Sahel Re-Sound M’bera

Next Project 2026:
Cultural Center in the M’bera refugee camp

Since 2012, the Mbera refugee camp in Mauritania has been home to Malian refugees, in a context shaped by pressure on natural resources, fragile humanitarian support, limited infrastructure, and a lack of professional opportunities for young people. In this context, culture as music, audiovisual arts, dance, craftsmanship, and sport, plays a vital role. It strengthens social cohesion, creates space for expression, prevents radicalisation, builds resilience, and eases social tensions.

Since 2025, we have been building an ongoing dialogue with artists and young people in the camp. This has taken place through a field mission in August 2025, as well as regular remote exchanges. Together, these efforts have revealed a strong and vibrant creative potential, while also bringing into focus urgent structural needs in terms of infrastructure, equipment, training, and access to wider audiences.

With the support of 11.11.11, Connect for Global Change, Connect & Create – Tandems Créatifs, Expertise France, Institut français, and the Province of East Flanders, we carried out a second mission in Mbera from 15 to 26 April 2026. During this time, we met with Mauritanian authorities, UNHCR Mauritania, camp coordination teams, and more than 100 local artists and young people through discussions, artistic performances, as well as sporting and craft activities.

This mission allowed us to further validate the needs identified and to confirm a clear strategic direction: the development of a structured cultural ecosystem in Mbera. Such an ecosystem would support training, creation, production, dissemination, and international outreach to empower local talent, reinforcing social cohesion, and opening pathways to professional opportunities.

Next steps: mobilising resources and partnerships to establish a sustainable cultural space and bring these activities to life within the camp.

We warmly thank all partners for their continued support and engagement, as well as everyone who contributed to the success of this mission—especially UNHCR Mauritania, the Mauritanian authorities, the camp coordination teams, and the artists of Mbera.