After losing everything, Oumou and her friend can now enjoy school with their new materials

14 May, 2012: There are more than 1,000 primary school pupils scattered in camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) across the region of Mopti in Mali. These children, along with their parents, fled the recent violence in northern Mali and came to Mopti for safety but many have had their education interrupted.

In the small school of Atetebougou, Oumou, aged 13, is fortunate to squeeze into a seat in a fifth grade classroom. Already crowded with 103 children from the neighbourhood, the classroom isn’t that big and can’t fit everybody in.

Oumou doesn’t let this dampen her enthusiasm. Although nervous, she enjoys going to school and taking part in classes. She and her two brothers, and 24 other newcomers in the classroom, are worried about what others will think and how they will cope with lessons without notebooks and school materials.

“We all came with no luggage, no clothes and without our notebooks. Without books, how will we remember our lessons?” explains Oumou.

With Plan’s support, Oumou and thousands of other pupils in IDP camps in Mopti are now one small step closer to a normal life and education. Last week Plan Mali, in partnership with the Ministry of Education, distributed 1,000 school kits  containing notebooks, pens, a school bag, clothes and blankets to children in Mopti and other camps.

“This donation only puts a band aid on the need. So many children left their homes with nothing in search of safety,” according to Michelet William, Plan Mali’s acting director. “Education is so important for displaced children because children in school are fed and protected against exploitation.”

Read more about Plan's work in Mali

With Plan's help, families can now earn a living and feed their families more than once a day

9 May, 2012: In some of the poorer parts of Mali, erratic rainfall and drought are making it extremely challenging for communities to make a living and feed their families during a time of acute food insecurity. With little food reserves and no crops available to cultivate, many are struggling to eat more than one meal a day.

In Bougoula, in the Koulikoro region in southwest Mali, 7% of children under 5 are severely malnourished and 20% of children in school cannot concentrate properly in school or are unable to attend classes because they are too hungry.

In an effort to make families more food secure and financially independent, Plan has initiated a programme largely aimed at women to promote the growing of groundnuts. With an excellent nutritional value as well as being relatively easy to grow, groundnut cultivation is both a good way to make a living and produce a balanced food source.

For three months, 25 women participated in a training programme to learn how to select, prepare and maintain fields. The women were subsequently able to use their crops to provide food for their families and to supplement their income to buy food or gain access to education and health care for their children.

“After just four months, the quality of food in my household has improved. We use the peanuts to cook with and sell part of the crop at the local market. The money I earn allows me to purchase other foods and ensure school fees and my children’s health”, explains Sitan.

It’s not just individuals who are benefitting from the project. Overall nutrition within the village has increased and malnutrition rates are dropping. At the end of last year, just 3% of children under 5 were reported with moderate cases of malnutrition and there have been no reported cases of severe malnutrition.

Read more about the Sahel food crisis appeal

Plan has helped the children of Zougome feel safer in and excited about their improved school

16 February, 2012: With bad weather often destroying school buildings and poor attendance in classes in West Africa, many children miss out on a quality education. Children often have to help their families make a living instead of going to school and additionally, with severe rain and gales, old buildings such as schools are often damaged or become too dangerous to stay inside.

In Zougome, a small village just south of Bamako, Plan Mali has been working with the local school there to boost attendance and make the building safer.

The number of children attending school in Zougome had been decreasing every year, and only 30% of those children in school are predicted to make it to secondary level. With strong winds and lots of rain, classes are often disrupted leaving the pupils feeling scared and unsafe, not wanting to continue their school day, and so some do not return.

Working with the school management committee in Zougome, Plan has helped the community to realise just how important their local school really is.

Dotan Diarra, the chairman of the committee said: “Although the population has contributed financially and physically to the project, the synergy with Plan was instrumental in the realisation of this school.”

Already the school can see the results. School attendance has increased significantly with over 229 students attending the school. The students couldn’t be happier as Oumar, a 6th year student, explains.  “All my friends now come to the village school. Everyone is happy to be in class and we work well.”

