General context

The Republic of Mali is located in the heart of West Africa with no access to the sea and covers a surface area of 1,241,238 square kilometers. The capital city is Bamako. The country has a population of 10.4 million inhabitants with a population density of 7.9 inhabitants /sq km.

The composition of the population according to sex shows that the female sex accounts for 50.5 % of the overall population compared with 49.5% for the male gender. The population is distributed unequally over the country ; 73% of the population lives in rural areas compared with 27% in urban areas. (Source : Perspectives de la population, Mali, 1987-2022, DNSI, Nov.01).

Mali is a crossroads of civilizations with its numerous ethnic and linguistic groups which constitute a source of cultural wealth. Despite this diversity, the Malian conscience, a result of  the millennial history of the country, is a reality and is deeply rooted and goes beyond the borders, allowing all Malians to live in an true melting pot in accordance with the requirements of local customs and traditions. Malian society is organized with a high level of harmony among structured social classes within which roles and tasks are fairly well distributed. Social conflicts, inevitable in any society, are sorted out according to traditional principles. The « Sanankouya » (cousinship relationships) link individuals, families, villages and various ethnic and sub-ethnic groups. Through these « sacred » links of cousinship, all social, and even political, conflicts are always contained.

A secular country by its constitution, Mali is characterized by  the peaceful coexistence of monotheist religions alongside traditional cultures. Religions practiced include Islam, Christianity and Animism. The official  language is French.

There are three predominant bio-climatic areas in the country.

The Saharan climate in the North (Regions of Tombouctou, Gao and Kidal) covers over half of the country with a very low level of rainfall.  A carpet of grass spreads over the land as soon as there is some rainfall, providing temporary pasture for nomadic troops. The Harmattan, a wind that blows towards the ocean during the dry season further accentuates this arid climate.

In the so-called Sahelian, sub-desert area, located in the center of the country (Regions of Kayes, Ségou, Koulikoro and Mopti) and covering an area of almost 200.000 sq km, rainfall is variable with a long dry season and a rainy season lasting from three to four months. The scattered, thorny vegetation is used for pastoral activity.

The Soudanian area and Soudano-Guinean area located in the South (District of Bamako and Region of Sikasso), receive more substantial rains  (between 600 and 1300mm per year). This area is dominated by savanna and light  forests.

With almost 2,200,000 ha of land suitable for irrigation, including over 1,800,000 ha in the valley of  the Niger river, Mali, could be considered to be the potential granary of West Africa.

Political environment

The decade which followed the change of regime that came in March 1991 has established a system of political openness and a process of democratization of public life which have consolidated the rule of law. The political situation has been marked by substantial, fundamental changes.

At Government level
The democratic process and the establishment of the rule of law started on 12th January 1992 with the adoption, by referendum, of a new constitution  promulgated on February 25th of the same year.

In June 2002, Amadou Toumani Touré took over from Alpha Oumar Konaré as the second President of the third Republic.

From 1992 to 2002 we have witnessed a gradual consolidation of the rule of law which rests on the following achievements :

• The establishment of the multiparty system with over 80 political parties ;

• The emergence of a civil society and the freedom of the press (Mali currently has over 4,000 registered associations and NGOs). With regard to the media, there are over 70 private radio stations and several independent newspapers.

• The existence of several public-sector development programs (Justice, health, economic reforms, education, rural development, etc.) ;

• The establishment of an ombudsman ;

• Dialogue and questioning of public authorities as part of Democratic Questioning ;

• The strengthening of peace and security over the entire country with the signing of the Solidarity Pact for growth and development ;

• The improvement of political dialogue through the holding of the political forum in 2001 which resulted in the adoption of the Republican Pact for good conduct during elections  and the holding of the Forum of political parties on education (June 2001).

• The separation of powers and the widening of access to justice with the creation of new courts across the country in order to improve coverage over the country and to enhance the population’s access to the justice system. Efforts are underway to retrain judicial staff and to improve working conditions with the implementation of the Ten Year program for the Development of Justice (PRODEJ).

