Mali

Since 1990, with financial support offered by Norway and the UNDP, the ILO has assisted the Government of Mali in the implementation of a labour-based forestry project in the Kita district.

The project had as its main objective the creation of employment and income opportunities through a rational exploitation of natural resources. To achieve this objective, capacity building activities for concerned local actors were organised. The project achieved important results in terms of community participation and income generation at local level. An innovative contractual approach was introduced which allows a negotiation on the use of natural resources between local communities and government authorities.

The project's third phase (MLI/98/M01/NOR) has started in July 1998. This new five-years phase maintains the objectives of the previous phases but it is more concerned with the long-term sustainability of project interventions. Increased attention is given to the commercialisation of forestry products, an effective utilisation of the savings made, as well as on the institutionalisation of the contractual approach introduced by the project. The area of intervention will be expanded, which should lead to a higher visibility of the approach used and results obtained.

The project operates in a institutional framework which is rapidly changing in line with the country's decentralisation policies. The national counterpart has recently changed and is now the National Directorate for the Conservation of Nature of the Ministry of Environment.

At the request of the Government, an ILO mission will be fielded during the second half of 1999 to formulate an Employment Policy Unit, which will advise the Government on how to promote employment in mainstream investment programmes. The mission is being organised and funded by the MDT in Dakar.

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