Speeches Shim
In Kodiougou village, in the south of Mali- Sikasso region, the community showed little interest in the education of their children. The involvement of parents went only as far as their children’s school enrollment. Girl’s schooling was perceived as a waste of time, because the perception was that school prevented them from doing household chores. Sitan Sangaré, mother, explains: “My life and my daily reality are a result of the fact that I am a woman and I am illiterate.”
Prematurity is one of the leading causes of newborn deaths. In Mali, 29% of neonatal deaths are due to babies born before 37 weeks of gestation. Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) is an intervention where the mother carries her baby skin-to-skin at the chest, with breastfeeding support and close monitoring by a health provider. KMC gives a chance to premature babies or those born low birth weight to survive and thrive, especially in countries where access to specialized neonatal care services are still lacking.
Antenatal care can prevent, detect and manage complications affecting the health of the mother and child throughout a woman’s pregnancy. Unfortunately, in Mali, this practice was rarely adopted in the intervention areas of the Harande Program. This is why Harande has made the promotion of maternal, infant and neonatal health one of its priorities. The combination of social behavior change communication and approaches has gradually led to positive change in target communities, such as the village of Sincarma.
In Mali, women living in rural areas face obstacles that often hinder development. Difficulties include poor access to income, high workload, low participation in decision-making, and low access to land among others. In order to address these barriers, USAID’s Harande Project implements gender-focused activities through its different program components, which has led to remarkable changes at the household and community levels. Noumoudio Diarra saw these changes in her life.
Soutoukoulé is one of the few villages in the Khouloun commune of Kayes that has not welcomed the arrival of the USAID Girls Leadership and Empowerment through Education (GLEE) Project to the region. In fact, when GLEE staff arrived in this commune—known as a place where gold mines rule above all activities—the project’s message of “girls leadership and empowerment through education" was poorly received by many villages, including Soutoukoulé. The reason was that cultural beliefs in this part of Mali assume girls should only do household tasks and be obedient to their husbands during all their life.
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