Electoral Process
The year 2002 has been marked by the preparation of presidential and legislative elections which lasted from May to July 2002. The Government has established and achieved the following activities for the strengthening of the electoral process :

• the administrative and electoral census for the development of reliable electoral registers ;

• the institutionalization of the General Delegation to Elections ;

• the establishment of the new National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI) chaired by the Representative of the Malian Association of Human Rights (AMDH) ;

• the revision of electoral registers by representatives of political parties.

Progress was made in enhancing women’s representation in high Government positions.

Press and Communication
A culture conducive to the establishment of  independent private local radio stations on the FM bands is gaining ground in Mali.  The new audiovisual landscape, made up of these local radio stations  (a total of  109 independent private radios), the national radio station and its regional branches, constitute the essential support to the new sector-based policies for advocacy and social mobilization. With regard to the print media, Mali has 39 newspapers which are concentrated in the urban centers including publications in national languages.

There are other channels of communication (puppet games, Kotéba, theatre etc) based on a diversified artistic and cultural heritage. Changes have occurred in this area, improving the plurality of information and acting to raise awareness.

Justice and fight against corruption
In Mali, as in most New Democracies, it is generally recognized that substantial efforts need to be made in order to arrive at what is called Democratic Governance. The poor management of public funds and other reprehensible actions that constitute an attack on the credibility of the state have had serious consequences on the development of a country like Mali where the immensity of needs is rivaled by the scarcity of public resources.

To prevent and/or reduce them it is important that a great emphasis be placed  on strengthening those bodies responsible for controlling and enforcing laws to repress these practices.

Therefore, an advisory body, in the form of an adhoc commission, responsible for the study of reports for the control of the administration was established  in October 1999. Its mission is to assist the President of the Republic in studying and deciding how to follow up the audit reports produced by the “Contrôle Général d’Etat”, the state controller general’ s office, and by the inspections carried out  in the Ministerial departments. To-date, the advisory body has reviewed over 600 reports, of which 10% have been referred to the judicial authorities. The reports referred to the Justice system involve cases which, when analyzed, have revealed facts or actions that could require judicial procedures. The results of the work carried out by this commission have been instrumental in enhancing the credibility of the state in the eyes of the population.  To consolidate this gain, the Commission became, as of November 2000, a permanent body, known as the support unit to the control structures of the administration. (Source: CSLP).

At President Konaré’s request, the Bank launched in March 1999 a corruption investigation and returned in mid-2001 to evaluate the reforms undertaken since.  The resulting Anti-Corruption Report, published April 4, 2002, centers its recommendations around three issues: limiting opportunities for corruption, applying necessary sanctions, and achieving greater transparency in government operations.  On August 7, 2002, President Amadou Toumani Touré created an ad hoc committee of thirty members to study the Anti-Corruption Report’s recommendations.

Faced with the increasing scale of corruption, the Government decided, during its June 25th 2002 meeting, to implement vigorous measures, rules and procedures with respect to public contracts and purchasing; to introduce transparency in the operation of services, the implementation of the provisions of the new penal code and those of the penal procedure and the setting up of economic and financial pools. The fact remains that the weakness of systems of accountability and sanctions remain a major challenge in the fight against corruption.

Decentralization
Mali is building high hopes on the current decentralization policy, set up in order to fight poverty by promoting local democracy, the active participation of populations in the exercise of power and shaping decisions regarding development through the management of decentralized territorial communities. (Source: CSLP).

The policy of territorial decentralization came into effect with the recent setting up and installation of  703 communes (local governments) across the country, 49 councils at district level, 6 regional assemblies, one District assembly, an association of municipalities  and support instruments for the implementation of this policy, namely the National agency for investment by local communities also known as ANICT, as well other communal councils. (Source: CSLP).

New local and regional responsibilities are increasingly being assumed. Constraints do exist, but in most cases the exercise of power is expanding.  The control of work is progressing with the provision of buildings, equipment and support staff.  A long process for the institution of political and administrative autonomy has begun; the stakes of this process are currently more widely shared, both by the populations and by political leaders. The challenge involved in the decentralization process, the scale of the project and the existing obstacles have encouraged the Malian State and cooperation agencies to further become involved in the process.

