Intergration into the region
The integration of CAAS into the region is particularly important to us. The entire concept of the project is based on transparent and partnership-based cooperation with the municipalities and the people of the region. CAAS has not acquired ownership of the properties used, but has secured their unlimited use in the form of partnership agreements with the municipalities. The rural municipality of Siby has given two of the four CAAS properties to the CAAS for indefinite use in return for a symbolic lease: the campus and the annex. The family of the village chief of Kalassa, Kalifa Konaté, transferred ownership of the two other properties, the Complexe Agricole (5 ha) and the school garden (1 ha), to CAAS free of charge.
Historical background
The CAAS bears the “S” in its name because of Siby: Centre Agro-Alimentaire à Siby. CAAS only wanted to set up in Mali in a place that would offer it a suitable plot of land of five hectares free of charge as a partner service for future investments. In Siby, the Malian administration had offered the German partner, i.e. the future CAAS, such a site – from state property (domaine de l’état), as it was called. It was located directly behind the sub-prefect’s office on the northern side of the highway and seemed suitable in principle. However, as it turned out later, it was fraught with problems, especially with traditional, individual and family usage rights, partly from pre-colonial, partly from colonial and partly from the time since Mali’s independence.
Despite intensive efforts by the ministry responsible for vocational training – and therefore also for the CAAS – the tangle of claims, whether alleged or real, ultimately proved to be unsolvable. There is neither a land register nor a cadastre in Mali. What belongs to the so-called “state domain” is therefore largely unclear.
The social conflict – a typical pattern for Mali – was driven by the local elders, some of whom had long since moved to the capital Bamako, who saw it as their natural privilege to be the first to benefit from such an investment to a particular extent. In the case of the CAAS, they saw themselves – quite rightly … deceived; they came away empty-handed. For them, it was inconceivable that anyone should settle here who had not first paid them a fee. Perhaps even more important was their status: they wanted everyone on site to understand that there was no way around them. Their later disappointment was all the more bitter when this turned out to be an illusion.
In 2018 and 2019, CAAS was fully occupied with the expansion of the campus and later also the annex. The actual Siby site was only to be developed once the campus was completed. The underlying conflict only gradually became noticeable, but then quickly escalated. All interventions were unsuccessful. In spring 2020, CAAS therefore decided to say goodbye to the Siby site. It would have made no sense to try to force access in a dispute.
The campus and annex are directly adjacent to the village of Kalassa. The village had a pressing problem when CAAS arrived on site. A storm had damaged the school roof. The principal of the school had informed Dr. Gunthard Weber about this emergency, who immediately initiated the restoration of the school. The restauration improved the school building grealy, it was beautiful than before (at the time, this was done via the Häuser der Hoffnung association). This earned the CAAS a good reputation in the village. The village head recognized the CAAS to be an approachable and reliable partner.
Two years later, when CAAS turned to the village in search of a new free location for its garden and business, the doors were wide open. Without any intervention from third parties, the village, represented by its head, Kalifa Konaté, offered CAAS a flat site of one hectare in the middle of the village for the school garden and also a rugged site of five hectares on the edge of the mountain on the northern side of the road, directly adjacent to the highway and free from any potential interference from neighbors. It was ideal for the purposes of the CAAS, even if it was far more complex to prepare. In return, the CAAS vaguely promised the village “development”.
Everything fell into place for the CAAS: its facilities are socially well anchored in a single location and in a rural setting. From here, everything that is tried out at the center can be easily and directly transferred to the surrounding area.
For the village of Kalassa, it brought employment – in construction, on campus and in operation – a village development plan including surveying, a health station, a secondary school, a village water supply, a village electricity supply and much more. Neither the village nor the CAAS have ever regretted this decision.
School construction and health center
The reconstruction of the village’s elementary school, which was destroyed by a storm, in cooperation with Häuser der Hoffnung e.V. was an act of neighborly help that formed the basis for the friendly relationship of trust with the village. The company Yandalux GmbH also equipped the school with a small solar system for lighting the classrooms.
In the village of Guéna, connected to Kalassa but located at the top of the Mandingo Plateau, CAAS 2023 financed an elementary school with the help of a private donation in place of a hall, which was previously used for this purpose but had been damaged by a storm.
In Kalassa itself, CAAS is preparing the expansion of the elementary school to include grades 7 to 9 (the so-called second cycle). This expansion should be completed in 2024.
With the support of the Heidehof Foundation Stuttgart, the dilapidated former maternity ward in Kalassa has been converted into a modern rural health center with a hospital ward including an outpatient clinic and maternity ward. The complex is to be recognized as a Centre de Santé Communitaire (CESCOM) and will be used for cancer screenings sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO).
The new school building
Development plan
The work on a village development plan, including a topographical survey, which was completed in 2022, was of central importance for the village.All residents had to agree on the course of squares, streets and alleyways and thus also on their own property boundaries.This was an essential prerequisite for the electrification and water supply of the village.
Water supply and electrification
The CAAS water systems (bore wells, submersible pumps, water towers) ensure the supply of drinking water to the village via eight standpipes.
As early as 2022, a standpipe fed by the well system in the school garden was set up to provide the village population with free drinking water during the dry season.
The two photovoltaic systems on the campus (130 kWp) and on the farm (170 kWp) are currently being connected to each other and, from the end of 2023, will supply around 50 private farms in the village plus up to 5 small businesses with electricity in addition to the CAAS itself. At the same time, public lighting for streets and squares will be installed. Households and businesses will receive single-phase and three-phase meters.
Electricity and water – a first for the country – can be purchased using rechargeable credit cards to avoid the problems of unpaid bills that often paralyze basic services in Mali. The charges for electricity and water are intended not only to cover the costs of ongoing maintenance, but also to generate a contribution towards the cost of training.
Water is available at the same price that the nationally operating Société Maligne de la Gestation des Eaux Potables (SOMAGEP) charges its customers, 500 FCFA (0.76€) per cubic meter.The price of electricity will be around FCFA 150 (€0.25) per kilowatt hour.
Traffic calming
The construction of several speed bumps on Route Nationale No. 5, previously a racetrack for trucks, has provided effective traffic calming.
As part of a ceremonial tree planting day in the presence of numerous dignitaries in August 2022, 500 Cailcédrats (Khaya Sénegalensis) were planted between the Kalassa exit and the campus in Siby.The action was jointly prepared by the CAAS, the Municipality of Siby and the technical service of the Forestry Department.
Planting of street trees
In August 2022, there was a campaign to plant street trees as part of an environmental week. The French colonial rulers had opted for the Cailcedrat (khaya sénegalensis) variety in the Soudan Français.Although it grows slowly, it is long-lived, has deep roots, can withstand dry periods once fully grown and is highly sought after for its bark and hard red wood.
These trees were planted as forced labor during the colonial era. They therefore had a negative social connotation.
Since independence, Mali has tended to rely on fast-growing foreign varieties (eucalyptus, teak, nim, etc.). Each of these has its own disadvantages. This is why dendrologists are now recommending a return to cailcedrat and tree nurseries in Bamako are propagating them. The demand for them is currently greater than the supply.
Planting trees is easy, growing them is another matter. It is particularly difficult to protect them from the free-roaming cattle in the Sahel and to save them during the long periods of drought in the dry season. In Kalassa, this has been achieved with mixed success: over the two years that have passed since planting, 186 trees have survived, which is just under two-fifths, plus 51 of those replanted a year ago. When planting such young trees, as is usual in Mali, this rate is considered a good average.
Where the residents concerned have taken intensive care, the young trees have flourished magnificently and are now more than a man high. Where the soil conditions and care were less favorable, they are still not out of the woods.
