Mali

Modern day Mali is a landlocked West African country famed for its desert landscape, links with ancient empires, and the historic city of Timbuktu. Timbuktu, the fabled city, is located at a crossroads where the Niger River meets the Saharan desert. The city was formerly an important trading hub for the lucrative gold and salts trade of the region and was the Sahel’s principle centre for Islamic learning. A former colony of France, Mali suffered 23 years of military dictatorship until its first democratically elected president took power in 1992. Following Tuareg uprisings in the 1990s, Mali is today politically stable and embracing the challenges that it faces as one of the poorest countries in the world.

Living Earth In Mali

Since 2007 the city of Timbuktu has been twinned with the town of Hay-on-Wye in Wales, UK. Since 2010, Living Earth Foundation has been working with the local council and community groups in Hay-on-Wye to help develop a strategic framework for their projects and to ensure that projects developed are appropriate, mutually beneficial and have the long-term support of both communities. Through this support, Living Earth developed links with Association Malienne pour la Survie au Sahel (AMSS), an established and well respected Malian NGO based in Timbuktu. A partnership has since been built and consequently a project on promoting effective decentralization in Timbuktu developed.