Lorriana Dembélé

Loriana in Nyamina

As the acting director of Ji Duma and the second senior diplomat in Mali, Consul Dembélé has accomplished a great deal during the 30 years that she has been living and working in Mali. Ji Duma, previously known as the Association of Applied Technologies, has specialized in providing drinkable water to villages through hydraulic projects and equipment (e.g., cistern, dikes, improved circular wells made out of cement bricks and pedal pumps) as well as infrastructure-building projects (e.g., construction of health centers, schools and women cooperatives). Many of these projects have been funded by Ji Duma’s partners who include, but are not limited to the following: Ministries working with the Malian Government, administrative authorities of the project villages, CESVI (an Italian NGO), Rotary International, Church World Service and the Italian Government.
Already realized projects have had a powerful and positive impact on the quality of life within severely impoverished villages. The quality of life and conditions of health dramatically improve when villages are provided with safe, clean drinking water. Consul Dembélé has sought to ameliorate a plethora of problems that plague Malian villages (e.g., disease caused by the consumption of polluted drinking water, the lack of income generating activities, inaccessibility to clean drinking water, the lack of women’s participation in public and their non-presence in income-generating activities).

Its activities have mainly consisted of providing rural villages with drinkable water through well and pump installations. Important projects already realized include: 1) a project in which two pedal pumps were installed in the village of Koulikoro and Dio in 1988, 2) the construction and installation of 107 improved circular wells made out of cement bricks in Farako-Segou between 1987-1992, 3) the construction and installation of several traditional wells in Djenne between 1990-1992, 4) the improvement of already constructed wells in Mopti between 1993-1994, 5) the construction of 14 wells in Macina between 1994-1995, 6) the construction of 68 wells in Farako and Doura in the Segou region between 1996-1998, 7) the construction of 25 improved circular, cement wells in Banco in the Koulikoro region between 2001-2002, and most recently 8) the installation of a solar pump in Farako, a region known for its recovering victims of leprosy. The director of Ji Duma has worked in Ibi and Banco for over 12 years.

In October 2004, villagers in Ibi participated and worked together with Ji Duma to construct and install a solar pump. While Ji Duma provides financial and technical assistance and training, the villagers, specifically groups of women, form management committees in each village – a strikingly effective example of human empowerment. Consul Dembélé ensures that the villagers are provided with management experience and often introduces novel income-generating opportunities that lead to more economic independence, helping to alleviate women’s subservient societal status. The entire village benefits from extra income generated by women and, therefore, they spend less time on non-productive labor and have more time to dedicate to education, health and childcare, all of which have proven to be effective in combating poverty. All of these projects have met vital needs of the population, have encouraged participatory development through the creation of income generating opportunities, reinforced gender equity and have helped improved the overall quality of life and the environment of the villages. Overall, Ji Duma can be credited with executing sustainable development projects that have satisfied basic human needs, above all with the access to drinking water.

A ram given to Ji Duma from a medicine man in Nyamina in thanks for the work completed