• Women Associations
• Private local artisans

• Supporting structures
  • National level
  • Regional level

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.

PRIVATE LOCAL ARTISANS

The artisans are devided into three groups : production artisans, artisans in charge of installation, maintenance and repair of the platform and the rural artisans.

Production artisans :
These are welders who have been trained to carry out various tasks related to the assembling of the Platform (motor, mill, dehuller, alternator...)
The main clients of production artisans in the context of the platforms are intallation artisans who order the parts that they need to perform the assembling of the Platforms.

Installation maintenance and repair artisans :
These artisans are mechanics and electricians. Their role is to install and repair Platforms, electric and water distribution networks. Mechanics are also in charge of normal and preventive maintenance of the installations.
For more informations on the artisans, see the technical note 

SUPPORTING STRUCTURES

The national level : Case of Mali
The  Platform concept has been developed in Mali. After two years of a pilot phase, which has permitted the installation of 65 Platforms, the project aims to equip 450 villages. Although specific to Mali, the implementation modalities at the national level serve as a model to others countries interested in the concept.Therefore, 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, though 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.

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.

At the Government 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.

The project is executed by the Government of Mali under the National Execution modality as defined by UNDP’s Manual of Projects and Programmes. UNDP rules and procedures are applied for the tenders, management of equipment, human and financial resources and for audits and evaluations.  
For more informations on the mali project, click here

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

THE REGIONAL LEVEL : THE REGIONAL CELL
Although specific to Mali, the implementation modalities at the national level serve as a model to others countries interested in the concept. Therefore, UNDP (United Nations Development Program) has created a Regional Cell which objectives are to ensure the transfer of knowledge and skills to the applicant countries.

Objectives :

1. Assist development partners and projects to integrate the multifunctional platform in their activities to reinforce their impact in the field, especially in their fight against poverty affecting rural women.  

2. Development of a data base related to methodological, technical, financial, economic and social information on the platform in order to ensure the transfer of knowledge and skills and to disseminate the information related both to the implementation of the different national projects and to the understanding of the platform concept and approach.

Services provided : 

1.  Feasibility mission to interested countries, to define, with UNDP offices and national authorities, the priorities to be considered and determine potential partners at the financial as well as organizational and technical levels. The manager should also appraise whether there is available funding at national level to cover the formulation/training mission, which account for US$ 21,000.
2. Train projects personnel, project partners, beneficiaries and artisans to feasibility studies, management of  the platform and their networks and to install and do the maintenance of multifunctional platforms.
3. Formulate a specific logical framework with result indicators to facilitate an efficient monitoring and evaluation of the results achieved with the platform’s implementation.
4. Promote the exchange of information and experiences between all actors concerned and draw lessons learned from activities in the different countries. Taking advantage of the acquired experience by the project underway in Mali, the value added of the regional cell will be in the :

   • Reduction in the number of international consultancies needed by national pilot projects,   especially on methodological issues (eg. management system, contract aspects, follow up/evaluation). Adaptation of the methodologies and tools developed and utilized in Mali will be made on a case by case basis by national projects, with the assistance of the cell.

   • Economies of scale for training activities, 

   • Reduction in the time required for the formulation, approval and the implementation of national projects.- Bring in a client approach to increase the satisfaction of governments interested in the platform, and thus, contribute to a better image of UNDP.

5. Assist for the mobilization of resources, based on the results of pilot experiences, and using the network of partners showing an interest for the platform.

The Regional Cell offers its expertise and provides the tools and competences that have been developed in Mali. The receiving partner and/or project finances the training costs as well as the cost for installing the first platform. The total contribution required is US$ 21,000 but it can be shared among several projects that would be interested to participate in the implementation of a pilot platform experience.

Contacts

For more information, please contact Laurent Coche, 
Coordinator of the Regional Cell, at the following  address :

UNDP Mali, BP 120, Bamako, Mali
Tel: 223-22 01 81 / Fax: 223-22 62 98 / Cell : 223 75 08 04  
E-mail :ptf@ptfm.net