In Rural Mali, a School Reopens After Years of Violence

A few dozen schoolchildren piled into a classroom in Farimaké, Mali, one morning in December 2025. They sat cross-legged on woven mats as volunteers moved through the room, handing each child a bag filled with textbooks, notebooks, and pencils — a first for all of them.

The school hadn’t hosted students since 2015, when jihadist violence first swept through this remote corner of Mali’s Mopti region. In fact, these children were not yet born the last time a subject was taught within these walls.

Armed men with machine guns — members of the terrorist group Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin — had taken control of the school. Teachers were replaced by fighters.

The conflict isn’t over. If anything, it’s getting worse. But some members of the community decided they weren’t going to wait for it to end. They had more power than they realized; they just needed help using it. That’s where The Carter Center came in.

Now, the teachers are back, ready to welcome more than 400 students.

A Profound Distrust

Since the conflict first erupted over a decade ago, armed groups have gained control of vast stretches of northern and central Mali, cutting off access to markets, health facilities, and other basic needs. In response, the Malian government withdrew its presence in the region. Communities like Farimaké felt abandoned.

“Everyone lived in an utter state of fear,” said Farimaké village chief Sidi Modibo Tamboura. “We were left paralyzed.”

Since 2019, through its Mali Peace Through Health initiative, The Carter Center has worked in the country’s most volatile districts. By leveraging much-needed public health and development projects, the initiative brings alienated communities and government officials back into conversation to heal fractured relationships.

In 2025, the effort expanded to Youwarou district, where Farimaké is located.

The Center’s Sahel Coordinator Boukary Sangare noted a “profound mistrust” in the area — people felt that the government no longer worked for them, and the state worried that everyone in the region sided with the jihadis.

“Social cohesion had fallen apart, and all the usual methods for resolving conflict were no longer functioning,” he said.

To start rebuilding trust, the Center held a series of workshops in October 2025 that convened government officials and local leaders with the goal of identifying shared needs and possible solutions.

“We use a community-based approach, so we don’t participate in any actual negotiations,” said Frédéric Deycard, the Center’s associate director for Mali and the Sahel. “Instead, we help people to identify what their needs are and figure out how to meet them on their own. They’re the ones in charge. They can lead — and they do.”

During the workshops, the Center trained participants in conflict resolution frameworks, discussed shared concerns, and planned concrete projects — like increasing access to water for farmers. The improved relationships have also been critical to the Carter Center’s ongoing work to eradicate Guinea worm disease in the region, allowing health programs to reach isolated areas long cut off by fighting.

“What we learned in the workshops, and the actions we took following them, have significantly improved our living conditions,” Tamboura said.

A Classroom Reclaimed

One result of that rebuilt trust was the school in Farimaké. Getting it back required a difficult conversation — community members negotiated directly with the armed groups who had seized it — but the workshops had given them the tools and the confidence to try.

The classroom was just the beginning.

“Young people and students now feel safe,” said Alpha Kassé, an educator and mediator from Farimaké who attended the reopening. “They are no longer at risk of forced recruitment, and access to education has returned. People have regained hope for the future and the freedom to live without harassment.”

For the children settling into class with new pencils in hand, that hope is no longer abstract. It’s time for school.