UNICEF is requesting US$37.5 million to meet the humanitarian needs of children in Mali in 2015.
Nearly three years after its eruption, the conflict in northern Mali has an impact still felt across the country and most poignantly in Timbuktu, Gao and Kidal regions. Access to basic social services in the north remains limited in many places and non-existent in others. Due to the conflict and insecurity, there still remain over 86,000 internally displaced persons and 139,000 refugees in neighbouring countries. While efforts toward finding a political solution to the conflict in the north continue, humanitarian partners are playing a critical role in supporting lifesaving interventions through re-establishing basic social services as well as reinforcing social cohesion through peace building at the community level. The slow-onset food and nutrition crisis remains a major concern, with an estimated total of 181,000 children ages 6-59 months suffering from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) in 2015. UNICEF will continue to work with the Government on addressing the needs of malnourished children, as well as building the capacities of communities to respond to crises and reinforce their resilience against them, including natural disasters and conflict. The humanitarian situation is also marked by the threat of a further spread of the Ebola Virus Disease, cases of which were confirmed in Mali in 2014.
Humanitarian strategy
UNICEF will continue working with partners including national counterparts to improve access to and the quality of basic social services, including for populations in the north. This includes the rehabilitation of infrastructure to ensure access to safe water for 300,000 people; support for improved quality education (targeting 200,000 children) with a focus on returnees and nomadic populations; peacebuilding and mine risk education; support to survivors of Gender Based Violence (GBV) and to the Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism (MRM), in addition to mainstreaming child protection across all UNICEF sectors of intervention. UNICEF will also prioritize its response to the nutrition crisis in Mali through integrated nutrition, health, education, water, sanitation and hygiene interventions. Using innovative approaches with new technologies, UNICEF will address monitoring and reporting of nutritional information and support disaster preparedness for flooding. UNICEF humanitarian action will also keep its focus on the Ebola crisis preparedness and response through strengthening the capacity of health facilities and staff, hygiene promotion, and social mobilisation.
