The town of Niono in central Mali has for centuries derived considerable benefits from its strategic position along the northern rim of the Niger River basin. Niono was a vital crossroads for the camel-borne trans-Saharan trade in salt and gold that generated great wealth for the Mali Empire in the 12^th and 13^th centuries, and today Niono is a key center for irrigated rice production fed by the Niger's annual floods.

Mali's 12 million citizens consume an estimated 320,000 metric tons of domestically produced rice per year, and 60 percent of this harvest is generated by rice paddies that line the Niger's great inland delta. Between August and December, the river's rising waters inundate a massive swath of land that measures 35 kilometers from north to south and 425 kilometers from west to east.

But the economic benefits that Niono draws from the Niger's annual floods are counterbalanced by serious health consequences for its residents. When the river's water line recedes, it leaves behind large pools of stagnant water, overflowing latrines and open cisterns that provide ideal habitats for mosquito breeding and contribute to a dramatic spike in the incidence of malaria, schistosomiasis, and diarrhea.

Nine percent of Niono's residents contract malaria every year - the highest per capita incidence in Mali - and the local spread of malaria parasites is enhanced by inadequate waste management practices. River water collects in the discarded plastic bottles, aluminum cans, and plastic bags that litter the town's streets and alleyways, allowing mosquitoes to breed and circulate in close proximity to local homes during the evening hours.

With support from ADF, Dugu Ka Jeya (DKJ),[1] a local waste-management enterprise that began as a non-profit, women-led civic improvement movement, will seek to expand its collection services from its current base of 428 household subscribers to nearly all of Niono's 4,900 residents by the end of the five-year project.

DKJ's capacity to meet demand for its services is currently limited by a lack of space to store and process food and human waste byproducts, inadequate transportation and waste-removal technology and a lack of operating capital to meet local demand for the construction of improved latrines and covered cisterns.

The enterprise will use ADF funds to build a new office and operating plant and procure:

• Five new waste carriages;
• A pump vehicle for emptying cisterns and latrines;
• A flatbed truck equipped with a hydraulic tip for collecting, hauling, and off-loading waste;
• A variety of tools for composting collected waste, including shovels, wheelbarrows, screens, hoes and picks; and
• Working overalls, boots, gloves and masks for DKJ staff.

ADF will also provide initial operating capital for the local manufacture of 500 garbage cans and the installation of 10 new cisterns and 10 new latrines that will be purchased by individual households through long-term loans provided by DKJ. The additional working capital will allow DKJ to hire new workers and rapidly expand its income-earning power.

ADF's Mali partner organization, AED-Sahel, will supplement the Foundation's monetary support with technical training for DKJ staff in financial management, business management, and consumer marketing strategies.

The immediate goal of the project is to expand DKJ's current income by nearly tenfold, increase the number of full-time DKJ employees from 7 to more than 50 and raise the average income of DKJ employees above Mali's per capita average of US $296.

But the ultimate objective for DKJ is to create a cleaner, healthier Niono that is free of preventable disease. It is a common adage among residents of the inland delta that any man who wants to marry a woman must pledge a mosquito net to her as part of his bridewealth payment. Given the universal prevalence of mosquito swarms during the flood season, it is unlikely that this timeworn tradition will change anytime soon. But community-based initiatives like DKJ may help transform the region's mosquitoes into nighttime pests whose bite is no worse than their buzz.

[1] In Bambara, the expression Dugu ka jeya translates as "Let's clean up together."