Protecting children's rights and building futures in Mali

Since November 2020, Plan International Italia has led a sustained commitment in Mali against irregular migration: first through Phase I of the AVENIR BRILLANT project - which trained 850 young people in agroecology, fashion, craftsmanship and renewable energy, and reached 250,000 people through awareness campaigns - and now through Phase II, funded by the Italian Ministry of the Interior under the RELINT 2024 Call.

The new intervention focuses on the regions of Bamako and Kayes, areas marked by decades of political instability, armed conflict and climate crisis - conditions that fuel irregular migration flows and leave children particularly vulnerable.

More details

Lattanzio KIBS accompanies Plan International Italia across the entire evaluation cycle, structured in two distinct phases - mid-term and final. In each phase, the work begins with an in-depth desk review and the development of an evaluation matrix that links each evaluation question to a systematised set of indicators, in line with the OECD-DAC criteria: relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability and impact.

Field evidence collection is coordinated directly by the consortium partners operating in Mali - in a context where security conditions make it impossible for external evaluators to be physically present, making remote evaluation not a constraint but a deliberate methodological choice. This is precisely why Plan International Italia chose to re-assign the assignment to Lattanzio KIBS: a partnership already tested during Phase I, built on methodological rigour and contextual expertise, capable of ensuring analytical quality and output control at a distance - through key informant interviews, indicator analysis and drafting of evaluation reports across both phases.

Project Impact

Lattanzio KIBS delivers to Plan International Italia and the Italian Ministry of the Interior an independent, evidence-based account of what the project is genuinely generating: in the lives of young people who have gained new skills, of children welcomed into protection centres, of communities that have taken part in awareness-raising initiatives. A contribution that turns field data into actionable knowledge - for those who fund, for those who implement, and for those who will decide, in the future, how to continue investing in Italian international cooperation in West Africa.