Background and challenges

Mali has faced a number of crises over the past few years—security, political, food—and the 2020 health crisis has only compounded the situation. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound effect on the country, and its indirect effects on the economy and society have the potential to be even more devastating than its direct effects.

This pandemic is taking place at a time when the health system in Mali is already weak, and therefore disruptions have greater consequences. Today, 23% of the country’s health care structures are not operational, and many of the needs of most at-risk populations are not being met because of poor access to basic health services.

At the same time, the sector is confronted with other health urgencies such as measles and malaria.

Objectives

In this situation, the priority is increasing the resilience and the ability of community health infrastructures, including maternity units, to respond—both in terms of accommodation and the basic services offered.

A rapid review of data collected from the technical teams and development partners working in the region allowed us to bring into focus three main areas of action:

• Infrastructures with highly variable access to power, directly influencing the quality of the first level of care offered: maternity units without lighting, health care centers with rudimentary lighting, little available power services (to supply birthing lamps , heating, and water). The nonoperational condition of these existing power systems has been recorded, underscoring the necessity of durable solutions to manage and maintain them.
• Potable water supply is often inexistent in health care centers as few are equipped with supply lines on site, requiring staff and patient provision to be assured through pumps or village wells outside the confines of the centers, posing a problem for transport, sanitation and the potential spread of diseases.

These two aspects weigh heavily on the ability of community health centers and maternity units to provide the services required by the population.

The project therefore targets actions that will have quick, measurable impacts:

• to improve the conditions for patient intake and care administration at community health care centers and maternity units by providing better access to basic utilities (water and power)
• to improve medical team working conditions
• to diversify the types of care available at community health care centers and maternity units
• to treat 140,000 patients per year at the 13 health care centers and maternity units in the project’s target locations, of which 55% are women.
• to positively impact the population base of 240,000 people

Partners

The project is being conducted in keeping with existing partnerships (local authorities, decentralized technical teams) and the actions initiated in response to the COVID-19 crisis on other projects currently in progress.

As needed, Geres will call upon partner organizations which are experts in the fields of water and health, to provide a methodological perspective on the actions. It will rely on partnership with local federations of community health associations for each sphere of intervention, in order to guarantee consistency with the actions in progress.

CONTEXT AND CHALLENGES

In Africa, where energy is becoming increasingly expensive and often acts as a brake on rural development, short biofuel supply chains are seen as an opportunity to develop provision of local energy services and improve people’s living conditions.

The ALTERRE project, run in Mali until 2015, promoted the sustainable development of short biofuel supply chains and local energy services in the south-east of the country. It aimed to establish a production and processing facility for Jatropha seed, enabling local economic operators to replace diesel completely or partially with Jatropha Pure Vegetable Oil (PVO) in their production processes.

The project began work in 2008 in three distinct territories: Yorosso municipality, Koury municipality and 13 villages spread across Konseguela and Diedougou municipalities. A short Jatropha-based biofuel supply chain was set up in each territory.

An integrated support approach

Driving the establishment of a new field such as Jatropha production means paying special attention to the performance of each link in the value chain and the chain as a whole.

The project focused its support on five key areas:

• Key area 1:  Production of Jatropha seeds, scaled to meet the needs of the target territory. The project helped volunteer farmers to grow this new crop.
• Key area 2: Extraction of Jatropha oil. The project supported the installation of local entrepreneurs and strengthening of their technical and managerial capacity.
• Key area 3: Use of the oil in motors. The project finalized the technical requirements for use and undertook capacity-building for operators to ensure that the oil was used under appropriate conditions.
• Key area 4: Organizing the sector. To ensure long-term sustainability, the project helped the various stakeholder groups to agree and organize their operating model.
• Key area 5: Monitoring, evaluation and capitalization. The project has been carefully monitored and played a part in establishing technical and economic benchmarks for short Jatropha-based farmer biofuel supply chains.

Partners

Financial partners

• Union européenne (Facilité Energie II)
• FFEM (Fonds Français pour l’Environnement Mondial)
• ADEME (Agence de l’environnement et de la maîtrise
• European Union (Energy II Facility)
• FFEM (Fonds Français pour l’Environnement Mondial) French Global Environment Facility
• ADEME (Agence de l’environnement et de la maîtrise de l’énergie) Environment and Energy Management Agency
• Agentschaap NL – Daey Ouwens Fund
• TATE
• Prince Albert II de Monaco Foundation
• Veolia Environment Foundation

Technical partners

• IRAM (Institut de Recherches et d’Applications desIRAM (Institut de Recherches et d’Applications des Méthodes de développement) Institute for research and application of development methods
• AMEDD (Association Malienne pour l’Eveil au Développement Durable) Malian sustainable development association
• ANADEB (Agence Nationale de Développement des Biocarburants) National biofuel development agency

WATCH THE PROJECT VIDEO

Jatropha means energy

Context and challenges

Geres and its local partners (local authorities and farmer organizations) have launched various initiatives in response to the energy needs of stakeholders in the territory, offering cost-effective, sustainable alternatives.

