ABSTRACT
Built by the Senegal River Basin Authority (OMVS) in Mali in the 1980s, the Manantali Dam on the Bafing River now provides electricity to the major cities of OMVS member states, increased irrigation on the Senegal River, and was meant to improve navigation between Mali and downstream countries. The resettlement plan for the 8,850 residents of southwest Mali displaced by the dam’s reservoir included some provisions for participation. These efforts to involve resettlers in planning for their futures were compromised by the need to resettle them speedily in order to finish the dam. Hindsight suggests that more effective participation in planning and formal implementation would have allowed resettlers to reconstruct their previous livelihoods to a greater degree, even if it slowed resettlement. Formal stakeholder involvement can never, in itself, ensure that resettlers will be able to respond to new opportunities, especially as many of these possibilities may not be envisaged by either planners or participants. But after resettlement, both formal and informal opportunities arise for those who are resettled. Importantly, occasions for informal participation during implementation can allow resettlers to learn, and use, new political and economic skills to pursue futures in line with their own desires and goals.
