Mali Country Programme (2008-2015)

This operation has expired on 31 December 2015.

A landlocked Sahelian country, Mali has a population of 13.5 million growing very rapidly at 3 percent per annum;1 59.3 percent of the population – most of them rural dwellers – and women in particular suffer from poverty. With a per capita gross domestic product of US$380, Mali ranked 174th out of 177 in 2005 on the United Nations Development Programme’s index. It is one of the poorest and least-developed countries in the world.

The present country programme for 2008–2012 was prepared in accordance with the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (2008–2012) and with the Strategic Framework on Development and Poverty-Reduction (2007–2011) approved by the Government in December 2006.

Despite some progress, Mali’s economic growth rate is still below that needed to achieve the goal of halving poverty by 2015. The incidence of poverty remains very high, especially in rural areas (73 percent).

Almost the entire rural population is heavily dependent on rain fed agriculture and exposed to a large number of constraints – the weather, natural disasters, locust infestations and environmental degradation – which  are a source of food and nutritional insecurity in several regions, particularly above the 14th parallel.

The country programme will help poor, hungry households to take charge of their own development and to cope with natural disasters. In accordance with the Government’s Strategic Framework it will contribute to achieving three of the five medium-term results set by UNDAF, whose objective is to contribute in synergy and harmony to poverty reduction.

The country programme will also contribute to achieving the first five Millennium Development Goals and reflects WFP’s Strategic Objectives 2, 4 and 5. It conforms to WFP’s Heightened Commitment on Behalf of Women. The country programme, which was prepared in consultation with the Government and other stakeholders, has three components : support for basic education, rural development and food security.

The components will be implemented in rural areas north of the 14th parallel where populations are particularly vulnerable as shown by a vulnerability analysis and mapping survey conducted in 2001 and by an in-depth vulnerability and food security analysis in 2005.

For the country programme for Mali, which covers the period 2008 2012 and 411,200 beneficiaries, within the limits of available resources, the Executive Director requests the Board to approve the allocation of US$17.8 million to cover all basic direct operational costs.