Citizen Perspectives in Mali: A Start-Up Mission to Bamako
The programme Citizen Perspectives on Societal Challenges in Mali ((French: Perspectives citoyennes des défis de société au Mali) is a five year project funded by the Embassy of Sweden in Bamako on behalf of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), 2022-2026. Its main objective is to promote citizen perspectives through the implementation of engaged research, the organization of citizen debates and the capacity building of young researchers. Particular attention will be paid to the promotion of women leaders as researchers, teachers and opinion leaders. The programme is led by the Forum for Africa Studies at Uppsala University, and will be implemented in collaboration with Swedish and Malian partners.
(Image removed) Sten Hagberg and Oulia Makkonen met with the Vice-Chancellor of the University of
Letters and Humanities in Bamako, Prof. Soiba Traoré with his staff. In the middle of
the photo, next to Oulia Makkonen, Dr Baba Coulibaly, Director General of the Institut
des Sciences Humaines, the programme´s main Malian partner, is standing.
The programme is composed of two parts:
- The implementation of strategic studies and citizen debates, in particular the documentation and analysis of citizen perspectives of the challenges of Malian society. The results of these studies will then be presented to the general public and published in the form of books accessible to non-specialists, “briefs” or podcasts/television programs in different Malian languages.
- The strengthening of networks between Malian and Swedish educational research institutions in order to develop partnerships between research teams from two countries. The programme will also organize on-site training workshops in Mali on research methodology, project conceptualization, data analysis and scientific writing.
Between 31 Oct and 4 Nov 2022, Prof. Sten Hagberg (Project Leader) and Dr. Oulia Makkonen (Project Coordinator) from the Forum for Africa Studies carried out a one-week-mission to Bamako to establish contacts with Malian stakeholders, including vice-chancellors of three public universities, and the Malian Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Prof. Amadou Keïta and our main Malian partner Institut des Sciences Humaines and its director general Dr. Baba Coulibaly.
- Most importantly was that we met with the research lab LACET, which is going to play a pivotal role in the implementation of this programme, Sten Hagberg says.
(Image removed) Hagberg and Makkonen had an audience with the Mlaian Minister of
Higher Education and Scientific Research, Prof. Amadou Keïta