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Mali

Applying an Anticipatory Action Mindset to Addressing Conflict and Food Insecurity in the Timbuktu Region, Mali, 12 November 2024

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Overview

Supporting anticipatory action and using an anticipatory mindset to prevent or reduce conflict-induced food insecurity in Mali’s Timbuktu region

  • Anticipatory action “saves lives and livelihoods before a humanitarian disaster has occurred, helps to preserve people’s dignity, provides value for money, and protects development gains. [It] can contribute to the efficiency of the [humanitarian aid] system, reducing humanitarian needs and thereby saving costs” (Grand Bargain political caucus to scale up anticipatory action, 2024).
  • This briefing focuses specifically on conflict-related incidents undermining food security and the application of an anticipatory action mindset to help address this. It does not consider the impact on food insecurity of climate-related or other factors.
  • The analysis is based on reported incidents of food-related violence in Mali’s Timbuktu region from 1 January 2023 to 25 October 2024. These incidents included the looting of livestock and violence at markets and directly affecting people travelling to and from markets. A blockade imposed on Timbuktu region by a non-state armed group in August 2023 also affected food accessibility during the analysed period.
  • By considering the foreseeable consequences of violence for food security, the briefing discusses the knowledge that humanitarian actors and communities need in order to employ an anticipatory action mindset.
    This involves proactively monitoring violent events that pose risks for food security so that their worst foreseeable consequences can be mitigated or prevented through early conflict-sensitive actions

For further details on the assumptions and approach underlying this document, see the Appendix. For more information on conflict and hunger in Mali, data categorisations, and recommendations, see Insecurity Insight’s report, Conflict-Induced Food Insecurity in Mali: Examining the Links between Conflict and Hunger.