The district of Koutiala in Mali is facing many pressing climatic and non-climatic challenges for agriculture, natural resources and food security. These include: access to farm inputs, technology and equipment; security, regulatory policy and governance; erratic rainfall; high population growth; and the subsequent high pressure on natural resources. To bring fresh thinking on how to tackle these challenges, we turned to Transformative Scenario Planning (TSP) — a process developed by Reos Partners that brings together stakeholders from diverse and often conflicting perspectives and transforms their thinking around complex issues. In so doing, TSP helps people to imagine the ways that the future can be changed, and to identify the leverage points that can facilitate this change.

In this brief we describe the processes undertaken during our TSP workshops in Koutiala (June and December 2016), including the possible responses and actions brainstormed by the participants that could pave the way to greater agricultural and food security in the region.