PLATFORM IN THE FIELD

How to help a village
acquire a Platform

 

"The dinner wasn't ready so my husband beat me. Then we got this new  machine..."
  A woman of Balanfina, Mali. (A.Duval,The Observer, 22 February 1998)

• Context
• History and structure of the Project
• Beneficiaries

• Geographic cover

• Contacts

• NEWS

Partnership with Switzerland : The Swiss Cooperation and UNDP Mali signed, on September 6, 2001, a partnership agreement whereby Switzerland pledged 1.5 million US$ to the platform project in Mali over the period September 2001 – June 2004.

The NORAD Mission : Norway, a major partner of the platform project in Mali, performed a trip to review its partnership with UNDP.  The discussions allowed Messrs. Vibeke Skjolddal Rysst, of the Norwegian Embassy in Abidjan, and Trine Joranli of NORAD Oslo, to visit platforms in Balanfina and Lontola, on May 9, 2001. Following this visit, Norway announced its commitment for the continuation of its financial support to the project during 2002.  

A the conference of LDC (Brussels, May 14 – 20, 2001), his Excellency Alpha Oumar Konaré, the Malian President, explained that « The launch of a sustainable development, at the dawn of the third millenium, means for us that each Malian village should have, in a secure and liberated environment : 
- a kindergarden;   
- a basic school or education center ;   
- a well for potable water;   
- a micro-credit fund;   
- a cereal bank;   
- a multifunctional platform for the distribution of water and electricity.»

The government representative, Minister of Economy and Finance, insisted on « the importance that Mali gives to this original project, adapted to the needs of LDC ». This interest is illustrated by the fact that the platform was selected, under the HIPC (verifier la traduction de CSLP en anglais)initiative, to benefit of funds that will be made available, at the national level, as of 2002.  

CONTEXT

A close convergence with the National Strategy on Poverty Alleviation
The objective of the National Strategy on Poverty Alleviation (jully 1998) is to better coordinate programs and policies implemented by the government to ameliorate life conditions of the populations, namely to ensure a sustainable development.

Among the 8 strategic areas of Poverty Alleviation retained by the government of Mali, 5 are directlty related to fields dealing with the Platform :

- Promotion of income generating activities,
- Better access of the poor to financial services and other productions factors,
- Promotion of the development of agro-industries,
- Access to education and training,
- Access of the poor to basic health needs, nutrition, drinkable water and sanitation.

The industrial policy favors the valorization of natural ressources. The mid term industrial development model is  primarily based on the private sector with a focus on the development of small and medium enterprises. These enterprises will create jobs particularly in rural areas using local resources and markets.

The energy policy, tries to establish a balance beetween the satisfaction of energetic needs and the sound management of natural ressources by rural communities. One of its targets is the extension of rural electrification nationwide.

The National Policy of women promotion aims at  allowing women a greater access to production factors and economic ressources and at increasing their productivity and revenue.

HISTORY AND STRUCTURE OF THE PROJECT

History
The UNDP and the Government perspectives converge in many ways namely in what relates to women promotion and poverty alleviation. This has led to a variety of undertakings one of which is their partnership in the implementation of the Platform concept in Mali. Hence the launching of a pilot phase of the Project (july 96 - dec 98), in order to develop and validate the concept.

A pilot phase, 1996-98, validated the socio-economic feasibility of the platform.  The principle accomplishments during this phase include:  

-     reinforcement of  local, private mechanics for the installation and maintenance of  platforms and their related equipment; 

-     adaptation of the platform to a variety of specific village needs and situations (installation of 45 platforms, of which 14 water and/or electricity networks);

-     evaluation of the potential demand for and of the ownership/management capacities of  village women;

-     evaluation of the private sector’s capacity to respond to the demand;

-     analysis of the platform’s technical and economic feasibility in different village contexts

-     elaboration of a methodology for the management of the platform by village women;

-     definition of the purchase and payment conditions of the platforms by the beneficiaries;

-     definition and testing of the mechanics' and managers' training strategies;

-     reinforcement of national capacity to implement the programme. 

