UPPSALA UNIV 2022 - 2026: Citizens perspectives on societal challenges in Mali

This contribution is being implemented since July 2022 with an initial budget of 20,000,000 SEK, from which 19 MSEK was to be disbursed to Uppsala University. The remaining 1 MSEK was planned for evaluation purpose. The overall objective of the project is to strengthen debates and dialogues based on scientific knowledge and empirical studies (evidencebased) and expose the citizen perspectives of the societal challenges facing Mali. This is also seen as a way of counteracting disinformation which is a growing problem in Mali. However, with the Swedish government's decision to cease its bilateral development cooperation with Mali as per 31 December 2024, the total budget for the project has been revised to 12,239,760 SEK with a reduction of 7,760,240 SEK from the initial total amount. The duration of the project period has been reduced from 5 years to 2 years and 6 months. Since its start in July 2022, the project has achieved some key results. In fact, the startup activities of the project have allowed the development of a partnership between Institut des Sciences Humaines (ISH-a public research institute in the humanities in Bamako) and the Laboratoire dAnthropologie Comparative, Engagée et Transnationale (LACET), which is a collaborative framework between researchers in Bamako, Ouagadougou, and Uppsala. An agreement between Uppsala Universitys Forum for Africa Studies and the Institut des Sciences Humaines (ISH) was signed on 21 December 2022. In addition, the partner, Uppsala University, has also organised in July 2024 the international Conference of Mande studies with the participation of 600 researchers from many countries (Sweden, USA, France, Benin, Burkina-Faso, Niger...). The activity was a highpoint of the project. The partner has also organised a field research on Malian womens political participation in twenty (20) municipalities across the country which has involved the hosting of three (03) important workshops as part of the research. The organization of the first Malian Swedish Stakeholder Meeting was another highpoint that ultimately led to the awarding of seven (07) seed money projects with Malian Swedish research teams. The Sahel Symposium in last December was another strong moment.

The expected outcomes are: 1) The availability of a number of qualitative empirical studies describing and analyzing citizen perspectives on societal challenges; 2) The presentation of empirical studies to the general public to encourage healthy and constructive exchanges and debates in a democratic spirit; 3) The existence of appropriate means of information and communication to disseminate and debate the research results in various forms (print, online, radio and TV broadcasts, videoclips, etc.); 4) The existence of publications of research results in books and journals; 5) Strengthened research and training capacity in Malian research and higher education institutions, particularly with regard to women researchers; 6) The existence of functional, active and viable partnerships between Malian and Swedish research teams; 7) The existence of joint projects between Malian and Swedish institutions and 8) The deepening of Sweden's political and development dialog in Mali.