For the foreseeable future, the CAAS is to become a reference for practical, organic agricultural training for girls and young women in Mali (and West Africa). At the same time, it aims to test and propagate new forms of small-scale horticulture and agriculture, livestock and poultry farming as well as small-scale food processing.
The agricultural production and training farm serves this purpose first and foremost.
Its task is to stimulate local agricultural production both qualitatively and quantitatively. Small-scale processing and the preservation of food are intended to counteract the seasonal overproduction in horticulture and the lack of income due to falling prices and crop losses. Methods of preservation are taught, e.g. the drying of tomatoes and okra, the processing of manioc into attiéké, gari and starch, the processing of peanuts into peanut paste or peanut oil or the squeezing of fruit (limes, oranges etc.) into pasteurized juices or syrup. This increases value creation, value retention, employment and income.
The CAAS will generate part of its running costs through income from this type of production; there will also be income from the electrification and water supply of the village of Kalassa.
However, the vocational training itself at CAAS will also remain permanently dependent on external funding. In Germany, the federal and state governments finance the vocational schools. In Mali, the state will not be able to do so in the foreseeable future. The Malian employment office is supposed to invest a portion of the state social security contributions (Institut National de Prévoyance Sociale – INPS) in vocational training every year. A contribution from this for the CAAS had already been contractually agreed. However, the funds from the employment office are channelled through the Malian Trésor (the state treasury) and its priorities and those of the military government are different. The promise proved to be hollow. That is why it will depend on international donors and their willingness to support or finance the CAAS training program.
Everyone is talking about how to combat the causes of flight (actually migration) to Europe. CAAS shows in practice how this can be done and how much you have to invest and how hard you have to work in order to succeed. Quality prevails? We hope the same applies here. The CAAS itself does everything it can to keep its running costs low. The motto for all buildings and facilities has always been: “No rubbish”. Sustainability begins with ensuring that purchases last as long as possible: not only foundations, walls, roofs, doors, windows, locks, but also fittings, electrical wiring (all laid on plaster), switches, water pipes and taps, toilets, etc. The focus was always on quality and good workmanship in order to guarantee easy maintenance and longevity, thereby keeping follow-up costs low.
Mali’s special circumstances make practical training in modern recycling management in horticulture, agriculture and animal husbandry as well as the small-scale processing of the resulting products a particularly complex exercise. The example-setting farm first had to be founded in order to be able to provide practical training, and the girls and young women have to be accommodated and fed in boarding schools at this location. This alone is not enough. The trainees often arrive in a poorly nourished or unhealthy condition, without work clothes or suitable footwear. Their training therefore begins with medical care and a small amount of basic equipment: T-shirts, tracksuits and shoes.
The trainees themselves have no resources for this and their parents have very little. It would be completely wrong to give preference to girls from families who can finance such (comparatively expensive) vocational training. In fact, they are not part of the target group.
The Klaus Tschira Foundation is supporting the establishment of the Centre Agro-Alimentaire as part of a special grant. The CAAS is fully funded until 2027. Until then, the CAAS must stand on its own financial feet in its production operations and do such convincing work in vocational training that donors from the Sahel countries are prepared to finance the vocational training of girls and young women at the CAAS.
