Africa

Mali

• Des arbres et des champs contre la pauvreté au Mali

Des arbres et des champs contre la pauvreté au Mali

Project purpose: The project aims to increase and diversify the production while making optimal use of local resources. Its seeks to foster agroforestry practices and to strengthen the teaching, research and response capacity of the Institut polytechnique rural de formation et de recherche appliquée (IPR/IFRA) in agroforestry, thus ensuring that the institution is in a position to fully play a key role in this area at the regional and national levels.

Key results to date: The first year was mainly devoted to laying the foundations to implement the project and preparing the agroforestry advisory support pilot program. A number of meetings and discussions were held with the project teams' members and among the chief decision makers for the teams in each partner institution. The meetings helped to achieve a mutual understanding of the project and facilitated the completion of crucial stages for its implementation. During a brief stay in Quebec City in April 2008, the chief academic officer of the Mali's rural polytechnic institute for training and applied research (Institut polytechnique rural de formation et de recherche appliquée (IPR/IFRA)) participated in teaching and research and spoke to specialists in documentation and distance learning. He also delivered a lecture on the practice of agroforestry in the Loulikoro region in Mali. Three instructors from the IPR/IFRA began their Master's in agroforestry at Université Laval in September 2008.