PROJECT TOPIC: COMPETITIVENESS SUPPORT PROGRAMME

PROJECT TOPIC: COMPETITIVENESS SUPPORT PROGRAMME

PROJECT TOPIC: COMPETITIVENESS SUPPORT PROGRAMME

IN WEST AFRICA – MALI

PROJECT CONTEXT:

The PACAO (Project to Support Competitiveness in West Africa) is funded by the European Union to the tune of €120 million. It aims to promote the integration into the regional and international trading system of the 15 ECOWAS countries plus Mauritania.

The overall objective of the project is to “strengthen the competitiveness of West Africa and promote the integration of countries into the regional and international trading system”.

PROJECT PRESENTATION

The Malian component – PACAO Mali – aims to improve the performance and growth of 4 selected value chains (mango, shea, bovine fattening and animal feed, horticulture). PACAO Mali’s actions pursue the specific objective n°1 of the overall PACAO and contribute to the achievement of its results, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 and 2.1: (see the contributions of PACAO Mali’s activities to each of these results in Chapter 5.2).

Outcome 1.1 National level: Competitiveness at the enterprise level is improved, in particular through the cluster approach.

Outcome 1.2 National level: Intermediary organizations in selected value chains are strengthened and the provision of services to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises is improved and expanded (quality, norms/standards, new green solutions, market access).

Outcome 1.3 Regional level: Improved regional linkages between selected value chain actors is promoted and support is provided to key regional intermediary organizations.

Result 2.1 National level: Regional policies for industrial competitiveness are implemented in the country and contribute to the creation of a business-friendly environment.

The Malian component of the project also provides for an institutional support component that will be implemented through a programme estimate, amounting to one million euros.  This component is implemented by the Ministry of Rural Development. It will be necessary to harmonize between PACAO and this institutional component, because some support such as training on Good Manufacturing Practices and Good Hygiene Practices as well as on standards can be complementary

POLITICAL CONTEXT

As defined by the Delegation of the European Union, “Mali has been marked for several years by political instability, a sharp deterioration of the social climate with multiple strikes and a complex security situation in the North, serious in the Centre and fragile in the rest of the country.

These different determinants have helped to amplify and chronicle the risks and vulnerabilities faced by populations, but also generate significant emergency assistance needs with an ever-increasing number of internally displaced persons, both in the North and in the Centre. The August 2020 coup opens an 18-month transition period that should lead to elections and allow for a return to constitutional governance by April 2022 at the latest.

The southern regions of Mali are an important economic hope for the country. Several assets must be considered as the emergence of partly structured peasant organizations, a fully paved road communication network on the main roads with a reliable overhead line between Bamako and Kayes. The deteriorating security situation is a major challenge for Mali, which does not spare the region in the south of the country, which, in addition to recurrent acts of banditry, is experiencing violent terrorist incursions. One of the challenges of the next elections will be the renewal of the regional councils and the possibility of a new regionalization (the sikasso region will eventually be divided into three distinct regions: Sikasso, Koutiala and Bougouni).

Coherence with existing policies and strategies

The European Union has validated a European Joint Programming which, based on the observation of a highly fragile Malian social contract, has identified 3 objectives to help rebuild a peaceful Mali by 2020-2024, including Priority Axis 2 – Job creation promoting the green economy, Sector 2.1 – Vocational training and integration and Sector 2.2 – Support for the private sector (including sectors)

PACAO is then part of the Strategic Framework for Economic Recovery and Sustainable Development, for the period 2019-2023 whose agenda around which the projects and programs are articulated, according to the Minister of Economy and Finance of 2019 “is that of the transformation of the economic fabric to get out of the vulnerability inherent in the almost exclusive dependence on the export of unprocessed raw materials, climatic hazards and family farming locked in a logic of self-subsistence”. The Strategic Framework for Economic Recovery and Sustainable Development (CREDD) is the reference framework for all policies and stratégies de développement au Mali, dont la Politique de Développement Industriel (PDI), la Politique Nationale de la Qualité (PNQ), la Politique Nationale du Développement du Commerce, la Stratégie Nationale de Développement de la Propriété intellectuelle, etc.