19-02-2024 | di COOPI

MALI: a multi-sectoral response to mitigate the crisis

In Mali, Coopi, in partnership with Terre des Hommes (Tdh) and thanks to ECHO (European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations) funding, has launched a multisectoral emergency response in the areas of primary health care, nutrition, and mental health to address the needs of displaced and crisis-affected populations in the Mopti, Ségou, and San regions.

In recent years, the precarious situation in the Liptako Gourma, a fragile region shared by Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, has deteriorated, characterized by persistent conflict, the absence of the state, the increased presence of radical groups, and the formation of ethnic self-defense militias. The main factors of the crisis also include climatic risks and health and epidemiological emergencies. Children, women, and people with disabilities are increasingly the victims of armed conflict, suffering human rights violations such as abductions, gender-based violence, the use of children in armed groups, the destruction of livelihoods and basic infrastructure, robberies, rape and child trafficking. In addition, people with disabilities face daily obstacles such as stigmatization, environmental factors and lack of access to physical environments.

COOPI's Multisectoral Emergency Response project aims to improve the supply, access, and utilization of essential high-quality services in the areas of health, nutrition, protection, and psychosocial support for internally displaced and crisis-affected people in the Mopti, Ségou, and San regions. In addition, the project aims to reinforce local capacities, prevent and respond to protection-related risks, play an active role in the rapid response system, and provide care to children aged 0 to 5 in hard-to-reach areas. Extended to the Djenné district and Ségou and San regions, the project will impact about 40,000 beneficiaries, 80 percent of whom are children and women. The main aim is to help reduce morbidity and mortality among the crisis-affected population in central Mali.

This project is part of the regional strategies of COOPI and Terre des Hommes, who have been cooperating side by side in Mali since 2018 to respond to crises in the center of the country, focusing on targeted multi-sectoral actions in health, nutrition, protection, and psychosocial support for vulnerable populations.

COOPI has been working in Mali since 2013, with projects to combat malnutrition, providing support to local health centers to improve access to medical care. It also promotes child protection, monitoring human rights violations and providing psychosocial support to victims of abuse and violence.

We would like to thank Bernardo Biscaretti and Clelia Furchì for their collaboration.