World Education Conflict Prevention and Recovery Efforts Featured on Mali TV

L’Office du Radio et Television du Mali recently featured the Baani Batto Activity, implemented by World Education in partnership with the local NGO Aide a l’Enfant du désert et du Sahel (AEDS). On June 9, 2022, a press conference to launch the project was held in the Gao region of Mali, one of three regions where the project will be implemented. The Baani Batto Activity, worth 300 million West African CAF or nearly $600,000 USD, is part of USAID’s Conflict Recovery and Prevention program and will support the needs of nine conflict-affected communities across three regions: Gao, Menaka, and Kidal. 

Northern Mali has experienced decades of conflict resulting from political instability and the presence of armed groups. As a result, social cohesion remains fragmented, there is an absence of trust and meaningful communication between communities and local authorities. 

Through the Baani Batto Activity, World Education is ensuring that communities, local NGOs, and other local actors have the tools and organizational structures to address future conflict. The Activity’s name comes from the Songhay phrase meaning “a space for peace.” It convenes groups and individuals for productive dialogue to identify shared goals. The program aims to make reconciliation processes stronger at the local level.

The press conference held in the Gao region presented the project alongside Mamadou Ba, Mayor of the Government of Gao. Ba explained that the project is welcomed in the context of a security situation that has degraded since the country’s coup in 2012. He considers the objectives of the project to “draw a straight line” to the national transition to peace and reconciliation. World Education and AEDS staff presented the objectives, interventions, partners, and beneficiaries of the project. The project will improve social cohesion in the country while supporting local authorities in the regions where it is implemented.