25 August 2005
Yangasso
Yangasso Area Development Programme (ADP) comprises 80 villages in the Bla District of Mali’s Segou Region. The population of the area is 49,000, made up of Bambara, Minyanka, Bozo and Fulani ethnic groups.
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Interesting facts
- It is customary for members of villages in Mali to have only one or two family names. Because of this, and the popularity of certain first names, it is common for several children to have the same name.
- Adult illiteracy means an exact date of birth is not necessarily recorded. Instead families may base it on the season of a person’s birth.
- Few children in West Africa have birth certificates.
- In Mali the age of school enrolment is nine years old.
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Education
Not all of Yangasso’s children are able to attend school. Some live too far away from a school while others cannot gain a place in the overcrowded state schools. Amongst adults the literacy rate is only 13 per cent.
Yangasso ADP helps build classrooms, supplies study and teaching materials, trains teachers, and upskills management teams. Literacy teachers trained by the ADP run literacy classes for adults (especially women) and children.
Health
Maternal and infant mortality rates are high in Yangasso ADP. Nearly 50 per cent of children suffer from some form of malnutrition.
The ADP trains community health workers and birth attendants, promotes the pre-natal care and works to decrease the number of girls undergoing female genital mutilation (also known as female circumcision – this involves the removal of some of a girl’s genitalia). World Vision educates mothers about the importance of hygiene, nutrition, immunisation and oral rehydration for those with diarrhoea.
As levels of HIV/AIDS increase worldwide, Yangasso ADP promotes awareness, prevention and care for those who live with HIV/AIDS.
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 Yangasso ADP
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Water
Water is scarce and existing wells are often dry or crumbling. Water conservation is an important part of ADP activities.
Yangasso ADP works with the community to build and repair wells. It trains water committees to chlorinate water, and repair and maintain pumps.
Agriculture
Most people in Yangasso ADP are subsistence farmers, growing sorghum, millet, corn, rice, beans, peanuts and chillies. Crop yields are low and many households are short of food for two months a year.
Yangasso ADP supplies improved seeds, holds workshops in improved agricultural methods, including composting, and trains farmers to grow vegetables or raise poultry.
The ADP forms disaster mitigation committees to train farmers to prevent and cope with disasters such as droughts and insect invasions.
Conservation
On average each household in the ADP cuts seven donkey carts of firewood a year (each carries as much as a small trailer), but plants only three trees. Few households leave fields fallow. Consequently, the soil is heavily eroded and nutrient-deficient.
Communities are taught about improved stoves and alternative fuel. Agro-forestry nurseries are set up and people are taught to grow seedlings, plant nitrogen-fixing trees and cultivate mixed crops.
Income generation
During the dry season, men earn an income from craftwork, cattle fattening or small-scale businesses. However, many must migrate to other areas in search of work.
In order to increase household incomes, the ADP promotes women’s income-earning activities, including gardening, soap making and sewing. Women form economic associations to access credit and learn bookkeeping skills. In 2000, World Vision opened a community-operated bank which provides loans in Yangasso.
Community leadership
Since the early 1990s, Mali’s Government has adopted a policy of decentralisation – transferring authority for education, health, transport and water to local ‘communes’. Yangasso ADP is made up of five communes.
The ADP trains commune representatives in management skills and promotes gender equity in these groups. It supplies office equipment to improve the quality and sustainability of local government administration.
Sustainable development
World Vision and the people of Yangasso envisage that by 2011 the community’s capacity to access resources for ongoing development will be at a level that no longer requires World Vision assistance. We will keep you updated on their progress.
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