Koro, Mali

Education is the basis of development.

Chief among these is the lack of classroom space or teachers for the number of children who want to enrol, as each school may serve from two to four villages.

World Vision can do little about recruiting more teachers because paying their salaries would not be sustainable. However, the Koro Area Development Programme (ADP) is assisting in other ways.

In communities with low enrolment rates, Koro ADP organises public meetings to discuss the importance of education and the reasons why parents are keeping their children at home.

These meetings often renew a community’s resolve to make education a priority. An example of this is the Sandiourou community, which decided to levy each family, whether they had children or not, to contribute to their school’s upkeep.

Often parents cannot afford school fees. World Vision assists by teaching people skills that will earn them extra income, such as how to start community gardens and grow vegetables for sale.

Many families move away from the area during times of drought, disrupting their children’s schooling. The ADP is working to ‘future proof’ communities, an example of which was a special World Vision project in Koro District in 2003.

This project, known as the Sustainable Food Security Support Project, was a joint project between World Vision and the NZ Government, through its Emergency Management and Disaster Relief fund.

It worked in 25 drought-affected Koro communities, improving disaster mitigation structures, with a focus on dealing with food shortages. World Vision established and trained village ‘early warning system committees’, distributed food relief and trained health volunteers in child nutrition. After training, the volunteers monitored children’s health, identified those who were malnourished and provided the children with protein supplements.

“It is important that we keep supporting the education sector because World Vision is a child-focused organisation and education is the basis of development,” says Koro ADP Manager, Josué Sogoba.

“Koro ADP will continue its support to primary schools, teach parents about the need for children’s schooling, and pursue organising income generating activities where possible.”