Harande works in rural areas to ensure food and nutrition security for vulnerable populations, mainly women and youth.

November 2018—In Mopti region in the center of Mali, women play a very important role in terms of food and nutrition security. With the little income they get from gardening, cattle breeding, or poultry sales, women contribute to supporting the primary needs of households. However,  most of the women living in rural areas are illiterate, which negatively impacts the development of their daily income-generating activities.

As part of its program strategy, Harande—which means ‘food security’ in Fulany language—initiated six-month intensive literacy courses for youth and women to enable them to carry out financial transactions and maintain management documents for their micro-entreprise initiatives. In 2018, the project conducted literacy class for 1347 people, including 814 women.

In 2016, when the Harande Program started literacy classes in her village, Madina Nantoumé joined them. Nantoumé, who is 30 years old, is a member of the village savings and loan group of Gologou village and works with small cattle breeding and poultry. She dropped out of school after only two years of attendance because of the long distance she had to walk—20 miles from her village to school. With the arrival of Harande, Nantoumé has learned to read, write and make small calculations in her local language.

“Before I became literate I earned US dollars 10 now I can make 27, 84 weekly.” - Madina Nantoumé

Thanks to the skills and knowledge she gained, Nantoumé sees her dreams becoming true. “Even if I did not have the chance to continue my studies, I realized one of my dreams, which is to be able to read, write and manage my accounts, and all this as a result of attending the literacy courses, ” explains Nantoumé. Today she is able to pay for her three children’s school fees, take care of their health, and help her parents financially.

Begun in 2015, Harande, a five-year project using $ 45 million, which aims at improving food security , nutrition, and income of vulnerable communities, especially women and youth, in 290 villages of Mopti. Now that women are becoming literate, they are better represented in the community decision-making bodies. Nowadays, 40% of them are taking active part in the water, sanitation and hygiene committees and other community management committees in the areas covered by the project. Moreover, today a woman presides over the Gologou community development committee. Recently the village women's group requested a water point and a warehouse without asking for any help from the men. They wrote the request letter and submitted it to the project on their own.

Now a mentor herself as a result of the skills she gained, Nantoumé conducts literacy classes for other women in her village. She also coaches eight women saving groups on their income generating activities. Thanks to her coaching and knowledge sharing, 30 women have been able to grow their businesses and manage their accounts without any outside support.