AVN Mali is progressing the deployment of the Nubian Vault in the commune of Guégnéka in the Cercle of Dioïla, with the support of the Agence Belge de Développement (ENABEL).
The trainee masons and their teams who had joined AVN’s dual training programme in 2020, had reinforced their technical skills with the construction of « demonstration » NV chicken coops of different sizes, as well as their first buildings for private clients. As a result of the distribution of financial incentives for these buildings, they will be able to strengthen their skills on new projects by the end of the season. 14 NV buildings will be completed by the end of the season through this project. This deployment, supported by ENABEL, should facilitate the mobilisation of new resources and lead to a definitive establishment of the NV market in the region.

In February 2022 AVN Mali completed the construction of the first 8 onion storage barns in the Cercles of Gourma Rharous and Mopti in Mali, for the Association Agronomes et Vétérinaires Sans Frontières (AVSF) as part of the « 3 frontiers » project financed by the Agence Française de Développement (AFD). The barns were built by NV artisan-masons and their teams from other regions, as the NV market is not yet sufficiently developed in these zones of northern Mali.

The unstable security situation in the region had slowed down implementation of the project : two sites were mothballed as the villagers had fled. In addition, communication with the teams on-site had been hampered by access problems, and limited availability of water and rocks had also been an obstacle.

The two remaining barns should be completed by the end of the current season for AVSF partner organisations, but on other sites than those earlier identified, in the Cercle of Douentza.

As a result of this project, new collaborative projects between AVN-Mali and AVSF are currently being envisaged.

Since September 2019, AVN has been running the Burkina Faso / Mali project "Émancipation of cross-frontier communities at risk of destabilisation", financed by the PATRIP Foundation and coordinated by the NGO Welt Hunger Hilfe (WHH). The project aims to help stabilise the cross-frontier region between Mali and Burkina Faso by contributing to the well-being of the local population through creation of youth employment opportunities and the rapid construction of community infrastructure. Specifically, the project involves, over two years, the construction 60 NV buildings and the training of 120 young Maliens and Burkinabes as NV masons in 10 frontier communes.

At the half-way point, a workshop presided over by Sahabani Zeba, High Commissioner of Banwa Province brought together the project partners, local politicians and beneficiaries from the 10 communes, was held on October 27th last in Dédougou.

AVN was able to present encouraging results from this first season, despite some construction delays caused by the rainy season and various security and health issues:

• 27 community buildings completed, including health centres, school rooms, storage barns, community buildings for women and youngsters, guest rooms etc.;
• employment of over 100 local youth undergoing NV training;
• the certification of 10 NV head masons who have created their own construction businesses;
• the running of around 50 training modules, on-site and in workshops.

Participants in the meeting welcomed these results enthusiastically and praised the many impacts of the project – social cohesion, economic development, improved access to basic services etc. - reinforcing the capacity of of these frontier populations faced with a disturbing security situation. A strong appeal for continuation of the project beyond 2021 was made by all present.