Read more about Plan's work in Mali

Plan supports communities in Mali to encourage more girls to go to school

16 February, 2012: In Mali even if schooling is available, many families cannot afford to send their children to classes. For girls it’s often harder as opportunities to get married, earn money or help support their households sometimes come before their education.

With Plan’s support together with our local partner, a group of mothers in the village of Kokounkouto, in Kita in western Mali, have come together to form the Association of Mothers of Students (AME). The aim of the association is to help families see the importance of putting their daughters through school by illustrating the effects that no education can have on girls, and highlighting the issue as an example of discrimination.

By running door to door awareness sessions, the mothers hope to increase the number of girls attending preschool and primary schooling.

The results are already visible. “In less than a year, we have avoided the withdrawal of a dozen girls from their school and stopped their departure from the village,” explains Nia Soucko, the president of AME.

The biggest achievement so far has been the story of Oumou Keita, a young girl in her 4th year who was taken out of school to help earn money for the family. Oumou is now back in school, spending weekdays with the president so that she does not have to travel far for her education.

It’s a new era for the girls of Kokounkouto. For too long, girls have been deprived of their basic rights to education. But with Plan’s help, the AME is hoping to make sure all the children in the village, girls and boys, have access to a quality education.

Read more about Plan's work in Mali

Discussion groups give women somewhere to share their experiences and ideas on how to put an end to this practise

14 December, 2011: A harmful traditional practice, female genital cutting continues to affect women and girls all over the world. With many serious health risks, it can sometimes leave women fighting for their lives and violates the rights of girls to be protected from harm, yet in many communities it is a cherished tradition, defended by women and men alike.

In Mali, Plan is supporting local NGO ERAD, with their intervention efforts to ban female genital cutting. Beginning in the region of Sanankoroba, ERAD and Plan have been working to raise awareness of the issues and the complications that arise. Although a long process, the women of this village are now free from this tradition as all members of the community have decided amongst themselves to abandon the practise completely.

In many other villages however, female genital cutting continues creating long term physical and psychological damage.

Raising awareness in communities

Raising awareness of the taboo of female genital cutting, and showing how horrifying the impact can be is a key way to help put an end to this tradition. ERAD, supported by Plan, have set up a discussion group for 17 women and 7 men in Baala to give them the skills to share their own experiences and the facts about female genital mutilation with others in their communities.

Using images and videos, the communities quickly understand and came to realise that the tradition can inflict terrible harm on the wives, sisters and daughters of their families.

“The horrific and painful images that we see in the videos make many of us realise that this tradition cannot continue,” explains Nouhoum, the field facilitator and support worker of ERAD.

The next step

Many communities in Baala are largely in favour of making the practice of female genital cutting illegal in this region.  Plan and ERAD hope to target 20 more villages in Mali and, although a long term process, the success of Baala speaks volumes and will have a positive effect on reaching out to other communities.

Read more about Plan's work in Mali

Children collecting water from the Pedalflo pump before school

September 13, 2011: The 2,360 residents of the Dafela community, about 10km from the town of Kita in western Mali, used to have only one source of drinking water. Situated in a remote area of the community, the water source was frequently exposed to disease. This low quality water has caused three epidemics of diarrhoea, the first victims of each usually small children.

Collecting water was a challenge and dangerous. “I worried about and feared the long trips to collect water from the well” said Rokia, a sixteen year old student. His friend Dendjo, fourteen years old added, “We suffer from collecting and drinking the water from the well, and all the girls were very sick.”

For the last two years, the population of Dafela has benefitted from a new source of clean water, supported and funded by Plan Mali. Situated in the backyard of the local school, the water pump called ‘Pedalflo’ provides water for the community and the neighbouring population. Community members and especially the students at the school took an active role in the construction of the pump by ensuring the workforce for the transportation of local materials, and they now monitor the facilities.

The Pedalflo is a water pump system powered both by solar power and with pedals much like a bicycle. The water supply works day and night, and the children of the community find the pedal function lots of fun to work.

The effect the Pedalflo has had on the morale of the community has been outstanding, and the overall health of the community has increased dramatically.

