In Mali, gender-based violence (GBV) including conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) remains a national problem which has serious consequences on the health, well-being and rights of the population, particularly children and women. Such violence perpetrated in peacetime was exacerbated in times of crisis, particularly armed conflicts, that has been known in Mali since the politico-security crisis in 2012, and the persistence of insecurity in particular in the North and Central regions.

Given this situation, coordinated multisectoral action is required for the prevention and response to SGBV in a comprehensive manner, for example through adequate national policy frameworks. While the UN system in Mali has previously supported the development of a National Program on Violence Against Women and Girls (2011-2013), which is yet to be implemented, as well as an Action Plan for the National Gender Policy (2011-2013), these strategies do not account for critical dimensions of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence (CRSV) which need specific attention given Mali’s recent armed conflict and the continuation of hostilities.

The Ministry of the Promotion of Women, Children and Family has the leading role on the issue of SGBV. The Ministry, with the technical support of the UN System in Mali, has started the process of an internal reorganization in 2016, including with regards to its structures responsible for SGBV programming. However, in order to fully play its leadership role in SGBV matters at the ministerial and national level and to be able to actively participate in the ongoing reform processes, the Ministry needs further support at the strategic and technical level. At the same time, given some of the lessons learned from other policy development processes in Mali (lack of local ownership, lack of functional implementation mechanisms, lack of funding), it is also necessary to support the integration of SGBV/CRSV concerns in relevant reform processes and build up ownership for the national strategy with a wide range of actors.

Against this background, in 2016, UN Action deployed an international inter-agency SGBV expert seconded by the Government of Switzerland and hosted by UNICEF on behalf of the UN Country Team in Mali, and a national expert funded by UN Action to the Ministry for the Promotion of Women, Children and Family in 2017. Through the two deployments, UN Action was pursuing the objectives of its support in Mali which were to enhance UN system’s and the national capacities to address SGBV including CRSV through a structured coordination with key ministries, elected institutions and the civil society in order to address issues of gender-based violence, in the context of conflict.

This project sought to support in particular the development of a comprehensive national strategy on SGBV that takes into account the specific issues of CRSV, thereby directly contributing to the Outcome 3 “Comprehensive National Strategies and/or Action Plans that address CRSV are developed and implemented” of UN Action’s result framework.