Since 2007, Miriyawalé became an NGO that offers support and guidance to children and youngsters in the Republic of Mali. Their mission is to support them while growing up and help develop themselves despite the unfavourable conditions they live in. The organisation uses a social-cultural approach to achieve their purpose.
Originally, Miriyawalé intended to work only with young adults focusing on cultural and employment support. It soon became apparent that a large group of youngsters aged from 0-12 years old were eager to participate in the programme as well. As a result, Miriyawalé expanded the age range and invited to attend anyone under 30 years old.
As part of their programme, Miriyawalé organises educational activities like ‘Saturday School,’ computer lessons, library, and tutoring. They also conduct a diversity of social-cultural activities that include dancing classes, drawing, theatre, music, karate club, sports and game activities. Children and youngsters are encouraged to join freely to any of these activities. Furthermore, the organisation occasionally offers medical and social assistance to anyone who visits the centre.
In 2017, Miriyawalé contacted Aflatoun International after noticing that we are pursuing the same goals and that the Aflatoun curricula were precisely what they needed regarding content and design. In August 2018, Miriyawalé became an official partner of Aflatoun International offering social and financial education to children and youngsters in Mali. All the activities were contextualized to the needs of its population.
In partnership with a public school in Baguinéda, the Aflatoun programme is currently being offered to 1,400 pupils aged from 6-18 years old.
Overall, introducing the programme in Mali was a success since children, youngsters and teachers are wildly enthusiastic about working with the Aflatoun methodology.