The people of Dafela quickly realised the benefits of Pedalflo, providing them with safe, drinkable water as the system is equipped with a strong filter. “It is clear,” said Daouda Sidibé, a local user of the pump, “that water related diseases have declined sharply.”

The health of children has increased dramatically since the pump was installed, with an average ten cases of diarrhoea reported monthly to the health care centre of the village, compared to the 100 cases monthly reported in the past.

But Dendjo sums up the joy and relief felt by the local children, “Now, I go to sleep knowing I will not have to work so hard to get clean water before going to school. I have happy dreams!”

Read more about what Plan does in Mali

Harilela talks with a community member about important issues concerning girls today

7 June 2011: Following a visit to a Plan school in the Malian village of Farada, CNN reporter Krsna Harilela declared, “I’m inspired to promote this story and the rights of children, especially girls.”

Harilela visited Mali from 28 Mach to 5 April. This was not just a fact or story finding mission however. On the visit to Farada, she and her 15 colleagues rolled up their sleeves and pitched in with Plan and community workers to build a new school. This is the second visit to Farada for Harilele and her crew; in 2009 they participated in another building project on site.

She also visited the village of Sanankoroba, located 30 km from the capital. In Sanankoroba, Plan works to provide education opportunities and vocational training to children and girls.  While there, Harilela hosted an informal debate with girls living in the community. During the debate, girls were able to raise issues or concerns in a structured environment.

The girls revealed how much illiteracy, physical and sexual assault and lack of schooling impact their lives. Despite the relatively high enrollment of girls, 80%, about half drop out before completing primary school.

The girls spoke openly about their living conditions: their suffering from household activities imposed on them which prevent them from attending classes and the accidents of physical violence.

Advocating for children

Malian children and Harilela posing for a commemorative photo

Moved by the young women she met over the course of her visit, Harilela expressed her desire to do more for the cause of children and especially girls. She encouraged the girls to keep using their voices, and using the media like CNN to help make their voices louder.

The stories of girls from Sanankoroba will be featured on "Backstory" and "Africa Insight" CNN.

Plan International works with and alongside children to promote their rights. Girls are particularly vulnerable, and through its campaign “Because I am a Girl,” Plan emphasizes the additional challenges faced by girls to attain education, live without violence and enjoy their rights.

Read more about Plan's work in Mali.

Watch the story on the CNN website.

Read this story.

The advocacy campaign helped children express their needs and showed their talents

10 January 2011: In Mali, more than 2000 children beg and live in the streets of Malian cities. To raise awareness about the problem, Plan responded with its advocacy campaign for children’s rights. This year, the annual campaign focused on the situation of street children and gathered more than 500 children and young people. The campaign finished on 31st December and gave children the opportunity to present their shows and performances.

“I am happy to participate in the campaign. Thanks to the campaign, we, children living in the street, were able to approach ministers and the president and to talk to them about our rights and needs,” said Seydou, a child beggar.

During the campaign, children presented the current state of children's rights in Mali. They described their situation as very bad and affected by poverty, malnutrition, diseases, physical abuse, trafficking and other kinds of exploitation.

Through a variety of performances and shows children delivered powerful messages to the authorities, parents and the public to put a stop to child begging that they call "the shame of our society." Children recalled that they have a right to live in a much better world and asked their government to work towards promoting the rights of children by giving a flag to the Head of State.

“This event does not only represent cultural and educational experience but also solutions to end the poverty of child beggars in the streets of Mali,” said Diaffra, a child journalist.

“Through this advocacy campaign, we give children the opportunity to be heard and to claim their rights,” added Bedo, Plan Mali’s Child Participation Officer.

Plan’s work in Mali

Children gave a flag to the Head of State to oblige the government to work towards promoting the rights of children

In Mali, the problem of begging is becoming worse. Children living in the streets have no link with their families, they lack education and are exposed to all sort of threats such as physical and sexual abuse. Moreover, on the national scale, for every 1,000 births, 196 children die before their fifth birthday and 38% of under 5 children are severely malnourished.

