The United Nations and its humanitarian partners, together with the Government of Mali, launched on Tuesday a $770 million Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP) to help millions of people across Mali this year. The plan aims to respond to the urgent needs of 4.7 million people affected by conflict, displacement, health emergencies and climate shocks, out of a projected 6.4 million people in need of assistance in 2025.
According to the HNRP, nearly 80 percent of the people it targets are women and children. The plan aims to provide them with food, water, health care and protection, among other things.
"There is an urgent need for the entire humanitarian community and donors to renew their commitment to addressing basic humanitarian needs," said Acting Humanitarian Coordinator Khassim Diagne, speaking in Mali’s capital Bamako.
“We should also explore innovative and sustainable solutions, in partnership with development actors, to maintain progress and strengthen the resilience of communities facing the impacts of climate shocks and protracted displacement.”
Diagne thanked donors for supporting the humanitarian response in Mali in 2024, particularly following the severe flooding that hit the country last year. In 2024, the humanitarian crisis in the Sahel country was exacerbated by unprecedented extreme heat and heavy floods.
450,000 people, mostly women and children, were impacted by large-scale flooding throughout Mali, prompting the government to declare a state of national disaster. Thousands of people were forced to flee, and lost their homes and livelihoods. Tens of thousands of homes and buildings were destroyed.
However, a mere 38 percent of the funding required for the Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) - just over $270 million - targeting 4.1 million people, was committed in 2024. Due to this funding shortfall and access constraints, humanitarian agencies were only able to provide life-saving assistance to 1.8 million vulnerable people, including those in the most remote areas.
Mali is a landlocked country in the central Sahel region, where more than a third of the population is in need of humanitarian assistance and almost half of the highly dispersed population lives in extreme poverty. The country ranks near the bottom of the Human Development Index (HDI).
The situation in Mali is one of the world's most forgotten and neglected humanitarian crises. Since 2012, conflict, insecurity and climatic shocks - including drought and seasonal flooding - have led to displacement, food insecurity and widespread humanitarian needs across Mali.
Across the country, around 900,000 people are currently at crisis or worse levels of hunger and 2.9 million people face stress levels of food insecurity. During the course of 2025, 1.5 million people are expected to fall into acute food insecurity (crisis or worse).
Since 2022, hostilities have intensified across the country after the Malian armed forces launched large-scale operations against the al-Qaeda-linked Jamaa Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) and the rival Islamic State of the Greater Sahara (ISGS). Both Islamist non-state armed groups (NSAGs) have frequently carried out attacks against civilians.
The situation is particularly critical in conflict-affected areas in the north and central regions of Mali, where access constraints and mass displacement threaten the survival and dignity of the most marginalized.
Mali experienced another military takeover in May 2021. The withdrawal of the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali (MINUSMA) in 2023 has affected the dynamics of the conflict and led to renewed hostilities. Human rights groups say attacks by non-state armed groups have increased across Mali in recent months.
According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), the human rights situation in Mali deteriorated in 2024 as attacks against civilians by Islamist armed groups and "abusive counter-terrorism operations" by Malian forces and associated foreign fighters from the Russia-linked Wagner Group persisted.
Security incidents, attacks and abductions are a daily reality for millions of civilians and humanitarian workers in the field. Attacks on civilians and infrastructure, as well as clashes between state and non-state armed groups, have led to massive displacement.
Some 380,000 people are currently internally displaced in Mali. In addition, the Central Sahel state hosts more than 123,000 refugees, most of whom have fled insecurity in neighboring countries. Some 200,000 Malian refugees are hosted by surrounding countries, including Mauritania, Niger and Burkina Faso.
Nearly 1.8 million children between the ages of 6 and 17 are out of school. Disruptions to schooling caused by armed conflict, climate change and displacement put children at increased risk of abuse, violence and exploitation, and undermine their potential for development.
The plight of the people of Mali is part of a wider regional emergency in the Central Sahel, which also includes Burkina Faso and Niger. All three countries are ruled by military governments following several coups between 2021 and 2023. Armed conflict, deteriorating security, political instability and widespread poverty are the main drivers of humanitarian needs in the Central Sahel.
Both Burkina Faso and Mali have made it onto the International Rescue Committee's (IRC) Emergency Watchlist 2025, which highlights 10 countries most likely to face escalating humanitarian needs.
The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has identified the situations in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger as some of the most neglected displacement crises in the world. According to the NRC analysis, all three countries in the Central Sahel - Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger - were among the top five most frequently neglected crises.
In a related development last week, the UN launched the HRNP for neighboring Burkina Faso, seeking US$792.6 million to provide emergency assistance to millions of people. An estimated 5.9 million people across Burkina Faso are in need of humanitarian assistance this year. The new HRNP aims to assist 3.7 million people in support of the government's national plan, which targets all people in need.
In 2024, donors provided nearly $410 million, which is only 44 percent of what was required. As a result, only 42 percent of those targeted received life-saving assistance.
Following two military coups in 2022, the security situation in Burkina Faso deteriorated. Across the country, more than 1 million people live in areas blockaded by armed groups, where they lack access to even the most basic services. Non-state armed groups control nearly 40 percent of Burkina Faso's territory.
Further information
Full text: Mali : Besoins humanitaires et plan de réponse 2025, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, report, published January 21, 2025 (in French)
https://www.unocha.org/publications/report/mali/mali-besoins-humanitaires-et-plan-de-reponse-2025-janvier-2025