Catholic Relief Service Mali

Catholic Relief Service (CRS) Mali is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in Mali.
Ranked 175 out of 188 countries within UNDP’s Human Development Index, Mali is a land-locked country in the Sahel where half the population lives on less than $1.90 a day. The country is challenged by natural disasters, a quickly growing population with a median age of 16, and persistent insecurity sparking continued displacement throughout the north and center of the country. Having worked in the country since 1999, CRS serves the poor and vulnerable through coordinating complex and multi-sectoral emergency and development programs across nearly all regions (visit our programming map). Placing partnership at the core of its work, the country program works jointly with 18 partners including government ministries and national and international NGOs. CRS’ in Mali has programmes in agricultural livelihoods, emergency response & recovery, health, education, and resilience.

CRS collaborates with national and international research institutes to broadly disseminate innovations to farmer associations by working directly with local branches of the Government of Mali’s technical services. With this approach, CRS introduces farmers to new technologies, crop varieties and techniques that are adapted to their agroecological conditions while strengthening government structures from the ground up. Through its role in four USAID Feed the Future projects, a World Bank-funded initiative and livelihood pilot projects, CRS has reached over 43,000 farmers and producers.

Since 1999, CRS Mali has run development programs that build resilience in rural areas. After rebel incursions in northern Mali in late 2011, CRS began serving displaced persons with emergency assistance. In March 2012, a coup and rebel occupation caused massive population displacement toward the south. This was preceded by drought in 2011, and followed by large-scale flooding in 2012. In 2013, the Malian government, with Economic Community of West African States, United Nations and donor support, retook the north, though sporadic attacks continue. The reopening of the north and democratic presidential elections in August 2013 ushered in new possibilities for disaster recovery, rebuilding, and development. 

The CRS Mali Headquarters is located in the capital city of Bamako. Sub-offices in Mopti, Gao, and Timbuktu support the agency in quickly serving communities where the greatest needs exist. The Timbuktu Office opened in October 2016 to address the needs of returned refugees, internally displaced people and host families in a region suffering from malnutrition, severe drought, and the presence of armed groups.