Improving education quality and access in Mali

In Northern Mali, the state of infrastructure and consequences of the crisis in 2012 still prevent a large number of children and teachers from returning to school, with young girls lagging even further behind. The project’s main objective is to reduce the gap in the coverage and quality of education provision in the short term in the Gao region.

Furthermore, local structures suffer from a lack of support and ownership, which prevents the fully decentralized management of the education system. At national level, secondary education – the vast majority of which is private and State-subsidized – suffers from the lack of a public policy tailored to the needs of the labor market.

In the Gao region, the project aims to improve the quality of education via training activities for over 200 teachers and the provision of learning materials for 8,500 students. Access to education will be improved via the construction or refurbishment of 150 classrooms, including the extension of the Gao high school. The local governance of the education system will be strengthened in 13 municipalities via training activities for school management structures, parents’ associations, principles and the decentralized services of the Ministry.

At national level, the project will build the programming, coordination and management capacities of the central and decentralized services of the education system, via training and actions to upgrade the administration’s equipment. This will allow the Ministry of National Education to design and implement a harmonized secondary education policy.

 

• Gradual return of quality public services and reduction in territorial and gender inequalities in the Gao region;
• Strengthening of social cohesion through and based on schools by promoting the involvement of communities and local actors in school management;
• Sustainable improvement in the governance and management of the education system thanks to capacity building actions.