In 2019, COOPI started a business development project in the south-eastern part of Mauritania, 18 km from Bassikounou, in the region of Hodh El Gharbi, where the Mbera refugee camp is located.

This area is now hosting 58,509 refugees and is characterised by very high levels of food insecurity and malnutrition, high vulnerability to climate shocks and significant isolation, caused by the lack of basic infrastructure and services that affect the population.

Due to growing instability in northern Mali, refugees in Mbera camp are forced to stay and their impact on the environment and the living conditions of the approximately 24,000 inhabitants of the Bassikounou area requires an urgent support in order to maintain a peaceful coexistence with the indigenous population.

COOPI is contributing to strengthen the economic autonomy of the refugees and the host population, offering competitive goods and services, creating sustainable jobs and improving the technical capacity of producers, through intervention at various levels of the supply chain.