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In 2012, Mali will hold both presidential and parliamentary elections in April and July, respectively – representing an opportunity to further consolidate democratic gains, broaden participation, and boost citizen confidence in the country’s nascent democracy. Since Mali’s first multi-party elections in 1992, Malians have held four sets of presidential and legislative elections that were deemed credible by domestic and international observers. In April 2009, Mali held local elections for the third time since the country’s transition from military to democratic rule. As further indication of Mali’s democratic progress, President Amadou Toumani Touré has repeatedly declared that he will respect the Malian constitution, and he will not seek a third term in office in 2012.
Despite these impressive advances, Mali’s voter turnout rates are consistently low – hovering between 30 percent and 40 percent for national, legislative and local elections alike. Beyond low rates of civic participation, certain segments of Mali’s population, notably women, are particularly excluded from political life. Despite some signs of progress, including the April 2011 appointment of the country’s first-ever woman prime minister and a 20 percent increase in the number of locally elected women in 2009, Malian women face enduring barriers to full political participation. Women members of parliament (MP) currently represent a mere 10 percent of the National Assembly, and in December 2011, the legislature voted unanimously in favor of a heavily revised family code that deeply disappointed women’s rights activists both domestically and abroad.
On Aug. 2, 2011, the National Assembly voted to pass a series of 20 constitutional revisions intended to strengthen Mali’s democratic institutions. Among others, proposed reforms include the creation of a second legislative body – a senate – and the institutionalization of the parliamentary opposition, which currently includes only one of 13 political parties represented in the National Assembly. Malians will vote on the passage of these reforms as part of a national referendum that will be held April 29, 2012, the same day as the first round of the presidential election. Between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, Mali’s voter registration list for the 2012 polls was updated in each of the country’s 703 communes.
Current Activities
Supporting Transparent and Credible Elections in 2012
In July 2011, NDI launched a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded program to build the capacity of local civil society organizations to monitor key aspects of the 2012 political process, including the revision of the voters list and the holding of presidential and legislative polls. The program began with a pre-election assessment mission, conducted in partnership with the International Foundation for Electoral Systems and Internews. It included interviews with a wide range of stakeholders, including political parties, government, electoral management bodies, civil society organizations and local women’s and youth associations.
NDI is providing technical and financial assistance to its civil society partner Support to Mali’s Electoral Process (Appui au Processus Electoral au Mali – APEM) to monitor the public review period of the 2012 voter rolls and observe election day proceedings for both the presidential and legislative polls. Between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, APEM deployed 50 regional supervisors to observe the voters list revision process at the communal level in each of Mali’s eight regions and the capital of Bamako. On Dec. 24, the network issued a preliminary statement on its pre-election observation findings, noting certain irregularities but reserving its overall judgment on the integrity of the process until APEM analyzes all observer data collected throughout the public review period.
As the elections approach, NDI will work with Malian political parties to strengthen their capacity to monitor the electoral process and to mobilize broad, peaceful participation in the 2012 electoral process.
Strengthening Mali’s National Assembly
Parliamentary turnover has posed a significant problem in creating a strong National Assembly in Mali, as nearly 80 percent of MPs are serving their first term in parliament and have limited familiarity with their role in the legislative process. In the context of this and other serious challenges facing the performance of the National Assembly, in December 2010, NDI launched a program aimed at developing the institution’s capacity to fight corruption, to communicate with the general public, to conduct and use legislative research and to increase women’s participation. The goal is that, through the pursuit of these activities, Mali’s National Assembly will become more effective in its role as a “check” on the executive branch and that the country’s democratic governance system will deepen. NDI’s program is part of a broad, five-year program supported by the Royal Danish Embassy, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Belgian Development, “Joint Program to Support Capacity Building of the Malian National Assembly (Programme Conjoint de Renforcement des Capacités de l’Assemblée Nationale du Mali - RECAN).”
As part of its program, NDI is partnering with a local information technology firm to reactivate, regularly update and develop a strategy for the long-term maintenance of the National Assembly’s website. During the April to August 2011 legislative session, NDI organized a series of targeted capacity-building activities, including a workshop on gender-sensitive legislative analysis and trainings for parliamentarians, staff members and select civil society organizations and media outlets on the budget as an anti-corruption tool. During the current parliamentary session, the Institute will organize a training session on tools for legislative research and international benchmarks to measure parliamentary performance.
Supporting Women’s Political Participation
Building on the success of past programs aimed at promoting women’s participation in the 2009 local elections, NDI is implementing a program funded by the Royal Danish Embassy to promote Malian women’s participation in public life and politics. NDI support targets elected women at both the local and national levels, as well as women candidates who ran for office in 2009 but were not elected. The geographic focus of the program is based on an initial baseline assessment that identified the 113 communes (localities) located in eight cercles, or administrative territorial units, in which NDI is focusing its support on elected women councilors.
In December 2010, NDI rolled out a self-assessment questionnaire for roughly 30 political parties to help party leaders review and analyze their successes and shortcomings in attracting and supporting women party members and candidates. Following the completion of this questionnaire, NDI conducted a workshop to share and discuss results with party representatives. In January 2011, NDI facilitated a strategic planning workshop for both men and women legislators on promoting gender diversity in decision-making processes. It also conducted a two-day orientation and training session on local development strategies and gender budgeting in the Koulikoro region. In addition, NDI established a partnership with Mali’s Union of Free Radios and Televisions (URTEL), and collaborated with the Centre Afrika Obota-Mali to develop skits portraying women leaders’ perspectives on the environmental implications of mining in Mali as well as their opinions on the successes and challenges of economic growth in the country. These broadcasts were the first in a series of television and radio programs designed to highlight women’s leadership on issues of national importance. NDI also completed a reference manual for women councilors.
