Social Development Project:
SOUTH AFRICA-MALI MANUSCRIPT PROJECT
R 100 000

The South Africa-Mali Manuscript Project is a South African presidential project, co-ordinated by the Presidency and the Department of Arts and Culture through the National Archives in Pretoria. It aims to make good on an offer of help to the Malian government made by President Thabo Mbeki during his state visit in 2001.

Following Mbeki's offer of help in 2001, South Africa and Mali launched a trust fund to elicit funds from the public both to upgrade the Ahmed Baba Institute and to finance the building of a new library equipped with the necessary technology to preserve the manuscripts. Iqraa Trust contributed R 100 000 to the Trust Fund.

South Africa also began sharing with Mali its own technical expertise on preserving ancient documents and training programmes for Malian archivists have started at South African institutions