In this monograph, convergent pedagogy, which is a foreign language education approach to develop functional bilingualism in students, is described as a new approach to teaching language in bi- or multilingual contexts. Convergent pedagogy was introduced to the Mali educational system as a language education experiment in 1987. This monograph is a complete report of the long-term, internationally funded project, its background, finances, implementation and outcomes. The approach was developed in Belgium and was introduced to the educational system in Mali as a method to facilitate the acquisition of French, while still upholding the educational and cultural values of mother tongues. Using this approach in Mali, mother tongues are taught alongside French; however, mother tongues are employed in the formal classroom to convey the most important elements of communication, expression, and instruction. Sections of the monograph include the following: (1) Background information on the language and educational system in Mali in Africa; (2) principles and foundations of the convergent pedagogy approach; (3) the motivation for and funding of the project; (4) methodologies and techniques used; (5) difficulties in the experimentation of the project; (6) internal and external evaluations including quantitative and qualitative reports; (7) the project's impacts; and (8) extensions granted and conclusion. (Contains 19 references.) (AA)