A restitution workshop for the UK-funded Building Resilience and Adaptation to Climate Extremes and Disasters (BRACED) program was held in Mali from 26 to 27 October at the Azalai Salam Hotel in Bamako.
The ceremony was presided over by Mrs. Emma Davis, the Deputy Head of Mission of the British Embassy, and attended by representatives from BRACED technical and financial partners, as well as representatives of Malian National Directorates and State agencies. The main objectives of the workshop were to:
- Inform resilience actors in Mali about the Anticipation, Absorption, Adaptation, and Transformation (3A + T) framework and other resilience frameworks, and provide the actors with practical documentation of them;
- Validate the Agora 30 action plan, a platform designed to promote the synergy of various initiatives aimed at enhancing resilience to environmental risks in Mali;
- Share lessons learned and best practices of the different BRACED projects with stakeholders;
- Propose relevant and actionable recommendations for adoption by stakeholders; and
- Make a statement of intent for the implementation of the proposed recommendations.
In Mali, climate change is driving down agricultural productivity, destroying infrastructure, and increasing the rate of morbidity and mortality. Likewise, it is leading to the degradation of land, vegetation cover, biodiversity, and water resources.
Emma Davis stated, “Resilience, a globally recognized priority in the development approach, is increasingly being considered in the long-term strategy of responding to change.”
In working towards a strategy of resilience, BRACED projects in Mali, including the Blumont-implemented RIC4REC program, shared the gains, analyses, and constraints to climate change resilience they have encountered, encouraging the use of these observations and experiences to inform future policies and practices.
During the workshop, the knowledge of national stakeholders on existing climate change resilience frameworks was strengthened, and the Agora 30 resilience action plan for Mali (2017-2018) was validated. Relevant and feasible recommendations were also proposed regarding current policies and practices in Mali, including the organization of a harmonization and understanding workshop on the concepts of resilience in order to:
- Bring all stakeholders to the same level of understanding;
- Disseminate policies and already existing texts;
- Promote frameworks for consultation and exchange of experiences between actors around the promotion of lessons learned and best practices in the field of resilience; and
- Initiate and multiply advocacy actions with decision-makers to better incorporate resilience in policies.
The goal is for all actors to work in symbiosis, engaging together to achieve the common goal of climate resilience.
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