Help Displaced People to Return Home in Mali – Support Our Big Give Christmas Challenge 2026

Imagine being forced to leave your home because of violence and spending years living in a refugee camp. Then, when peace finally comes and it becomes possible to return, discovering that there is no clean water in your village.

This is the situation facing thousands of people in the Bandiagara region of Central Mali. The Joliba Trust is determined to help change this. We are delighted to announce that we have been chosen for the Big Give Christmas Challenge 2026. All donations made via Big Give from 1 to 8 December will be doubled! We wish to provide clean water supplies to 22 villages and a health and maternity centre, helping 14,516 people to return home and rebuild their lives.

Why is water so important?

Mali was destabilised in 2012 and between 2014 and 2019, many villages in the Bandiagara region were attacked, burnt and destroyed. This resulted in a massive displacement of people, many of whom have spent years living in refugee camps, facing hunger and widespread poverty. Now, a peace agreement means that it is safe for people to return to their villages. But returning home is only possible if there is a supply of water.

Much of the village water infrastructure has been abandoned for years, damaged or has stopped functioning. Some people who have already returned are drinking from temporary ponds containing unsafe water, which will soon dry up. Without water people cannot drink, cook or wash. Families cannot grow food, keep livestock or re-establish their livelihoods.

Water is not simply a matter of convenience. Water is life.

What will your donation achieve?

With the funds raised through the Big Give Christmas Challenge, we will work with water specialists to repair and restore existing water infrastructure, including boreholes, wells, water towers, standpipes and water distribution systems.

We wish to:

• Restore clean water supplies to 22 abandoned villages so that people can drink, cook and wash.
• Reduce widespread water-borne disease in communities that have already returned. Only a tiny amount of dirty water is available to them and everyone is falling sick with dysentery and diseases. They do not have the means to visit a health centre for treatment so children are dying.
• Provide water resources for 14,516 people in the districts of Koporo-Pen, Koporo-Na, Bondo, Doucoumbo and Youdiou in the Koro and Bandiagara region.
• Provide a water supply to the Health and Maternity Centre in Tireli, which currently has no water.
• Provide water so that families can rebuild their homes,  grow vegetables and keep livestock. 
• Women will have time for income-generating activities, and girls will have the chance to attend school.

How does the Big Give Christmas Challenge work?

From 12 noon on Tuesday 1 December until 12 noon on Tuesday 8 December 2026, donations made to our Big Give online appeal will be eligible for match funding so your donation will be doubled! The link for donations will be posted here.

We are trying to raise £80,000 to provide water to 22 villages.

The Joliba Trust has worked for many years in Mali to reduce extreme poverty and to improve rural livelihoods. We work with farming and livestock-raising communities to manage their disappearing natural resources, to adapt to a changing climate and to provide clean water. Our work also includes health-training and income-generation for women and young people so that they are not forced to migrate, and long-term food security.

Please consider making a donation during the Big Give Christmas Challenge, and encourage your friends, family and colleagues to support the appeal too. Every contribution will restore a vital resource to communities who urgently need it.

Together, we can help 14,516 people return home, rebuild their lives and look forward to a better future.