Despite the gains achieved, it is necessary to consolidate the current process so that it may have a direct incidence on the daily life of populations and ensure that they do not lose their motivation.  To this end, the government adopted an Action plan to consolidate the decentralization process in order to speed up the transfer of resources and competencies, to coordinate and harmonize existing supports in the area, to strengthen the capacities of grass-root communities in their efforts for the mobilization of resources and the development of a partnership, whilst at the same time supporting them in the design of management and local development tools.

International Relations
In the past, Mali has held the office of chairman of the West African Monetary and Economic Union  (WAEMU) and that of the Economic Community of  West African states ( ECOWAS) (over the past three years). Hence, Mali has played an active role at the vanguard of the West African political and economic scene. This position of Mali was strengthened through its involvement in regional peace keeping initiatives and those involving the proliferation of light weapons namely through the West African moratorium on the manufacturing, use and proliferation of small arms, instigated by Mali.
 

Social development

Education and crisis of the school system
The educational system is deteriorating due to claims from various categories of actors in the school system, but also due to population growth. The numbers of the various categories of the school population have multiplied in ten years:

• the number of children in pre-school education increased from 10,000 ( aged 3-7) to 24,140; the number of teachers raised from 350 to 1050 respectively from 1991/92 to 2000/2001;

• The number of children enrolled in primary schools raised from 510 000 (in 1992/93 ) to 1 385 000 (in 2001) and the number of teachers rose from 12,000 to 18, 300;

• The number of students enrolled in secondary, technical and specialized schools raised from 23630 (1992/93) to 86 158 (2000) ( Source: Annuaire statistique du Mali, 2000, DNSI)

Out of the 11,700 villages in Mali 7640 have no school and 3 619 are in desperate need of a school.

For the past ten years, Mali’s education system has been experiencing a crisis that some protagonists of the education system explain by the fact that the actors are highly politicized. Consequently, we are witnessing a worrying deterioration of the general level of education and skills in the age groups involved.

The government adopted a ten year education program (PRODEC), a very comprehensive and consistent program which received the support of all donors.  The PRODEC is made up of three components: 1)  improving the quality of teaching and learning methods by focusing the educational system on the basic educational needs of learners and on the quality of education;  ii) improving access to school enrollment in order to increase the rate of coverage; iii) the strengthening of capacities of the school system  for decentralization and the monitoring of policies in order to modernize the management of the education sector. ( Source: Report on partnership Mali, World Bank, 2001)

Health
The Government adopted in 1998 a ten year health and social development plan  (PDSS) covering the period 1998-2007. This plan aims to ensure financial and geographical accessibility for the entire population to quality health services, to reduce mortality linked to priority diseases, to enhance the  performance of health services  and to guarantee a fair and durable funding of the health system and social action. An initial phase of five years at a total cost of 192 billion CFA and funded up to 41% by development partners is being implemented.

The ten year health and social development plan (PDDSS) includes an initial five year program of health and social development  (PRODESS) 1998-2002. The PRODESS aims at 1) widening access to health care and reference services; ii) improving the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of socio- health services including those related to reproductive and nutritional health and, iii) strengthening the state’s institutional capacities at organizing, managing, monitoring and evaluating the health and social system.

Despite the efforts made in the framework of  PRODESS and a certain degree of success achieved in terms of access to health care, the fact remains that more has to be done for needs to be meet, namely with regard to prenatal coverage (45% in general), the immunization coverage of children (aged 0-11months), Malaria (the leading cause of mortality, accounting for 13% of deaths) and AIDS with a prevalence rate of 1.7% according to the survey  EDSM-III of 2001 and a pessimistic development (nearly 66,000 cumulated cases and 10,000 deaths (1999). (source: Partnership Report Mali, World Bank, 2001/PRODESS).

