Project profile — Child Protection in Mali

• Mali (100.00%)

• Education policy and administrative management:
Education policy and administrative management (11110) (18.30%)
Teacher training (11130) (18.30%)
• Basic Health: Basic health care (12220) (8.30%)
• Human rights:
Human rights (15160) (21.49%)
Ending violence against women and girls (15180) (15.31%)
• Other Social Infrastructure And Services: Social/welfare services (16010) (18.30%)

• Gender equality (significant objective)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (significant objective)
• Participatory development and good governance (significant objective)
• Trade development (not targeted)
• Biodiversity (not targeted)
• Climate change mitigation (not targeted)
• Climate Change Adaptation (not targeted)
• Urban issues (not targeted)
• Desertification (not targeted)
• Children's issues (principal objective)
• Youth Issues (principal objective)
• Disability (not targeted)
• Indigenous Issues (not targeted)
• ICT as a tool for development (not targeted)
• Nutrition (not targeted)
• Disaster Risk Reduction(DRR) (not targeted)

The project aims to improve the protection and well-being of more than 70,000 of the most vulnerable children in the Kayes, Mopti and Sikasso regions. It seeks to improve the effectiveness of child protection systems in more than 200 communities and to increase the capacity of decision-makers and local actors to ensure better respect for children's rights. The project places particular emphasis on children affected by conflict and harmful traditional practices such as early marriage, difficult working conditions in traditional gold mines and begging. Project activities include: (1) training 6,000 stakeholders (police, judges, teachers, etc.) in the use of the Child Protection Information System; (2) training of more than 1,000 decision-makers and community leaders on the importance of child protection and the risks associated with harmful practices and exploitation, particularly those targeting girls; (3) training of 600 community instructors (50% of whom are women) and 300 teachers to help children better express their needs and make decisions about the choices that affect them; (4) providing school supplies to 6,000 children, as well as rehabilitating 100 classrooms, 25 play spaces and 3 buildings (taking into account the specific needs of girls) to promote better access to basic social services; and (5) strengthening local structures for psychosocial and recreational support services through sport and play for the rehabilitation, reintegration and guidance of children.

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) increased effectiveness of the child protection system to create a respectful and enjoyable environment that supports children’s rights. This concerns, in particular, girls in the districts of Kayes, Sikasso and Mopti; (2) increased community capacity to ensure better protection of children, specifically girls, against harmful practices that occur during and after crises in the Kayes, Sikasso and Mopti regions; and (3) increased capacity of basic social services, as well as sustainable rehabilitation and reintegration measures. Beneficiaries are crisis-affected children and victims of harmful practices, particularly girls, in the Kayes, Sikasso and Mopti regions.

Results achieved at the end of the project (July 2021) include: (1) strengthened operational capacities for 39 local technical services and 23 partner communities in charge of child protection, and 200 village prevention and warning committees created and strengthened; (2) 100 round tables established for exchanging and sharing experiences, good practices, and lessons learned in support of child protection; (3) trained 1,218 formal and non-formal actors (572 women) in violence, abuse, exploitation, and negligence prevention cases, as well as 523 child protection actors (228 women) trained on the communes’ emergency response plan to protect vulnerable children, particularly girls; (4) 1,705 local decision-makers (876 women) built their capacity on combating harmful practices and child exploitation, particularly girls, including 975 awareness-raising events conducted on eliminating child marriage and female genital mutilation and cutting, for the benefit of the 200,100 community members, including women, children, and girls in attendance; (5) organized 700 sport and play activities focusing on child protection and children's rights for the benefit of 101,296 community members (46,146 women) in attendance; (6) trained 649 teachers (325 women) in play-based and child-centred learning to reach and retain crisis-affected children and those affected by harmful practices, particularly girls; (7) 1,175 children (531 girls) removed from gold-panning sites and supported to facilitate their return to the formal education system and socio-economic reintegration, including 272 young people (163 girls) trained in vocational trades and 160 young people (112 girls) supported in youth entrepreneurship; and (8) trained 600 community volunteers (300 women) and 69 trainers (27 women) in holistic child development resources, especially for girls.

• Proactive disclosure