ICT in Mali
Where are we now?
Impact & lessons learned
IICD in Mali

Since obtaining independence from France in 1960, the people of Mali have had to contend with rebellions, droughts, one coup, and twenty-three years of military dictatorship. This combined with widespread poverty, high illiteracy levels, and a low life expectancy, has made Mali one of least developed countries in the world. Yet, despite these hardships, Mali’s has seen some positive developments in the last decade: steady economic growth, a democratically-elected civilian government committed to decentralisation, and a respite from border conflicts.

ICT in Mali

By the turn of the century, the Malian president Alpha Konaré was one of the early protagonists of giving a high priority to ICT4D and it looked like Mali would become an eager implementer of ICT4D projects in Africa. But the harsh realities of daily life in one of the poorest countries of the world (ranking 5th from bottom on the Human Development Index) have somewhat cooled down the high expectations that were raised during the international conference Bamako 2000.

Lack of infrastructure, a small pool of human resources, low institutional capacity, low levels of private foreign investments and huge geographical distances have had a negative impact on the blossoming of a nation wide initiative in this field. Although it is very challenging to achieve results in Mali, successful implementation has an enormous impact, simply because there was nothing resembling an information infrastructure before.

Where are we now?

In the last year, the Mali Country Programme made remarkable progress, thanks to a well-integrated approach to the whole programme. This integrated approach has clearly paid off – activities and undertakings in the separate programmes were more interrelated and mutually reinforcing than before, and more coherence was built into the country programme as a whole.

Despite many impeding factors, the IICD Mali Country Programme is currently in full expansion. Projects in the Livelihoods/Agriculture sector are in formulation and implementation, whilst projects in the health sector are already entering a stage where integration into sector wide policies and institutions seems realistic and imminent. This culmination of projects is a sign that the Mali Country Programme will soon be ready to move into the next phase of its development, and the consolidation of the existing activities. Work can then also begin on interpreting and disseminating valuable data and insights gained through the various projects and other activities.

Impact & lessons learned

Amongst recent successes, the country programme managed to realise its main objectives of increasing the number of projects in the Agricultural sector, while building a stronger basis in the Health sector. The continued integration of projects and process within the health sector resulted in a stronger uptake of budget lines for ICT in the hospital budgets, but did not yet yield direct results for IICD-supported projects.

Alongside the successes, there are areas that still require more attention. The functioning of the Togunet network was regularly hampered by a failing governing body. In Mali, there is a general lack of capacity. To achieve success the country programme needs to identify and work with good and trustworthy enabling partners.

In the livelihoods sector it is still too early to obtain results about the impact of the programme. In contrast, ICT-enabled projects in the health sector are seeing good results, and Mali is the first (west) African country to use e-health. Mali was also the initiator of RAFT (Francophone African Network for Telemedicine), a network on ICT and health services.

Telecentres turned out to be quite challenging, and they proved sustainable in rural areas only if a wide variety of other services were offered alongside access to the internet. Additional services could be printing or copying documents. Shared connectivity is one solution to solve the lack of connectivity.

IICD in Mali

IICD first came into contact with Mali in 1999, when the former President of Mali requested our help in setting up hundreds of telecentres in the newly created community centres, as part of a decentralisation process.

Currently the Mali Country Programme is focussed on creating and improving livelihood opportunities, especially in agriculture. In the health sector, we are supporting projects that are designed to improve the quality of provided services. Whilst slow progress is being made in the education sector, the Global Teenager Project is a vehicle for improving the ICT skills of students and teachers.

Addressing Mali’s ICT needs

In the health sector, ICT-enabled solutions are needed for diagnostic procedures (sending x-rays and find medical information), and exchanging information between hospitals. In education, projects like the Global Teenager Project are used to improve the ICT skills of students. In livelihoods, ICT enables better access to new markets through the internet, access to market price information and information on new production methods.

Mali’s communication and exchange of information between the major actors in the governance and development process are very limited or non-existent. One solution to this problem is the establishment of telecentres in rural areas to give access to ICT and the internet.

ICT in projects

With regard to projects, IICD has brought local stakeholders from three sectors (education, health, and livelihood opportunities in agriculture) to the discussion table to find ways in which ICT applications could enhance their respective sectors. As a result, nine projects are now being implemented and three more are in formulation.

Health

ICT can make a world of difference in the health sector, particularly in countries where there are few qualified physicians and health expenditure is generally low, like in Mali. In Mali, the IKON telemedicine project connects doctors in three regional hospitals with trained radiologists and specialised doctors located in the main hospital of Bamako, who can help them to make better diagnoses and suggest the best course of treatment.

Governance

The IICD supported project ‘Strategy to set-up 701 municipal telecentres to make decentralisation effective’ is focused on bring ICTs to urban areas. The strategy emphasises that the local community takes the initiative to establish a telecentre, and to define its basic functionality's. Possible uses include email and voice messaging, secretarial services (e.g. writing letters or filling in forms), unformation exchange between councillors and the public, and support services to councillors and the administration.

Developing Capacity

Three Bamako-based training partners are developing a customised capacity development programme to address local ICT training needs. Currently, the Capacity Development programme is focussing on training end-users to acquire basic ICT-skills. There is also a need for training in the use of multi-media and (for members of the network) e-facilitation skills for knowledge sharing (including how to make effective use of Dgroups).

Establishing networks

Knowledge sharing initiatives are spearheaded by TOGUNET, Mali's first officially recognized ICT4D knowledge sharing platform. Established in 2003, ToguNet is the National ICT for Development Network in Mali. ToguNet is a multi-stakeholder (member-based) network, led by a Coordinating Committee. The network is currently focussing on awareness creation activities, and further developing lobbying and advocacy activities. ToguNet has established an ICT for Development website Mali-NTIC, a discussion list, and a newsletter (E-kunafoni).

Participating in policy process

The Mali Country Programme is still in the process of being expanded, and policy-influencing processes will probably not begin until the end of 2007. However, thanks to the success of the IKON project IICD was invited by the Ministry of Health to help it formulate an ICT policy for the health sector.

IICD is working with ToguNet to assist in integrating process at the national level in the health sector, and IICD supported projects are being positioned as centres of expertise in ICT for Health to the Ministry of Health. As well as advising and supporting this process, ToguNet continues to raise awareness at the regional level amongst Regional Directors and relevant Health professionals on the most relevant ICT applications to share content in their region.

Mali partners

The long-term aim is to identify suitable training partners in towns all over Mali to deliver ad hoc ICT training on demand. IICD already has several key partners in Mali, addressing capacity development (training initiatives) and knowledge sharing.

TOGUNET, Mali's first official and national ICT4D knowledge sharing network, is producing topical newsletters, organising seminars and has its own e-discussion list and website at http://www.mali-ntic.com/.

IICD also works closely with a broad cross-section of other organisations in Mali, including several project partners and a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) partner, the SEC-Mali consultancy bureau.

Enforcement and development of capacities within projects in implementation remains a priority in Mali. To this end, IICD works with two private enterprise partners to deliver capacity development activities in Mali. Afribone focuses on Internet Service Provision (ISP), and IDC has created small training centre in Bamako (financially supported by IICD) and offers consultancy and support for project formulation.

Use the Search on the right to search for partners in Mali.