Overview

Debbo Alafia, a consortium led by MSH and the Malian nongovernmental organization Conseils et Appui pour l’Education à la Base (Advice and Support for Basic Education) worked to advance women’s and girls’ sexual and reproductive health and rights in Mali. The consortium focused on promoting family planning and preventing traditional harmful practices, including child marriage, gender-based violence, and female genital mutilation.

Funded by the Dutch Embassy in Mali, the Debbo Alafia Consortium built the capacity of 48 local public-sector and civil society implementing partners comprising 47 communes and 1,023 villages to implement innovative strategies for improving women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights and their management and administrative systems with an eye toward sustainability. Between 2014 and 2019, the consortium supported local implementing partners to expand access to counseling and family planning services, particularly among adolescents, by engaging community members in intergenerational education and outreach events. Activities included engaging youth in dance and theater, radio and television programming, town hall meetings, and school-based discussions. The consortium strengthened the regional health team’s capacity to provide medical and psychosocial support to survivors of gender-based violence at the district hospital and leveraged the influence of political and religious leaders to call for the end of harmful practices. Community outreach and advocacy activities between 2016 and 2018 resulted in 141 new villages signing an agreement to abandon the practice of female genital mutilation. During this period, the rate of child marriage also decreased from 18% to 0.8% in Mopti region.