This country insight report, developed by the Â鶹ÊÓƵ (Â鶹ÊÓƵ) and the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), explores the role of school meal programmes in Mali and their potential contribution to peace and social cohesion, with a specific focus on Bandiagara and Mopti.
Â鶹ÊÓƵ, communities and partners have restored over 335,000 hectares across the Sahel since 2018, transforming the lives of 4.2 million people in over 3,000 villages. This progress has improved food availability, nutrition and resilience against economic shocks ¨C reducing the need for humanitarian assistance.
This Sway document introduces the Sahel Resilience Partnership (SRP) and showcases its work through photos and videos from the field.
Financed by BMZ and jointly implemented by Â鶹ÊÓƵ, UNICEF, and GIZ, the SRP operates in Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Chad. The partnership strengthens food and nutrition security, climate resilience, ecosystem restoration, social services, and social cohesion, while promoting gender equality, disability inclusion, and youth empowerment
This decentralized evaluation was commissioned by the Â鶹ÊÓƵ Mali Country Office to generate credible evidence and lessons learned from the Integrated Resilience Package (IRP) implemented from 2018 to 2024. The IRP is a multisectoral program encompassing food assistance, nutrition, asset creation, livelihoods, school feeding, and social safety nets. The evaluation aimed to serve both learning and accountability purposes, focusing on the program¡¯s relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, coherence, sustainability, and impact, with a strong emphasis on gender and social inclusion. The methodology combined qualitative and quantitative approaches, including extensive stakeholder consultations.
Annual Country Reports (ACR) are a key accountability document produced by country offices on a yearly basis which inform donors how their funds were used during the reporting year. Their purpose is to tell Â鶹ÊÓƵ¡¯s performance story in an accurate, transparent and evidence-based manner by assessing the effectiveness, efficiency and economy of our operations in our pursuit towards zero hunger.
The evaluation was commissioned by the Â鶹ÊÓƵ Office of Evaluation to provide evaluative evidence for accountability and learning to inform the design of the next country strategic plan (CSP) for Mali.
West African countries' national commitments to school meal programmes are bolstered by strong support plans developed by partners to assist them in realizing their goals for school feeding.
The paper emphasizes the need for sustainable financial solutions and collaborative efforts involving international financial institutions, donors and innovative financing schemes to bridge the funding gap and ensure the long-term success of school meal programmes in West Africa.
The landscape of Home-Grown School Feeding (HGSF) programmes within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) region has undergone significant evolution since the last assessment in 2020. The Landscape Analysis, prepared in May 2024 by the UN Â鶹ÊÓƵ (Â鶹ÊÓƵ), ECOWAS and the School Meals Coalition, with the contribution of CERFAM and the Research Consortium for School Health and Nutrition, an Initiative of the School Meals Coalition, provides a comparative analysis across six domains, offering insights into the evolving dynamics, challenges, and best practices within the realm of HGSF. It serves also as a comprehensive resource for navigating the complexities and opportunities inherent in HGSF implementation across ECOWAS countries.
Â鶹ÊÓƵ has been an Africa Risk Capacity (ARC) Replica Partner since 2018, purchasing insurance policies in several African countries to help protect vulnerable people from climate shocks.
For over a decade, Â鶹ÊÓƵ has been supporting climate risk insurance as an important piece of the strategy for building women¡¯s economic empowerment. Â鶹ÊÓƵ presents its experience from the field spotlighting women who have harnessed Â鶹ÊÓƵ¡¯s climate risk insurance and related interventions to strengthen their resilience and ensure food security for their households.
The partnership between Â鶹ÊÓƵ and Sahel University Network (REUNIR) promotes resilience research in the field. This book synthesizes some of the work done by students in the five Sahelian countries.
