Welcome to the USAID Mali Web Site!
by Alexander Newton - USAID -
June 11, 2008
Welcome to the USAID/Mali website. Since 1961 when USAID started its first program in Mali, the Mission has been working collaboratively with the Government of Mali to help improve the lives of Malians. The bad news is that health conditions and the level of educational attainment, while improving, remain very low, and approximately 60% of the people live on the equivalent of US$1 or less. For these reasons, Mali continues to be one of the least developed countries in the world according to the UN’s “Human Development Index”.
The good news is that a lot of things have been going right for Mali, all of which give signs that the lives of many citizens are slowly beginning to improve. Since holding its first democratic election in 1992, Mali has become one of the most enlightened democracies in all of Africa and for years has been rated “free” by Freedom House. In 2004, due largely to USAID assistance, women were significantly represented on the ballot for the first time in history. The press is free, and the number of private radio stations, with USAID assistance, has grown over the past 16 years from three to over 200, the most in Africa, covering 90% of the population. And thanks to USAID’s on-going program supporting community learning centers, more and more of them are now deriving much of their news from the internet and disseminating useful information on health, HIV/AIDS prevention, civic news, conflict resolution, etc. The HIV/AIDS infection rate is now down to 1.3%, almost certainly due in part to the assistance of USAID, the leading donor in this critical area. In addition, USAID/Mali is now spending some $15 million annually under the President’s Malaria Initiative attacking malaria, the major cause of infant deaths.
On the economic front, the economy has been growing at a rate of about 5% annually for a number of years, in large part due to enlightened policies encouraged by USAID, such as the dismantling of many large state enterprises starting years ago, the establishment of a sound country-wide food security program, and the introduction of new varieties of rice and, more recently, wheat and sorghum. Under USAID’s new IICEM project, we are working with small entrepreneurs and the government to develop exports markets in new areas such as mangoes where exports, mostly to Europe, have doubled. As a result, Mali has become essentially self-sufficient in food production. With the recent worldwide increase in food prices – a good thing for Malian farmers - and the stimulus this may give to production, it could quickly become a net exporter of cereals to the region.
Largely because of the tremendous strides the country has made toward ruling justly, promoting economic freedom and investing in its people, Mali was selected as a Millennium Challenge Account eligible country. This $461 million program is in its early stages and will result in the development of a new 15,000-hectare irrigated rice zone and major improvements to the Bamako airport, permitting more extensive air freighting of produce to foreign markets. In short, Mali is on the right track. As the Director for USAID/Mali, which is now located in its beautiful offices at the new Embassy compound, I assure you that we will continue our passionate fight against the injustice of extreme poverty. I also hope you find this website useful, and if there are ways that we can make it more useful to you, please let us know.
Alex Newton
Mission Director USAID Mali
Last updated: Monday, October 20, 2008