From February to June 2011, NDI held public forums in three regions of Mali, highlighting policy challenges of both national and local importance, in order to better position women to effectively participate in local development planning and policy-making, as well as to build their constituent outreach and public speaking skills. NDI leveraged its partnership with URTEL to broadcast these events in partnership with 20 local radio stations throughout the months of February to June, reaching an estimated 1.7 million listeners through more than 150 messages. The Institute also held a series of trainings for women councilors on gender-responsive budgeting and local development planning, as well as roundtable discussions with unsuccessful women candidates for office in 2007 and 2009.
During the months of October to December 2011, the Institute organized a series of seven roundtable discussions with local women councilors, their constituents and civil society organizations in eight localities around the country to discuss priority issues including public service delivery in the health and education sectors, women’s access to economic opportunities and continuing barriers to women’s political participation.
In the upcoming months, NDI will begin to tie its activities to Mali’s upcoming electoral cycle in order to support the participation of women in the 2012 legislative elections as candidates, campaign staff and voters alike in the program’s three target regions. Activities will include conducting candidate training and capacity building activities and continuing the ongoing media campaign to raise the profile of women as candidates and leaders.
Past Programs
Since 1996, NDI has worked in Mali to provide technical assistance for legislative oversight, electoral reform, voter education and domestic election observation, while promoting inter-party dialogue and women's political participation.
In December 2002, NDI launched a legislative program to support the Malian National Assembly’s active participation in the fight against corruption by enhancing the institution’s ability to exercise effective oversight of the use of public funds. Activities included a conference on the role of the National Assembly in fighting corruption, a roundtable for Supreme Court Councilors and legislators, and a seminar on legislative oversight for the finance and public works committees. NDI also organized a national anti-corruption forum to identify specific areas of collaboration between the National Assembly, the Supreme Court’s accounting and finance section, and civil society organizations.
The Institute distributed pollwatching materials and trained more than 1,000 party poll watchers ahead of the 2002 and the 2007 general elections. Following the 2007 general elections, NDI organized a series of roundtable discussions to help Malian political leaders reflect on the election process and develop recommendations to improve future elections.
To increase women’s participation in the political process, NDI trained more than 1,000 women candidates and widely distributed a training manual for women candidates in preparation for the 2004 local elections. Prior to the July 2007 legislative elections, NDI provided technical assistance to the Coalition des Associations et ONG Feminines du Mali (CAFO) and Groupe Pivot Droits et Citoyenneté des Femmes (GP), a network of Malian women’s organizations, to help them organize and subsequently evaluate a nationwide voter education campaign. NDI also assisted CAFO and GP to organize an orientation session to provide newly elected women legislators with tools to advocate for a greater role in the new legislature. Ahead of the 2009 local elections, NDI provided technical assistance to GP to train 3,000 women councilor candidates and conduct voter outreach in four of Mali’s eight regions. During this period, NDI and its partners, GP and the working group of women in political parties, organized an advocacy program to encourage political parties to support women candidates and an expansive get out the vote campaign through a network of community radio stations. These program initiatives contributed to an approximately 27 percent increase in the number of women candidates and a subsequent 20 percent increase in the number of women councilors elected.
NDI conducted a program to help parliamentary caucuses and political parties develop and clearly articulate policy positions. The program also assisted parliamentary committees contribute to policy reform with citizen input. In March 2010, the Committee on Education conducted a week-long study mission to examine education institutions in two of Mali’s regions. In preparation for the mission, NDI assisted the committee leadership to create data collection forms to document the committee’s findings. Following the mission, the president of the committee said that the mission marked the first time since Mali’s independence that a National Assembly committee had conducted such an activity. Through the program, NDI also co-organized retreats for parliamentary caucuses and party leadership where participants discussed communication strategies, formulated legislative agendas and prepared for parliamentary debate. The retreats have helped foster increased collaboration between party and caucus members on priority issues.
In December 2010, Mali concluded a program to help legislators oversee the country’s extractive industries sector. Funded by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the program sought to improve Malian legislators’ ability to participate in debates about mining reform and to engage in Mali’s ongoing efforts to receive validation from the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). Specifically, the program focused its activities on the National Assembly’s mining and finance committees, helping committee members gather information about mining operations in Mali and creating links between the committees, relevant civil society representatives and other experts. NDI also convened Malian legislators to exchange perspectives on legislative committee oversight of extractive industries and provided a forum for representatives from the Ministry of Mines to brief members of the National Assembly on proposed revisions to the mining code. Additional workshops held as part of this program covered the status of Mali’s EITI validation process, financial and tax issues associated with the mining industry, and finalized a directory of local and international experts on the extractive industries. Through this program, NDI has convened a variety of parties who do not normally have the opportunity to interact, including legislators and government officials, representatives from Malian civic groups, the World Bank, Mali’s Union of Mining Operators and major mining companies.
Funding
NDI’s current programs are funded by USAID, the Embassy of Denmark and UNDP. Previous programs have been funded by USAID, the NED, UNDP, the Embassy of Denmark and the Embassy of Canada.
Contact Information
For more information about these programs, use our contact form or contact:
Bamako, Mali
Badié Hima, Resident Director
bhima@ndi.org
Washington, D.C.
Lauren Kunis, Senior Program Officer
lkunis@ndi.org
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