Koro, Mali

Furniture improves children's learning environment.

Water

• Established six new water and sanitation management committees. The committees learn how to avoid water-borne diseases and improve household sanitation. They promote the use of latrines within their communities, and will take responsibility for six new boreholes to be installed under World Vision’s Rural Water and Health Project.

Health

• Donated medical supplies to the Zon Community Health Centre, which provides basic health care, child immunisation and prenatal care for more than 5000 people from 12 communities.
• Held refresher training for 15 health centre workers involved in immunisation activities.
• Trained 82 teachers in hygiene and sanitation issues so they can teach their pupils about these topics. The training focused on water-borne diseases, use of latrines and protecting water wells.

Education

• Arranged refresher training for 30 community schoolteachers and 29 literacy tutors. Currently more than 730 children and adults attend literacy classes in their local language.
• Repaired four literacy centres, improving the study conditions for 170 literacy students. There are 32 literacy centres in 15 communities of Koro ADP. Each of these communities has its own literacy management committee, responsible for collecting community contributions to pay the literacy tutors. Despite the shortfall in income caused by last year’s drought, the communities have continued to support the tutors with cash or millet, showing their commitment to the literacy programme.
• Provided tables and desks for one school which was built the previous year.

Food security

• Trained 70 community representatives in disaster mitigation, so they know how to prepare for future droughts and food shortages.
• Distributed emergency food rations, targeting about 3000 families severely affected by food shortages.
• Established vegetable gardens in two communities with sufficient water resources for a gardening project. After training, the communities received seed and tools. A group of 200 people, mainly women, will tend the gardens.

Leadership development

• Arranged training for 28 leaders in developing strategies for collecting community tax. Under Mali’s system of decentralisation, communes (groups of villages) must assume responsibility for social services such as health and education. To fund these services, the commune leadership must collect taxes from the communities.