Mali

Flyer: WPS in Mali

Since 2012, Mali has been experiencing continuous water insecurity and conflicts. Initially spared from instability, the Inner Niger Delta – the largest floodplain in Africa situated in Central Mali – has become a hotspot of conflict with the presence of radical armed groups and civilian militias.

The Delta is home to more than 2 million people whose farming, fishing and cattle-raising livelihoods strongly depend on the Delta’s ecosystems. The use of shared resources for these people, such as access to floodplains, has primarily been managed through local governance and traditional structures. However, the ecosystems and people’s livelihoods are affected by the increasing variability in water availability due to climate change and upstream water allocation decisions.

Control over water resources in this context is straining relations between farmer, pastoralist and fishermen communities. Shared resources management is also challenged by shifting power dynamics in the region.

WPS involvement

WPS has identified government officers from Water, environment, agriculture, fisheries, livestock and animal husbandry departments and built a network to keep them connected, in regular communication and exchange, cross-learning and sharing feedback- Water Champions. WPS has linked local dialogue forums with each other and provided trainings on gender-sensitive, inclusive, climate-sensitive and conflict-sensitive management and peace-building efforts.

Through participatory methodes, water champions continue to identify more conflict-sensitive water and natural resource policies and ways to manage water and shared land resources across scales.

WPS develops tools and services to support local decision-making. For the Inner Niger Delta,  the local stakeholder engaged in a participative system analysis via Group Model building, and led to the development of a Causal Loop Diagram (CLD). The CLD aimed to reinforce the joint understanding and the identification of interventions. Some factors of the diagram have been further quantified, using Agent-based models (ABM) or hydrological models. The results have fed into the policy dashboard – an online tool to visualize and compare past and future scenarios.

Examples, explanatory videos, Scenario-based applications, working papers, policy-briefs with recommendations and reports have been developed and shared with all decision-makers across all governance levels through a dedicated round table event in November 2023. More resources can be found here.

In 2021-2022, WPS joined forces with GIZ in the FREXUS project in Mali, Chad and Niger.

Next steps

Looking forward, user guidelines on scenario-based applications of the policy dashboard is under development. Participatory analysis of capacities gaps among the decision-makers was identified in 2023 and currently a set of trainings to address some of the key topics is currently being planned. A mass-broadcasting media strategy was developed and tested in 2023 which led to positive outcomes.

“Since its launch in Mopti, the WPS project has taken the communication aspect as one of their priorities. There were radio broadcasts in the field in 5 local languages. This took place through an agreement between WPS and regional radio coordination and the results are positive”- Mahamoudou Bocoum, President URTEL, Mali

WPS will continue to explore mass media channels in propagating key messages on conflict-sensitive water management practices, tools, methods and approaches. Radio debates is one such innovative plan to bring in policy-makers and decision-makers to discuss on key aspects of water management policy and broadcast to radio channels for mass dissemination and awareness-building. Additionally working towards peace agreements between local conflicting parties, understanding the impacts of dialogue forums and receiving feedback to further improve the WPS strategies is under progress.

WPS seeks to operationalize and fund these ideas through presentations at high-profile political meetings in Bamako, throughout the Delta and among the international community and regional forums.