Plan has been working in Mali since 1976 to improve children’s lives, protect them from diseases and exploitation and ensure their educational development. Plan supported the advocacy campaign by providing the necessary funds for the organization of the event (equipment, snacks). Plan’s staff also trained actors on how to perform and how to formulate meaningful messages for the campaign.

Find out more about Plan's work in Mali.

Dr Bocoum (left) and Minister Damba work together to improve and protect children's rights

27 October 2010: Today, Plan Mali entered into a cooperative agreement with the Mali Ministry of Promotion of Women, Children and Families to develop interventions and programmes to stop child violence and emphasize the rights of the child.

Ms. Maiga Sina Damba, Minister of Promotion of Women, Children and Families asked Plan Mali to expand its programs to all regions in Mali where children lack special attention and protection from abuse and neglect. “Plan is an organization dedicated to the rights of the child,” she began. “I appreciate the opportunity to partner and improve the future for the children of Mali.”

Plan will assist the Ministry in arranging the implementation of its three priority projects:

• development of a national policy on child protection
• the fight against child trafficking
• organization of the National Sport and Culture Week of Children
  

"Improving and protecting children’s rights is Plan’s priority. Through these activities we want to strengthen the cooperation between Plan and the Ministry to ensure that children in Mali can grow and enjoy their childhood peacefully,” said Dr Amadou Bocoum, Plan Mali Country Director.

Plan has provided the Ministry with information to consider under the new collaboration, including Plan International annual report and study on violence in schools and corresponding “Learn Without Fear” campaign to end this abuse. The materials were enthusiastically received by Minister Damba.

Plan in Mali

Plan has been a leader in improving the welfare of children across Mali for 34 years. Recent successful interventions include the child survival project and immunization campaigns; the infant mortality rate has decreased from 229 deaths per 1000 live births in 2001 to 191 in 2006. Children enrollment in centers of early childhood education rose to 90% in 2009 and Plan’s fight against girls’ circumcision resulted in 27 villages abandoning the practice.

Dr Bocoum (right) and the Minister discussing the terms of cooperation 

21 October 2010: For 34 years, Plan Mali has been providing critical support to individual schools, libraries and teachers in communities across the country. Today, the Minister of Basic Education, Literacy & National Languages, Pr Salikou Sanogo, recognized that leadership and decided to set up a commission to reflect on Plan’s admission to the group of the Technical and Financial Partners.

In the coming weeks, a framework agreement for this cooperative effort will be designed. The technical expertise of Plan Mali and its partners will be available to guide the Ministry of Education in setting national education policy and programmes. Additionally, Plan will be able to provide programmatic financial support towards the common goals. The Minister expressed with enthusiasm his regard for Plan’s ongoing work and how it could add to the national platform.

“We share common goals with the Ministry,” said Plan Mali Country Director Dr. Amadou Bocoum after the meeting. “This landmark agreement will bring Plan’s expertise into the larger discussion of improving education and the lives of children in Mali.”

The Rights of the Child: Education

A key goal of Plan International is the right of every child to safe, quality education.  In Mali, this means Plan aims to increase children's access to school and improve the quality of education. To implement its objectives, Plan’s activities range from the construction and provision of equipment to classrooms and Centers for Educational Development (CED), to the spreading of literacy and training for teachers. Plan Mali also participates in the implementation of a global campaign to end violence in schools.  Plan Mali has made significant investments in educational programmes, including 1.5 billion CFAs (more than US$3 million) in the 2011 fiscal year alone.  In the last five years, Plan Mali has supported building 22 primary schools, 22 libraries, awarded scholarships to 2,733 students and trained 3,170 teachers. 

Boncana Maiga is giving a speech about violence at the forum

27 September 2010: During the Regional Youth Forum Against Violence in Ghana, held from 31 August to 3 September, youth leaders from across Mali pledged to stop violence against children.

The Forum, organized by Plan International and UN Special Representative of the Secretary General Marta Santos Pais, united children from across West Africa in the fight for their rights.

The recommendations made during the Forum included:

• prioritizing prevention
• ensuring the participation of children 
• creating accessible and child- friendly reporting systems and services
• ensuring accountability 
• ending impunity

Working together

In order to comply with the recommendations, the Children’s Parliament, Plan Mali and Plan West Africa Regional Office organized a workshop on how to protect children from violence.

