Western Africa
Terra Nuova has worked since the end of the 80’s with several farmer organisations in Mali (Kayes region), proposing and realising a number of self-managed projects in the fields of sustainable agriculture and food self-sufficiency. During the 90’s this commitment has gradually and naturally grown into supporting different initiatives of emergency and consolidation of the structure of different agriculture organisations at regional, national and international level (Sahel area), within the farmers movements which has grown in Senegal during the last 20 years and that is gradually spread into the neighbouring countries.
In the urban area Terra Nuova has supported the initiatives of several neighbours associations or Economic Interest Grouping (E.I.G.) engaged in solving the access to property and habitat and environmental problems like domestic waste disposal.
The general objective is to enable civil society to participate in the decision-making process through autonomous representative structures. Considering the difficult situation of the public health sector in a country highly indebted and subjected to structural adjustment, Terra Nuova interest gradually turned to the valorisation of the community initiatives undertaken to respond to the crisis in the official health system, and to the valorisation of the traditional medicine and pharmacopoeia, currently being the only accessible resource for all the population.
It is finally important to mention that since 1991 Terra Nuova has worked to supporting the free radio stations emergency in Mali: this work is the natural consequence of the collaboration between Terra Nuova and Gao Cooperazione Internazionale which in the 80’s helped to create the Kayes’ rural radio station.
Terra Nuova in Mali