Project profile — Public Accountability and Women’s Participation in Mali

• Mali (100.00%)

• Anti-corruption organisations and institutions:
Anti-corruption organisations and institutions (15113) (34.00%)
Democratic participation and civil society (15150) (33.00%)
Women's rights organisations and movements, and government institutions (15170) (33.00%)

• Gender equality (significant objective)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (not targeted)
• Participatory development and good governance (principal 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 (not targeted)
• Youth Issues (not targeted)
• Indigenous Issues (not targeted)
• Disability (not targeted)
• ICT as a tool for development (not targeted)
• Disaster Risk Reduction(DRR) (not targeted)
• Nutrition (not targeted)

This project seeks to improve accountability in Mali’s public sector by engaging citizens, especially women, to create responsible, transparent and inclusive governance. At the national level, large amounts of public revenue are still poorly managed, which negatively affects the accessibility and quality of government services for citizens, particularly women and girls. Also, civil society, including women’s organizations, is seldom included in public accountability. Project activities include the following: (1) building the capacity of the Office of the Auditor General of Mali (BVGM) to produce and disseminate audit reports that take gender equality into account; (2) providing support to the Ministry of Justice in its efforts to fight fraud and corruption; (3) building the capacity of civil society organizations, particularly women’s organizations, to use reports and recommendations from the BVGM and the Ministry of Justice to defend their rights and promote more responsible and inclusive governance.

The expected results for this project include the following: (1) better monitoring of the implementation of policies and programs promoting gender equality in Mali; (2) enhanced anti corruption practices that incorporate the impact on women’s empowerment; (3) increased engagement of civil society, especially women, in promoting good governance.

Results achieved as of the end of the project (March 2022) include: (1) strengthened capacity and visibility of the Office of the Auditor General of Mali (BVGM) in terms of its strategic planning and specifically the inclusion of gender in its audits, which has contributed to strengthening the BVGM in its function of overseeing gender policies and programmes in Mali; (2) the staff of the Economic and Financial Poles from the Ministry of Justice are equipped to prosecute those responsible for criminal offences in the area of public finance, and sensitised on the integration of a gender perspective in their work; (3) a multi-actor framework for the fight against corruption is set up to strengthen anti-corruption practices in Mali bringing together actors from internal control, the justice sector and civil society; (4) more than 200 women leaders or members of Citizen Watch Committees have improved their advocacy and leadership skills, with a view to increasing the mobilisation of civil society, and in particular women, for the promotion of good governance at the local and national levels; and (5) more than 54,600 members of civil society, 51% of whom are women, have been trained on the gender-specific manifestations of corruption and their impact on women's access to basic social services. These results contribute to the improvement of inclusive and accountable governance in Mali and, ultimately, to the improvement of the socio-economic well-being of women and girls through the delivery of public services in Mali.

• Proactive disclosure