These experiences gave rise to the concept of the Green Business Areas, an integrated solution supplying electricity to small enterprises, co-operatives and rural services and acting as a rural business accelerator.

In energy-poor areas of the Sahel like Mali, where the rate of rural electrification rarely exceeds 20%, decentralized energy solutions (micro power stations, mini-grids) can, by promoting local processing, offer alternative ways of supporting the development of both basic services and agricultural and craft value chains.

Yet in environments where education systems are lacking, where tensions, social inequalities and youth under-employment are rife, access to electricity cannot on its own systematically generate inclusive economic development.

By establishing a global ecosystem conducive to the development of rural entrepreneurship, the GBA can then serve as a development tool for rural territories, creating value and jobs.

Electricity production is based on locally available renewable energy sources, which primarily means solar in the Sahelian zone. Sized according to the needs of rural businesses, the GBA provides an attractive technical and economic model for the private sector and rural electrification operators.

Objectives and solutions

The project makes an active contribution to Geres scaling up strategy in the rollout of decentralized solutions.

It focuses on four key operational priorities:

1. Increasing renewable energy production in rural territories according to the needs of productive users of energy, through support for decentralized clean energy solutions, particularly Green Business Areas, promoting sustainable management and governance systems.

2. Supporting very small rural enterprises and community groups to maximize the economic (added value, jobs) and social (food security, decent work, inclusion) benefits of energy access and develop the local economic fabric.

3. Establishing the conditions for ongoing management of the GBAs by setting up a social enterprise and mobilizing various funding sources.

4. Documenting and circulating the project results to the stakeholders and disseminating the lessons learned and benefits at local, regional and national level to stimulate wider-scale replication.

In the long run, the project’s goals include:

• 8 Green Business Areas operating in the three project regions
• 80 MWh/year produced from renewable energy sources and consumed by rural businesses
• 52 MWh/year for pumps in the vegetable production sector
• 120 Very Small Enterprises accessing high-quality electricity 24/7
• 16 vegetable production schemes with improved water pumping facilities
• 250 direct jobs created and 750 indirect jobs consolidated
• Turnover of at least €500,000 generated by the VSEs (in year 3)
• 250 artisans and traders with access to decent working conditions
• 1 social enterprise set up to manage and develop the new GBAs

THe activities of Konseguela

The construction of the Moro Moro GBA

The technical partners

Activities are carried out by Geres Mali in partnership with AMEDD – Association Malienne pour l’Eveil au Développement Durable [Malian sustainable development association], the national  State agencies (AMADER, ANADEB, AER) and technical partners (Association la Voûte Nubienne, Kafo Jiginew, etc).

Context and challenges

Biomass is the leading source of domestic energy in West Africa (80% in Mali). Moreover, this sub-Saharan region is amongst those most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

Clean technology projects contribute to economic development and have significant social spin-offs. They also encourage reductions in wood and charcoal consumption, thereby limiting deforestation and CO² emissions.

Objectives and proposed solutions

Geres was keen to develop an innovative approach using carbon finance as a vehicle to disseminate clean technology more widely and maximize the social, economic and environmental benefits. In 2010, the CEnAO – Climate and Energy in West Africa –programme was launched, comprising two components designed to:

• professionalize and develop the domestic energy sector (Sewa improved stoves and renewable fuel sources)
• facilitate scaling up of projects by means of carbon finance.

By placing the private sector at the heart of the initiative, Geres was able to ensure the continuity of the project, which aimed to play a part in the fight against climate change by encouraging low-carbon, climate-resilient development in West Africa.

See the project on video

WEB DOC WASA: Spotlight on a sustainable cooker

The partners

Technical partners

• AMADER – Agence malienne pour le développement de l’énergie domestique et de l’électrification rurale [Malian domestic energy and rural electrification agency]
• CNESOLER – Centre National de l’Energie Solaire et des Energies Renouvelables [National Solar Power and Renewable Energy Centre]
• AFOVERT company
• GIE PFA – Groupement d’Intérêt Economique Projet Foyers Améliorés [Economic Interest Group, Improved Stove Project]
• Planète Bois
• Nexus – Carbon for Development

Financial partners

• AFD – Agence Française de Développement [French Development Agency]
• ADEME – Agence de l’Environnement et de la Maîtrise de l’Énergie [Environment and Energy Management Agency]
• Prince Albert II de Monaco Foundation
• Lord Michelham of Hellingly Foundation