Human Security adopts a people-centered approach to protect individuals by promoting peace and a holistic understanding of security. This project partners with NGOs and CSOs to assess how new policies can enhance human security in Mali.

The project, Learning from Design in Mali: A Critical Review and M&E; Framework for the CSO-led Human Security Strategy 2014-2015, is a 6-month project aimed at reviewing, monitoring and evaluating a framework for human security in Mali.

Background

Since January 2012, Mali has suffered armed conflict between government forces and Tuareg rebels seeking independence in Northern Mali. The deteriorating security situation has prompted civil society organizations to critically reassess their peacebuilding efforts and initiate measures which complement a human security strategy. However, all these different initiatives – and therefore actors, approaches and perspectives – have narrowed the space available for effectively mobilizing the relevant stakeholders.

In 2014 and 2015, the West African Network for Peacebuilding in Mali (WANEP-Mali) held consultations with Malian civil society organisations (CSOs) in every region of Mali, resulting in a participatory approach to designing a human security strategy.

Goals

In January 2016, WANEP, The Hague Institute for Global Justice and the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC), initiated a 6-month project to assess the lessons learned from the aforementioned Mali consultations. The aim is to explore such lessons learned together with Malian and international civil society groups working in Mali, and thereby strengthen the implementation of the human security strategy in the months to come. In addition, the assessment will seek to learn from and share the practical knowledge gained from the different experiences when programming a human security project in Mali.

Over the next 6 months, the following steps will take place:

  • Step 1: Interviews with the Malian government, MINUSMA, ECOWAS and other policymakers to inform monitoring and evaluation as part of Step 3.
  • Step 2: Interviews with Malian civil society organisations to inform a critical review of the methodologies they used to design their human security strategy.
  • Step 3: Development of a monitoring and evaluation framework aimed at informing civil society on the extent to which the human security strategy and similar strategies are implemented over time by various policy makers and other civil society actors.
  • Step 4: Validation of the monitoring and evaluation framework by Malian actors in Bamako. During this validation, the consortium will explore how the monitoring and evaluation framework can also be applied to other relevant states in West Africa.

This assessment was funded by The Netherlands Research Council (NWO).