Michel Kanhonou, workshop facilitator from Plan Benin, said: “The best way to protect children is to empower them to protect themselves.”

At the workshop 30 Malian youth, including members of the Children’s Parliament, the Movement of Working Children and youth reporters, worked together to find solutions to end the cruelty and called on parents and children for mutual trust and cooperation.

Boncana Maiga, President of the Mali Children’s Parliament, said: “We will mobilize all the children’s associations and call for support from partners in order to establish a network that can escape the social pressure in reporting cases of violence in all its forms.”

The workshop was also attended by partner organizations: Plan Mali, Save the Children, UNICEF, World Vision and ECPAT. After the workshop, the facilitators and participants obliged to joint action to break the cycle of violence affecting children’s rights.

Boncana Manga commented: “Children actually have the means to act and stop violence. The fight has only just begun.”

Plan in action

Young participants listening to the appeal to join fight against violence

Plan’s Violence Against Children campaign is spreading across west Africa and successfully reaches Mali. The ongoing programmes in Mali have largely helped the children get involved in the fight against the violence. The workshop taught them how to discuss the issue of violence with local communities and how to address the problem to the media to raise awareness and combat stigma and social pressures that keep violence from being reported.

Read more about Plan's work in Mali

Balkissa, in the process of designing her drawing

24 July 2010: 20 Malian children have attended a training workshop in cartoon drawing, allowing them to use images to speak out against violence, as part of Plan’s Violence Against Children (VAC) project.

Abocar, a 15 year old boy who participated in the training, said: “Thanks to this training, I’ve learnt a lot about the techniques in cartoon drawing.”

Over the course of 5 days of training in Bamako, the group of children worked together to produce a cartoon made up of 5 stories, each one a maximum of 3 or 4 pages, on 5 different types of violence that children suffer in Mali, such as physical aggression or bullying.

Real success

Balkissa,  17 year old girl, pictured above-right, said: “We chose 5 different types of violence, namely excision, sexual harassment, bullying, exploitation of children and corporal punishment.”

She added: “We, the children, designed the storylines. For me, this was a real success.”

These skills will help the children raise awareness of violence against children through Plan’s VAC project, reaching a minimum of 5 million people across 7 countries in West Africa.

What’s more, the group is just 1 of at least 200 others from different children’s clubs, in particular those in Mali, that will receive training. The cartoons they draw will then be used to bring not only children’s rights to the public’s attention, but also the UN’s recommendations from its study on violence against children.

Amazing work

Fatoumata, finalising her cartoon

George, the children’s cartoon-drawing trainer, said: “I’m really impressed by the final result. In a 5 day workshop, they have done amazing work...I think that the children will be able to produce more cartoons thanks to the skills they’ve learnt.”

The training is part of a wider campaign to simplify the UN’s study, including through cartoons and animations, so families and communities can better understand the need to bring violence against children to an end.

Below is a gallery of some of the children's cartoons that they created during the training. The first 3 are about violence at work, the last one about violence in the family. Captions are in French.

Read more about Plan's work in Mali

Social media will give children the opportunity to denounce violence without being afraid.

The impact

During the 2 day workshop, the children were enthusiastic to discover various communication systems on the internet. They said they were highly motivated to speak out in public and help their friends.

Salimata Kamaté, a 13 year old girl, came from the remote region of Kayes to participate. She was delighted to learn how to share her daily concerns with a greater audience and get advice: “I can easily tell other girls what’s happening with me and people will be aware of it. Many arrogant people will be afraid now because they can be humiliated and even be punished for their acts.”   

No more isolation for children

Children’s silence and their inability to mobilise and denounce violence on their own are some of the reasons why this abuse continues and is harmful to their education. According to Bédo Traoré, specialist in children’s participation at Plan Mali, the ‘Learn Without Fear’ campaign will soon see new successes with the involvement of children:

“If children have the opportunity to speak freely in peer groups, they can report abusers in public without fear. This will strongly discourage evil-intentioned people and certainly reduce the number of cases of violence. Blogs, mobile phones, etc could create forums that can be used for this purpose.”    

