The Italian Ambassador to Mali, Stefano A. Dejak, met with the Minister for the Promotion of Women, Children and the Family of the Government of Mali, Coulibaly Mariam Maiga, following the donation of EUR 350,000 worth of emergency food aid to a large orphanage in Bamako and the launch of the second two-year refinancing phase (amounting to an Italian contribution of EUR 2 million) of the project for the prevention and management of gender-based violence. This project, which started in 2019, concerns four million Malian women and girls of reproductive age and is active, thanks to previous Italian contributions, in the Malian cities of Bamako, Mopti, Sikasso and Ségou. It has made it possible to set up special care centres that are examples of excellence in reproductive health care, women’s rights and the fight against gender-based violence.
Minister Maiga took the opportunity to express the Malian government’s deepest appreciation for the help provided by the Italian government in such critical sectors and, above all, in support of the most exposed and weakest groups in Malian society. She congratulated Italy, which, after the recent opening of its Embassy in Bamako, has been developing increasingly significant relations with Mali, within the framework of fruitful dialogue that has led to good results in a number of areas, from trade relations and support for job creation in export agriculture, to the use of drinking water and support for women and children.
Ambassador Dejak underlined how “Thanks also to the contribution of AICS, Italy gives high priority to the promotion of human rights. In this perspective, the Italian Government has decided to support these latest interventions in favour of Italian women and children.”
