« We are not just another humanitarian organization. We are a network of researchers, practitioners, traditional authorities and engaged citizens — united by one conviction: understanding cultural realities is the first tool of social change in the service of childhood. »
Why We Exist
the Réseau EnfanceAfrique.org is the scientific and advocacy programme of AMAPISE The Réseau EnfanceAfrique.org is AMAPISE's (Malian Association for the Support and Promotion of Endogenous Know-How Initiatives) scientific and advocacy programme, an association under Malian law founded in 2014 and registered with the competent Malian authorities. Born from a simple and urgent observation: at the institutional level, the anthropology of childhood is given very little consideration by the full range of actors — State, NGOs, associations — involved in child and family protection. This gap goes hand in hand with a persistent lack of interest in cultural approaches to fostering, though these remain essential to understanding the phenomenon of street children in Mali and across West Africa.
In 2026, several million children are estimated to be in a situation of mobility or fostering across West Africa — a significant proportion of whom face nutritional, educational and legal vulnerability. These children remain largely invisible in official statistics and absent from public child protection policies.
This network is the result of 8 years of ethnographic fieldwork, 7 indexed scientific publications, and hundreds of encounters with children, families, village chiefs, NGO actors and policymakers. It relies on AMAPISE as its institutional anchor and implementing structure, and on Traditional Authorities and Legitimacies as indispensable partners in community-driven change.
Affiliated with the LIRCES Laboratory (UPR 3159) at Université Côte d'Azur (France), the Network connects us to international scientific networks and strengthens our dialogue with the global academic community — in the service of children in Mali and West Africa.
Our Unique Approach
What We Do That No One Else Does
The Réseau EnfanceAfrique.org was built within a complementary and necessary space: one that links academic research to community action, scientific knowledge to on-the-ground realities, formal institutions to local cultural dynamics. We replace no one — we build bridges.
1. Ethnology as a Tool for Protection
Where others measure, we understand. Where others intervene, we listen first. Our ethnographic method — participant observation, life narratives, in-depth interviews — allows us to grasp what quantitative surveys cannot see: the deep cultural logics that govern children's lives in West Africa.
2. Dialogue Between Formal and Customary Law
We do not choose between the Convention on the Rights of the Child and traditional protection practices — we build the bridge between the two. It is this patient and rigorous dialogue that produces lasting change where external directives fail.
3. Traditional Authorities as Partners
Customary chiefs, spiritual guides, traditional communicators: where others bypass them, we mobilize them. They are the first regulators of fostering practices and the first protectors of children within their communities. Without them, no change is lasting.
4. Nutritional Security Integrated into Protection
We are one of the few organizations to treat the nutritional vulnerability of fostered children as a constitutive dimension of their protection — not as a separate issue belonging to another sector. A poorly nourished child is a vulnerable child. It's as simple as that.
5. An International Academic Anchor in the Service of Local Fieldwork
Our president's affiliation with LIRCES (UPR 3159) at Université Côte d'Azur (France) connects us to international scientific networks and strengthens our dialogue with the global academic community — in the service of children in Mali and West Africa.
What the Network Is Not
✗ It is not a direct-intervention humanitarian NGO — it produces knowledge and creates the conditions for others to act more effectively.
✗ It is not a neutral institutional website — it takes a stand for vulnerable children, relies on evidence, and names the problems.
✗ It is not an opaque fundraising platform — every franc received is declared and its use made public.
✗ It is not a structure dependent on a single donor — its diversified resources guarantee its editorial and scientific independence.
Our 7 Core Missions
1. Produce and disseminate rigorous knowledge on childhood in Mali and West Africa — combining field ethnology, family law and social policy.
2. Make research data, resources and tools accessible to all — families, educators, NGOs, policymakers.
3. Promote dialogue between formal and customary law in the service of effective child protection.
4. Coordinate traditional mediation mechanisms for child protection, in partnership with Traditional Authorities and Legitimacies.
5. Support and accompany field actors — NGOs, educators, social services — through expertise, training and advisory services.
6. Build a leading French-speaking network on child protection in West Africa, rooted in local realities and open to the world.
7. Integrate nutritional security as a constitutive dimension of child protection — documenting the links between food vulnerability and the trajectories of fostered or street children.
Our Values
🔬 Scientific Rigour — our analyses are grounded in verifiable field data and proven ethnographic methods.
🌍 Cultural Rootedness — we respect endogenous knowledge and work with communities, not in their place.
⚖️ Independence — no advertising, no partisan interests, no institutional allegiance.
📖 Accessibility — all resources are free and available in both French and English.
💚 Accountability — full transparency on the use of funds and the results produced.
👶 Humanity — behind every statistic, there is a child. We never forget that.
🤝 Equitable Partnership — we build collaborations founded on mutual respect, reciprocity and the recognition of local expertise.
The Réseau EnfanceAfrique.org is research in the service of childhood. It is tradition in the service of rights. It is knowledge in the service of action.
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