Mali: An Evaluation of WFP's Portfolio (2013-2017)

The country portfolio evaluation covered all WFP operations in Mali from 2013 through December 2017. Conducted by WFP’s Office of Evaluation and an external evaluation team, it assessed WFP’s strategic positioning in the country, the quality of and factors influencing WFP’s decision-making, and the performance and results of portfolio activities.

Country context. Mali is a landlocked country with a population of approximately 18.9 million people. Despite experiencing strong economic growth, it ranks 175th of 188 countries in the 2016 Human Development Index of the United Nations Development Programme. A WFP Level 2 emergency was declared in January 2012, initially because of a drought and later because of political unrest, which affected mainly the north and centre of the country. In June 2018, a Level 3 corporate emergency covering the entire Sahel was declared because of a new drought and the ongoing security problems.

WFP operations. Until the emergency was declared in 2012, the value of WFP’s portfolio was less than USD 20 million per year: it is now about USD 60 million, having peaked at almost USD 140 million in 2014. During the evaluation period, WFP assisted an average of approximately 1.3 million beneficiaries per year through in-kind food and cash-based assistance, school feeding, nutrition activities, food assistance for assets and Purchase for Progress. WFP’s country portfolio suffered from chronic underfunding. In 2017, the country office had approximately 180 staff members, slightly more than half of whom were based in Bamako, with the remainder in five sub-offices.