These projects are being conducted through the auspices of the Joliba Trust. Joliba is the local name for the River Niger, meaning “Riches of Life”. The Trust's main aim is to help the Rural communities through Sustainable Development. Their direct approach with the communities they are involved with has enabled the benefits to be maximized in the areas where it is needed. Much of the work is conducted amongst the Dogon people in Mali with an office in the settlement of Tireli, although recently they have extended work with the Fulani a semi-nomadic community. The Joliba Trust was set up in 1992, based on previous work that has spanned back 20 years. About half of the work conducted by the trust is with the micro credit schemes, the other half in the providing of training, technical support and materials in a wide of areas.

Micro credit is a great enabler. The Dogon Women have been able to start up various businesses through small loans of about £5 - £10. Loans are taken very seriously, they are handed out to groups of 10 – 20 women, in this way the group can assume responsibility of the credit if a business fails, or if one of them is ill. Some examples of businesses that have been created include making spaghetti, spinning cotton, or raising sheep and pigs. All of this provides financial security to the women and allow them to improve their children's future.

Another aspect of the credit provided by the Joliba Trust is for Farming and Market Gardening. This allows the Dogon people to obtain funds to purchase the seeds for market garden vegetables such as Onions and Pimentos. Seed Credit is provided, which is then repaid after the harvest. In 2002 this credit proved important after many Dogon and Fulani lost their crops when the harvests failed.

A small credit scheme is also underway that allows people to purchase transportation in the form of a Donkey and Cart. For just £150 a donkey and cart can be bought which can serve a large family. With an average women’s workload per week reaching 110 hours in many cases, such a simple means of transportation allows the time spent in mundane tasks to be reduced like getting firewood, bringing in the crops or taking goods to market.

Apart from the Credit Schemes the Joliba Trust also provides long term development in the form of training, provision of tools and support in a technical aspect. An important area of training has been in midwifery. This training helps in the prevention of maternal mortality, the death of mothers during child birth. The Midwifery courses lasts for ten days and provides advice in areas such as nutrition, prevention and treatment of common diseases, community hygiene and help for safer births. A maternity center is also being built in Tireli, allowing for a better working environment for the village midwives.

Other areas of long term development that is also being conducted is helping to prevent the degradation of the environment in which the Dogon live. Climate change and pressures on the limited resources available have meant that many of the Dogon have left the area. However, with some simple measures and a small amount of investment some of this desertification process can be stopped. Simple training and tools can help turn back the desert and reclaim lost farming land. 25000 Acacia Albida trees have been planted at a cost of 20 pence each. These trees will help stabilized important farming areas that was slowly turning to desert. The building of Contour Walls also helps to prevent topsoil being washed away in the rainy season. At the same time improvements are being made to conserve water and soil. All of this has served to increase the farming area available, reclaiming land that had been slowly turning to desert.

There is much work for the Joliba Trust, future areas include the need to provide water for several villages and requires the building of deep wells to access the ground water. The midwifery training courses could also have improvements applied with an additional trained midwife and the provision of more comprehensive medical kits. The building of more maternity centres can also improve the chances of healthy births for many women and provide further medical support for complications in birth.

The Joliba Trust has given the Dogon people and recently the Fulani a chance to improve their lives and retain their unique cultures. By the end of 2002 the Trust was working in 52 villages and has help to prevent a famine in 2002 after the crops failed. Micro credit has help to bring financial security to many women in the villages and this is an important aspect of breaking the cycle of poverty.