Word: malis
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...MALI'S STRONG SOCIAL CAPITAL...
...segment of your article on Africa that focused on Mali [WORLD, March 30], you quoted me as saying the government here "understands human capital." To be precise, I was referring to Mali's strong social capital: "something" that makes some societies function or heal themselves better than others. Harvard professor Robert Putnam first developed the idea in the late 1980s, when comparing northern and southern Italy. Social capital is rather like the dark (missing) matter of the universe: we know it's there because we can see its consequences, but it is terribly hard to get hold of and examine...
...history of Mali is marked by the trust people have in these dealings, institutionalized in the traditional "palaver tree" approach to decision making, where village elders consult under a tree until a consensus is reached. Since its creation in 1993, Mali's Decentralization Mission has been educating the public about a modern democratic version of such local control. The country is divided into eight regions, 50 districts, 701 communes and thousands of villages. District chiefs are no longer appointed from the capital of Bamako but elected locally. Later this year, the communes will hold elections. "Reinforcing democracy," says President Konare...
...cotton plants into rotation with cereal crops, CMDT not only grows higher-quality cotton but also keeps farmers producing less pricey but essential maize, millet, sorghum and rice. Says Chaka Berte, a CMDT management director: "The farmers are taking their cotton money and diversifying. Good for them. Good for Mali...
...families, 1,263 people, deep in the countryside southeast of Bamako. There are still no paved roads, no electricity, no running water anywhere in the district. But with help from its CMDT-sponsored village association, which bought insecticides, oxen and a weighing machine, the families regularly harvest bumper crops. Mali's Producers' Union, a rarity in Africa, negotiates with CMDT to set prices for the farmer, and the village association receives block earnings. Extra profits are pooled, and so far N'Tjinina has bought two water pumps and built three primary schools, paying the three teachers' salaries too. "Before...