Country Strategy
WFP’s strategy in Mali for 2015 – 2017 aims to reduce food insecurity and under-nutrition, progressing towards the goals of the global ‘Zero Hunger’ Challenge. Strategic priorities support the Government’s long term objectives of sustainable development, food and nutrition security. Given the volatile context in Mali, the first priority is to save lives and protect livelihoods in an emergency context. At the same time, as the situation allows, WFP is stepping up activities to rebuild livelihoods and strengthen the preparedness and response capacity of communities to future shocks. Safety nets for education and nutrition will be supported. WFP has been present in Mali since 1964
Summary of WFP assistance:
Under the three-year Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation (PRRO) launched in January 2015 to respond to the complex crisis in Mali, WFP is assisting up to 1.1 million beneficiaries this year through targeted distributions (food and cash), specialized nutritional products, and blanket and targeted supplementary feeding programmes for children and pregnant and nursing women. Asset promotion supports recovery of local communities, and local purchases are increasing market access for smallholder farmers. Nutritious fortified foods are provided as a safety net for vulnerable schoolchildren to address short term food insecurity and reduce micronutrient deficiencies. The P4P pilot was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for a fifth and final year to support the marketing capacities of 17 farmers’ organizations, with a strong gender component. The project is not only increasing smallholder farmers’ productivity and income but is also reducing producer losses of food.
The Country Programme (CP) ended in December 2015. It assisted 106,921 beneficiaries through a pilot stunting prevention project focused on maternal and child health and nutrition within the first 1000 days; it collaborated with MSF to support operational research on an integrated health and nutrition prevention strategy that used Nutributter and it created resilience activities to measure their impact on communities’ food security and livelihoods. These programmes will be transferred to the PRRO on 1 January 2016.
Both the PRRO and the CP are aligned with Strategic Objectives 1, 2 and 4, Sustainable Development Goal 2, the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (2015–2019) and national policies and programmes.