During the pilot phase, the programme collaborated with various partners (UNCDF, European Union, French Co-operation, international NGO’s such as World Vision…) with the objective of integrating multipurpose platforms into ongoing projects and programs.
The development objective of the main phase of the programme is to fight against the many aspects of poverty in rural areas, focusing on its gender dimensions.

Structure
The institutional framework is built to enable the programme to act as a facilitator, helping beneficiaries to formulate and manage their demand and the private and civil sector to respond to that demand.

A basic principle behind the programme is the response to demand expressed by villages. The programme intervenes at three levels : 

•  Decentralised level,  
•  National level,
•  Governement level,

The decentralised level
The decentralised level, through Advisory Units is based in four different cities of Mali (Sikasso, Bougouni, San and Sévaré). These units, with management and financial autonomy, are responsible for advising villages wanting to purchase a platform --  from the initial feasibility study to the installation and management of the platform. Their mission includes social and economic feasibility studies, assisting beneficiaries to fulfil bank loan conditions, helping women to organised themselves in groups, training managers and operators of the platform, verifying orders and installation of the platforms. On the offer side, the programme identifies existing technical resources and assesses their capacity to provide the services required by villages, assesses the need for training and provides other assistance.

The national level,
At the national level a Co-ordination Unit is based in Sévaré to monitor and evaluate the Advisory Units. It is also responsible for the overall programming, management and implementation of the programme's daily activities in the field, including financial and purchasing activities, for training activities, and for collecting and analysing data. This Unit is under the responsibility of a National Co-ordinator who prepares workplans and budgets and presents progress reports every three months.

The Government level,
At the Governement level a National Director represents the Government in the programme and is accountable for its overall financial and strategic management. His task is to elaborate, with the assistance of the National Co-ordinator, the programme strategy, workplans and budgets, and to present the annual progress report. He is also responsible for co-ordinating the programme activities with government policies and other donor programmes. As such, he is the facilitator of the Co-ordination Committee that meets twice a year to discuss the programme's ongoing activities, results and problems encountered. This Committee is composed of all the partners of the programme, national technical structures concerned by programme activities and interested donors.

BENEFICIARIES

The ownership and management of Multifunctional Platforms is entrusted to a group of organised village women. The challenge is to ensure a real ownership by women from a formal acquisition of the Platform.

The request for a Platform must come from a village under the leadership of a formal women association. 
Women must pay a fee to become members of the association and to help collect basic ressources for the purchase of the Platform. However, the amounts are just a pourcentage, sometimes quite modest, of the financial arrangement of the village.

Once created the women association must seek the approval of the Chief of the Village. The adhesion of political authorities is an important step towards any implementation of the Platform concept in a community. The second decisive step is to mobilize the support from all the other stakeholders of the village. 

Women associations are the main contact for the project, the financial institutions, etc. They are in charge of the overall management (finances, technical, social...) of the Platform in a communitary way. The associations are responsible for the sustainability of the Platform.

The main activities of the associations are the following :

•  Designation of a Women Management Committee comprising a President, a Cashier and a Treasurer, 
•  Designation of the women operators : millers, controllers.
•  Selection of the partners (artisans, financial partners and advisers, etc.) ,
•  Selection of the equipment,
•  Financial, social and technical management of the Platform,
•  Monitoring and control of the Women Management Committee.

GEOGRAPHIC COVER

Actually, the platform concept is developped in : the third region, Sikasso the fourth region, Segou the fifth region, Mopti.  The 4 advisory units are devided into those three regions :  Sévaré for the region of Mopti,  San for the region of Segou  Bougouni for the region of Sikasso. Sikasso for the region of Sikasso. There is also multifunctional platforms in the region of Kidal, in the north of the country, but they're not followed by the project.

List of the villages

In green, villages equiped and followed by the project
In black, villages wanting to purchase a multifunctional platform

CONTACTS

Multifunctional Platform Mali Project

Direction of the Project
National Director : Mrs Emma Niang Kourouma
BP 278 - Bamako - Mali
E-mail : dnplateforme@datatech.toolnet.org
Tel : (223) 22 57 56 / 75 42 20 - Fax : (223) 22 61 37

Coordination Cell
National Coordinator : Mr Yaya Sidibé
BP 56 - Sévaré - Mali
Tel : (223) 42 00 70 - Fax : (223) 42 03 72