Keeping up the good work

Organised by the children’s national parliament with the support of Plan Mali, this training is part of the ‘Learn Without Fear’ campaign. After this first session held in Bamako, others will follow in rural areas and will form part of Plan Mali’s child participation programme, along with Kids Waves and YETAM.

Everyone at the conference declared 'Zero Tolerance' to FGC

06/02/2010: To celebrate International Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Cutting (FGC) day, children in Mali acted out a sketch to help abandon excision, a harmful traditional practice, and to raise awareness about the dangers it poses to girls.

As part of Mali's National Programme to Fight Excision (PNLE) conference, children aged 15-18 from Mali’s Centre for Listening and Assistance to Distressed Girls produced a sketch focussed on the damages caused by excision on Malian society and their refusal to accept the practice. 

In the sketch, they portrayed the case of Nabintou, a clever young girl with a bright future ahead of her. But Nabintou’s parents took her to be excised. Nabintou died as a result of the operation.

Time to abandon FGC

The girls’ sketch made it clear to the public that thousands of girls die every year due to excision and that it was time to abandon it completely.

Hawa Sidibé, a 14 year old girl who took part in the sketch, said: "By playing the drama during the ceremony, we were able to publicly address the greatest religious preacher of Mali. He cursed women that didn't excise their daughters. Now that he has agreed to sit down and listen calmly, I would say that he's changing his mind."

In Mali, Female Genital Cutting has long been a traditional practice carried out on young girls. Not only is it internationally recognised as a violation of children’s rights, but it also causes serious bodily harm, having negative consequences on girls’ health: it causes haemorrhages which often lead to death, disturbs girls’ development and can also lead to the breakdown of marriage.

Campaigning for behaviour change

But since 2004, as part of the PNLE, Plan Mali has been running a programme to fight against excision in 140 villages spanning 5 of the 8 regions in Mali. Through Plan and partners' ongoing campaigns for behaviour change, advocacy sessions at the national and community level, social mobilisation and media campaigns with the national press and local radios, 27 villages have completely abandoned FGC.

The PNLE conference also brought together programme partners, a government minister, religious leaders, village chiefs, the media and a huge crowd of children and young people to declare ‘Zero Tolerance to FGC’.

Find out more about Plan's work in Mali

Mitsuyo Kakuta at the ceremony in Daga

25 October 2009: The famous Japanese author, Mitsuyo Kakuta, visited a Plan programme in Mali to discover the fight against the practice of female genital cutting (FGC) in October 2009.

Plan’s 5-year programme to stop the practice of FGC in Mali began in 2004 and now covers 140 villages. As a result of the intense awareness raising activities in the communities covered by the programme, 27 villages have abandoned FGC.

Female genital cutting is an ancient traditional practice in Mali which affects over 90% of women. It is a violation of rights and a painful practice that has a hugely negative impact on their health: it can cause haemorrhages, which often lead to death. The practice can also have other devastating psychological and physical impacts, such as complications during child-birth. 

Making progress

But in the villages of Neni, Ibi, Koundou and Daga in the Dogon region, the author met with women’s associations and girls on the subject and she noted the positive attitudes of communities towards abandoning the practice.

In the first village, she found that more and more people were keen to stop practicing FGC, but in the two villages she visited afterwards, it had been completely abandoned.

The people of Daga took the opportunity to organize a ceremony confirming that they abandoned the practice 1 year ago.

An opportunity

"This visit to Plan Mali’s programme is a very good opportunity for me to contribute to the development world,” said Ms Kakuta.

Ms Kakuta couldn’t hide just how impressed she was with the initiative: She said the programme against the practice FGC must be continued since it helps protect the health of girls and women. She also promised to  appeal for support against FGC in Mali once back in Japan .

Ms Kakuta is one of the most popular authors in Japan. She won the prestigious Japanese literature Naoki Award for popular fiction and the main subjects of her works are women and girls. Most of her fans are women in their teens to those in  their 40's. 

Find out more about Plan's work in Mali