Leveraging Digital Skills and an Evidence-Based Digital Media Approach to Peacefully Integrate Out-Of-School Women and Men into Malian Society

• In Event: Roundtable Session 3
  In Refereed Roundtable Session: Advancing Gender Equity in Learning through Digital Approaches in Conflict-Affected Niger and Mali

Proposal

In conflict-affected Mali, vulnerable young women and men out-of-school have missed out on learning and are at risk of identifying with, being recruited to or engaging with violent extremist groups in the country and around the region. The USAID program offers a new opportunity to enjoy increased access to information about the labor market and value chains through digital forms of learning and this program activity enables direct connections with private sectors partners to peacefully and productively integrate easily in their societies at the local level. Specifically, the results of bringing about new digital literacy and digital medial skills among these vulnerable young women will be discussed and analysis on successful ways to improve their capacity to apply their new skills in real-life settings presented. A voice-based application developed by and with illiterate women in Bamako, to improve access to local language health information that is reliable, comprehensible, and confidential will be presented and discussed. Additionally, the application has an integrated question and referral process to the user’s local community health center, aimed at increasing access to sexual and reproductive health information and services. It will also allow youth to apply their new digital skills in a real-life, safe setting. The presentation will demonstrate how application of digitally based learning and skills development will be shared through young people who are developing over 13,000 business plans of which include up to 450 green entrepreneurship opportunities and whom have received 54,000 hours of mentoring from private sector subject matter experts while engaging their technical digital and other skills demonstrated by numerous Village of Opportunities events in front of local community members and private sector partners, among others. The project aim to also build relationships with a network of private sector partners that youth can be referred to for income-generating opportunities, supply chain connections, or digital skills development. Additionally, a key discussion will be focused on the component of combatting disinformation through adapting a local organization’s evidence-based media literacy approach among the young women and men participating in the program. Finally, a highlight will be how the intervention is connecting with existing Government of Mali (GoM) programs to increase the likelihood of activities continuing, such as the Ministry of Youth & Sport’s youth centers as safe spaces. While lack of tax revenues in Mali may jeopardize Government funded youth programs, the presentation will discuss how the activity engages with Government ministries and agencies at the national and sub-national level, and share project successes and lessons learned for future reference on how to successfully support marginalize youth in Mali.

Author

• Wendy Wheaton, USAID