In general,  STDs/AIDS constitute a national concern. The National Program for the fight against AIDS (PNLS) created in 1987, has established, with the participation of all the partners, several medium-term partners since 1992.  The most recently created plan is called “Strategic fight against AIDS” and is to cover the period 2001-2005. The implementation of this plan under the coordination of a Coordination Bureau attached to the Cabinet of the Ministry of Health is based upon the highest and the most widespread political engagement within the institutions of the Republic and the Malian civil society. This program, whose activities are clearly part of the CSLP, aims specifically at : 1) preventing transmission in the overall population with a special emphasis on the most vulnerable population groups and mother to child transmission; ii) improving the quality of life of people living with HIV and alleviating the burden of the impact on affected families and the community; iii) reducing the impact on health services; iv) establishing an ethical and legal environment conducive to the respect for human rights. (Source CSLP).

Strategic framework for poverty reduction (CSLP)
In May 2002 , Mali finalized its strategic framework for poverty reduction (CSLP). The CSLP reflects the commitment of the Government to initiate an intense, organized and effective development action capable of reducing poverty on a sustainable basis. It constitutes the single framework of reference for negotiations with the Bretton Woods Institutions and for the interventions of all development partners in Mali

All development partners of Mali as well as representatives of the civil society were involved in the formulating this reference document.

Economic development 

All economic policies implemented recently in Mali have globally targeted poverty reduction and reforms carried out have focused on decentralization and the liberalization of the economy whose aim is to favor the development of private enterprise.

As far as performance is concerned, Mali has achieved an average yearly growth of about 4.8% since the devaluation of the CFA Franc in 1994. Inflation as measured by the harmonized consumer price index- is increasingly under control with an average of around 2.5% ; the highest rate since 1996 was observed in 2001 (5.2%), due to the 2000/2001 poor agricultural campaign.

Table: Dynamic of DGP and Prices.

Regarding public finances, the country complies with most of the budgetary convergence criteria within WAEMU.

Evolution of budgetary convergence indicators.

Despite these performances, the economy of Mali remains fragile if we take into account some of its characteristics: (i) the reliance on raw products dependent upon climatic hazards; (ii) the poor diversification of exportations (three products cotton, gold, and cattle constitute about 95% of exportation); (iii) weakness of the value-added content of output and exportation; (iv) high fluctuation of the price of goods for exportation… This situation gives certain products a strategic character and weakens the foundations for growth, as illustrated by the cotton crisis experienced in 2001.

Indeed, cotton represents 30% of the economy of Mali and almost 40 to 45% of exports. The difficulties of the sector started in 1997, but they reached a stage of crisis during the 2000/2001 campaign as producers refused to grow cotton below a price of 185 CFA F/kg.

The situation has improved since then thanks to the many efforts of the State to promote the sector. The  States General for cotton took place in April 2001 and allowed producers to get a guaranteed price of 200 CFA F/kg, a fact that had repercussions on the 2001-2002 campaign, expected to yield a record production of about 571,000 tons.

Gold, a product for exportation.
Deriving strength from its mining background, Mali has undertaken, since its independence, sustained activity in the field of mining exploration with the support of both bilateral and multilateral cooperation. The objective is to use the mining potential to achieve the dynamic transformation of its industrial structures.

For a few years now the country has begun to draw profit from its mining resources and particularly gold. The number of gold mines has soared from the 1980s onwards, with the development of the production from the first Kalana gold extraction industrial company in 1984. However it is in the 1990s that one can see the gold sub-sector really take off. Since, other gold reserves have been discovered (Loulo, Faboula, Misseni etc.). In 2000/2001, two new gold mines began production, strengthening the contribution of the gold sector to the economy as a whole.

Mali has become the third African gold producer behind South Africa and Ghana with an output of almost 30 tons in 2000 and 51 tons in 2001 (a 70% increase). The Morila SA company alone (20% held by the Mali Government, 80% by Rangold and Anglogold), which exploits the gold mine of the same name, will pay 136 billion CFA F (191 million US $) to the Malian Government in taxes and taxation throughout the exploitation phase. For the years 2000 and particularly 2001, gold has become the first export product for Mali, ahead of cotton. Production statistics, according to DNSI, show the quantitative importance of the contribution of gold in the national economy:

Debt
Public aid for development in Mali is made up for a great part of non-concessional loans and donations. The evolution of the Malian outstanding debt from 1993 to 2001 is as follows (in billions of CFA):