May 2021

A village dam to fight against water shortage: “We made this dam with stones. We assembled the stones, this part is hollow. The water comes from up there, goes down and arrives here. To find a solution to the water problem, we made a joint decision to create this dam so that not all the water in the river would

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The first workshop of the WATIGUELEYA KÈLÊ project was successfully concluded on 10 December 2020 in Bamako after five days of intensive training. The event brought together 20 village partners from Mali, Senegal and Guinea – the three countries targeted by the project. The aim was to train these village partners to use mobile phones to collect local knowledge and

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From 1 February to 17 March 2021, a quantitative survey was conducted as part of the Watigueleya Kèlê action-research programme, which aims to understand and compare local resilience strategies when facing socio-ecological stresses and disasters over the long term, and to value and equitably include these strategies in governance and decision-making in Mali, Senegal and Guinea. The survey consists of

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Hello and welcome to the village of Ethiouar, where we are today to make a presentation. Ethiouar is a historical Bedik village, (Bedik from Bandafassi). In this village, we have constructions made of clay, and also straw and bamboo. And also, we have temporary shelters. We have temporary shelters, as you can see here with me, which will be used

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On January 18, 2021, a training workshop on the socio-economic survey was held at Impact Hub’s premises, ACI 2000 in Bamako. The training began with a few words of welcome and a presentation of the Watigueleya Kêlé project by Dr. Marie Rodet, professor of African History at SOAS and director of the project, followed by the presentation of the participants

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Djiguiba Camara, interpreter and chief of the village of Damaro during the colonial period, wrote the history of the region, the empire of Samori Touré and the colonial wars. This important 110-page manuscript is now published by Brill and available free of charge. The text, which is very composite, includes genealogies, foundation myths, the history of relations between the Camara,

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At the end of the harvest, the maize is cut. The most beautiful, largest and fullest maize is selected. They are tied up and put on tree branches. During the winter, they are detached and used for cultivation. In the past, white maize was grown, but now it is yellow maize. Yellow maize is richer in vitamins than white maize,

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The off-season onion farming in the women’s garden in Bouillagui has been partly financed by the Donkosira project and its partners for more than two years.  The women’s association that cultivates this garden consists of about 80 to 90 women and girls. In July, they start to prepare onion seedlings and after a month, these are divided into beds in

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Interview with Famakan Koné “Nowadays, there is no more rain, so our crops are lost. We love farming but if the harvest is not good because of the drought, it is discouraging. Rain is no longer enough, so we grow crops for our daily needs in order to survive the hard times, such as sweet potatoes, banankou, fruit trees and

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Following workshops with delegates Ansoumane Camara and Fatoumata Doumbouya, the Donkosira association produced four educational sheets for classes in the village of Damaro. Previously, the “local history” section was not taught, due to a lack of material available to teachers. From now on, and in agreement with the Rectorate, the sheets “Damaro and its region”, “Samori Touré”, “Fata Kéoulén” and

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