A supervision mission of the Sahara and Sahel Observatory (OSS) took place in Bamako from May 12 to 16, 2025, as part of the implementation of the "Scaling up climate-resilient rice production in West Africa - RICOWAS" project. The mission involved the Regional Center of Specialization on Rice (CRS-Riz), hosted by the Institute of Rural Economy (IER), in its capacity as Regional Executing Entity and the National Directorate of Agriculture (NDA) in its capacity as National Executing Entity. The meetings held by the OSS with the two teams made it possible to assess the progress of the activities, examine aspects related to financial management, procurement, monitoring and evaluation and reporting. The mission provided an opportunity to identify the main challenges encountered and come up with recommendations to improve the project's performance in achieving its objectives.
This mission also provided an opportunity to meet with Malian national authorities, including Mr. Souleymane Yacouba, National Director of Agriculture, Dr. Amadou Malé Kouyate, Deputy Director General of the IER, and Dr. Hamadoun Amadou, Scientific Director of the IER. These meetings provided an opportunity to strengthen institutional coordination between the two Executing Entities to achieve better alignment between the regional and national levels.
At the end of the mission, a debriefing meeting was held with representatives from both project teams as well as senior officials from both partner institutions.
The results of the supervision, including the main recommendations made were presented. A detailed roadmap outlining the next steps in the short and medium term was approved on this occasion, marking a new milestone in the operationalization of the RICOWAS project in Mali.
It was also agreed to hold the second regional training of trainers workshop on the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) and Climate-Resilient Rice Practices (CRRP) in Bamako during the first week of July 2025. This meeting will bring together experts from 13 West African countries to keep implementing the national and regional capacity building program initiated in 2024. A specific day will be dedicated to the project's monitoring and evaluation aspects, with the aim of strengthening data collection mechanisms and informing indicators in the project's results framework. The delegation paid a courtesy visit to Mr. Sékou Kone, representative of the National Designated Authority (NDA) of the Adaptation Fund, during which, it presented an update on the RICOWAS project, both at the regional and national levels, as well as the main results of the supervision mission. Mr. Kone expressed his interest in OSS support to strengthen the mobilization of climate finance for Mali.
This supervision mission thus helped consolidate the achievements of the RICOWAS project, strengthen collaboration between partner institutions, and lay the foundations for a new phase of coordinated intervention, focused on climate resilience and food security in West Africa.