. Luxembourg Development Cooperation’s support for two UNDP projects in Mali came to an end in June 2024. One project focused on youth entrepreneurship and the other on support to national stakeholders to help with the effective implementation of political, institutional, electoral and administrative reforms.

In response to Mali’s growing humanitarian needs, Luxembourg contributed €4 million in 2024 to humanitarian efforts by its partners in the country. These included long-standing collaborators of Luxembourg Development Cooperation, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS), as well as several humanitarian NGOs. In 2024, Luxembourg Development Cooperation also provided an additional humanitarian contribution of €250,000 in response to the devastating floods in Mali, providing assistance in the form of social protection to communities in severely affected areas.

Five Luxembourg NGOs have implemented development projects in Mali in the Luxembourg Development Cooperation’s priority areas of intervention. Meetings between the Luxembourg’s embassy in Bamako and representatives of these NGOs were organised in 2024, as well as field visits. The aim was to foster synergies between the activities of the various NGOs, ensure greater impact and enhance the effectiveness of the aid and the coherence of the actions of Luxembourg Development Cooperation in broader terms.

In the same year, the Luxembourg’s embassy in Mali financed four local associations and NGOs through the microproject mechanism. These projects focused on diverse themes, including access to culture, gender equality, the promotion of sport and access to water and solar energy in schools.