The Joliba Trust – improving the lives of some of West
Africa’s most marginal communities.

In 1994 I went out to see what the Joliba Trust did in Mali and my visit was misunderstood. This isn’t a charity that spends money on intercontinental flights for European directors and is administered locally, by the locals amongst the villages it helps. The Dogon villagers had seen years of improvement in their living conditions but not a western face to thank. So they decided to thank me. I was met by hundreds of people and paraded to their village, virgins wafting me with leaves and young men setting off muzzle-loaded shotguns into the air, before a feast and festival in my honour attended by hundreds or maybe thousands of villagers who had walked for miles to be there.

I have never felt less deserving. But at the same time it was nice to know that the charity, which concentrated only on education, risk-free loans and the occasional gift of a cart was so genuinely appreciated by the people it helped.

The Joliba Trust is one of the most inspiring charities working on the very smallest scale to bring very real change at an individual level, focussing precisely on what can most effectively bring growth to remote communities. It is active in sub-Saharan Africa, a part of the world that is currently afflicted by environmental degradation, droughts caused by climate change and political instability: the Dogon regions of Mali and Burkino Faso’s 
desert-dwelling Fulani communities.

A closer look at what the Joliba Trust actually does shows
how targeted their activities are. The Joliba Trust was an early pioneer of microfinance loans, helping the vulnerable to set up individual small businesses. Since the charity first started in 1984 repayment rates have been at 100% and countless lives have been changed.

When the Joliba Trust started to work in West Africa, one in
four women were dying due to childbirth complications and there was little or no healthcare. The Trust has now trained Village Birth Attendants in nine districts. In the last year they have assisted 1,965 births in 69 villages.

While climate change is still primarily a subject for debate in the developed world, on the ground in West Africa it is all too real. Droughts that used to occur once every few decades now come round again and again. The Joliba Trust works on several levels to improve resilience against desertification. They actively plant trees to prevent soil erosion and provide vital foods in years of drought. Invasive sand dunes can be halted by planting deep-rooted grasses: the Joliba Trust funds this. Firewood use can be drastically reduced by building efficient domestic stoves out of mud. The Joliba Trust shows the Dogon and Fulani people do all this and more.

It’s never been easy to get charity write-ups into newspaper
travel sections but the Telegraph took an account of my 1994 visit. Because some of the Joliba Trust’s microfinance loans were as small as £5 their headline was apt: “How to get change for a fiver”.

A fiver is still enough to make a big difference. Give now.