In Mali, young rural people find it difficult to borrow funds to start or develop their agricultural activities. This may now change thanks to the Babyloan Mali platform.

Today's generation of young people – defined by the United Nations as those aged 15 to 24 – is the largest in history. An estimated 87 per cent of the world's young people live in developing countries, and the majority live in rural areas. However, in the world's poorest countries, opportunities for youth are often limited or non-existent, leaving them marginalized politically, economically and socially.

Local varieties grown in the programme area. Clockwise from top: hands holding yellow maize, white maize and bambara groundnuts Zimbabwe: Scaling up People's

A new investment programme is planned to support Sahelian governments through a partnership between the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and IFAD in order to boost climate finance for these rural populations.

The Government of Mali and IFAD held a workshop in Bamako on 5 March 2020 to prepare a new results-based country strategic opportunities programme (RB-COSOP) for the period 2020-2024.

Against a backdrop of an escalating security crisis where 4.3 million women, men and children are at risk of increased food insecurity and starvation in Mali, Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, President of the Republic of Mali, launched an urgent call to the global community to combine efforts and show solidarity in order to eradicate hunger and poverty in the Sahel.