A project team and a Steering Committee were set up to define, in each participatory approach, the management and steering framework of the project. Political commitment of the country guaranteed the success of the process and this commitment led to the elaboration and adoption of a water policy code document by the Government in February 2006.
A situation analysis was developed and discussed with broad stakeholder groups, which allowed for producing the first part of the Action Plan Document relating to “the status of water resources and the relevant management framework required”. Based on problems identified during the situation analysis, a multi-actors planning workshop was organized during which water resources management strategies were chosen.
Following the strategic planning workshop, the project team, with the assistance of external experts, prepared the provisional Action Plan submitted to the criticisms and amendments of actors in a validation workshop.
Following the strategic planning workshop, with the assistance of resources persons, the project team elaborated the provisional Action Plan submitted to the criticisms and amendments of stakeholders during a validation workshop from May 22 to 24, 2007. The project plan was elaborated following a format taking account of issues of creation of an enabling environment, institutional roles, and management instruments.
It is worth mentioning that in 2007, GWP set up a reference group composed of international experts whose mission is to give advice on the process and content of Action Plans for Integrated Water Resources (AP-IWRM) being elaborated Advice given and relevant remarks made by this reference group on the occasion of the validation workshop, were a considerable contribution to the finlization of Mali’s Action Plan for Integrated Water Resources Management. The formulation of the AP-IWRM actions took account of the already existing policies and strategies and the results of thematic studies. Projects and programmes in process of implementation were also taken into account.