[2] Nearly 50% of the population of 16,455,903 is under 14 years of age and Mali has the second highest birth rate in the world,[3] making high maternal and child mortality a national crisis.

In Mali, 1 and 5 children die before their 5th birthday, mostly from five treatable, preventable diseases: malaria, diarrhea, acute respiratory tract infections, measles, and malnutrition.

[4] In 2014, high maternal mortality (1 in 22 women die in childbirth) led Save the Children to rate Mali the 3rd worst country to be a mother in 2014.

[7][8] Cohen, Ryan and Trauba believed that the role of an international development organization is to foster rather than replace local groups and government action.

Similarly, Mouhammadoun (Modibo) Niang, Rokia Savané (vice-president of Coordination Des Associations Et ONG Feminines Du Mali), Siriki Coulibaly (adviser to Sikoro's chief and the town’s official representative to Mali Health) and numerous other leaders in Sikoro were frustrated by a history of failed projects, including a huge aid-agency water project that left the community without water, without the $30,000 they had contributed, and without many children, as many died due to iron contamination.