Mali

Basic Information

• Supporting: 7,570 girls
• Target areas of assistance: Gao, Timbuktu and Kidal
• Partners: Aide à l'Enfant du Désert et du Sahel (AEDS, in Kidal), Association Malienne pour la Surive au Sahel (AMSS, in Timbuktu), and Sahel Etudes Actions pour le Développement (SEAD, in Gao).
• School year calendar: October - July

Program Overview

Mentors

There are over 200 mentors in Mali. Through their General Assemblies, every school chooses resource people who are educated and respected by the community. The mentors work closely with the school directors, teachers and the mothers associations (AMEs) to help monitor and supervise study groups at home and raise awareness about decreasing girls' domestic work. They also help coordinate role model visits. AMEs in Mali play a very important role in the organization and implementation of mentoring activities.

The Mali NGOs helped communities organize regional girls' education days at which they raise awareness about the importance of girls' education, gender equity, and health and hygiene. The communities have also actively monitored the girls at home and in school throughout the year. They have also participated in sensitization sessions on girls' education and HIV/AIDS as well. SEAD reported that in Gao, the local radio stations have begun transmitting messages about the importance of girls' education.

Program Update

In Year 1 of the program, the AGSP in Mali was funded by USAID/Mali and managed by World Education in Mali, through its Improved Quality of Education in Mali program. The AGSP provided 5,000 scholarships to girls in primary school in Gao, Timbuktu and Kidal through NGOs SEAD, AMSS and AEDS respectively.

In Year 2, the AGSP in Mali was officially integrated into the regional program on October 1, 2005 and activities following this date have been overseen by in-country consultant, Bibata Dicko and managed from World Education in Boston.

Scholars are selected through a transparent process which increases accountability and inclusiveness. In Year 1, AGSP schools were selected as those which were implicated in the AQEE program, the other education program that World Education manages in Mali and which includes the three AGSP regions in the North. All girls in the 4th, 5th and 6th grades in those schools were selected to receive scholarships in Year 1.

In Year 2, although the program was integrated into the regional AGSP program with funding from USAID/Washington, World Education and USAID wanted to maintain consistency with the prior year and therefore used the same selection process. The 4th and 5th grade scholars from Year 1 were selected to receive scholarships as 5th and 6th graders, and new 4th grade girls in the target schools were chosen as well. However, AGSP targeted additional girls in Year 2. Because the projected number of girls surpassed the number currently enrolled in schools that are located in both AGSP and AQEE target zones, it was necessary to identify additional schools. Our NGO partners worked closely with the Ministry of Education — specifically representatives from the Centre d'Amination Pédagogique (CAP) — to identify schools most in need in the three regions. Specifically, they chose schools that have easy access, have classes at least through 4th grade, have a weak enrollment rate, as well as have weak results.

In Year 3, implementing partners have again increased the number of beneficiaries and are serving 7,570 girls this school year. The scholarships are comprised of school fees, school supplies, books, uniforms, a backpack, a hurricane lamp, and shoes.