Welcome!

A message from our trustees

Madagascar, whilst famous for its astonishing flora and fauna,
is a country in crisis. After decades of economic disarray
levels of income, healthcare and education are amongst the
lowest in the world whilst population growth is putting
enormous pressure on precious rainforest.

In response to this social and environmental disaster Money

for Madagascar was founded in 1986 by returning volunteers
wanting to fund local solutions and enable the Malagasy
people to take charge of their own destiny. Since then we
have raised over two million pounds.

Our projects tackle many of the key issues facing Madagascar

today: food security, loss of bio-diversity, poor health and
extreme poverty. We also respond to emergencies, from
cyclone relief to feeding programmes for street kids and their
families. With modest resources we have built a record that
we, our supporters and our Malagasy partners are proud of.

In this booklet we will share with you the stories of some of

the many communities that we continue to support in
Madagascar. But first, let me hand over to our founder, Bar- Beautiful, unique,
bara Prys-Williams, to tell you a little more about our origins. threatened—Madagascar is
a country in environmental,
Chris Sewell, Trustee, Money for Madagascar social and economic crisis.

How it all began - by our founder, Barbara Prys-Williams

In the 1980s, Madagascar was in a very bad way with a collapsing economy
and starvation in certain areas of the country. As a former teacher in Mada-
gascar, I could find no way to send help through existing channels, so I set up
my own small effort with the oversight and support of Swansea Quakers.
After three years we became an independent charity, receiving support from
Comic Relief, the government and many individuals and trusts.

The early years had their problems, particularly in the area of communicating with and
monitoring our projects. Before the advent of computers it took weeks to get
information to and from Madagascar and many problems arose as a result. I remember
perceiving the fax machine when it arrived as one of the wonders of the world! Today
we can have a reply from our partners within minutes thanks to E-mail. We are very
pleased that our early principle: that the Malagasy people contribute the ideas and the
manpower while we provide the money and oversight, has proved fruitful for so long.
The Money for Madagascar team
Money for Madagascar is run by a team of eleven people consisting of ten unpaid trustees
and one salaried development worker. They are central to achieving our key objective as a
charity: to ensure that as much money as possible goes to support innovative, sustainable
locally-led projects in Madagascar. This team is responsible for assessing the viability of the
proposals that we receive from our Malagasy partners, allocating funds and verifying the
outcomes of the projects once completed.

The Money for Madagascar Team: (r-l): Timothy King, Steve Wilkinson, Stuart Cassie, Martin
Wilkinson, Theresa Haine, Mike Cherry, Irenée Rajaona-Horne, Jan Kirby, Gwen Evans, Chris
Sewell, and Bernadette King.
This model only works thanks to the depth and breadth of experience that our trustees
and development worker bring with them. Every one of them has either lived and worked
in Madagascar or boasts extensive experience of development work, fundraising, business
or management. This practical experience, cultural awareness and love for the Red Island
and its people is critical to identifying the right projects to support and ensuring that our
donor’s money is spent safely and effectively.
Lifetimes of experience
Working with the people of Madagascar has truly
been a lifetime commitment for some of our
team. Pictured here are MfM trustees who, as
fresh-faced youngsters, embarked for Madagascar
as volunteers more than forty years ago and
continue to support the people of Madagascar
today. See if you can spot them in the present
day photo above! Between them we estimate
that our trustees have almost 200 years of
experience of development work in Madagascar.
Our patrons
One of the secrets of our success is the backing of a group of patrons with unparalleled
knowledge of international development, the environment, and Madagascar itself. Few
organisations can be fortunate enough to be able to call upon the support and advice of
such a prestigious and knowledgeable group, each with world-class expertise in one or
more of the fields within which we work.
Rt Hon Lord Anderson of Swansea was Labour MP for Monmouth from
1966 to 70, and Swansea East from 1974 to 2005. He was made a life peer in
2005 and throughout his career has remained deeply involved in international
affairs, most recently as Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee
(1997-2005).

Hilary Bradt MBE has visited Madagascar around 25 times since her first trip
in 1976, mostly as a tour leader. She lectures, broadcasts and writes about the
joys and perils of travelling in Madagascar and other countries. She is also the
founder of Bradt Travel Guides. Her Bradt Guide to Madagascar is now in its
10th edition. She was appointed MBE in the 2008 Birthday Honours for
services to the tourist industry and to charity.
Sir Mervyn Brown KCMG is a former British ambassador to Madagascar li
and the author of the seminal books “Madagascar Rediscovered” and “A
History of Madagascar”. While living there he and his wife learned to play
Malagasy music and won several tennis championships. He is the President of
the Anglo-Malagasy Society, a member of the Academie Malgache and one of
the world’s foremost authorities on the Red Island.
Dr Lee Durrell is Honorary Director of the internationally renowned
Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust. A specialist in animal behaviour and
communication, she researched her PhD on Madagascar in the early 1970s. As
well as co-authoring a number of books with her husband Gerald Durrell she
is an author in her own right. “State of the Ark“ is a reference work on issues
facing conservationists and methods of tackling environmental problems.

Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead has long been a campaigner on issues

relating to Africa and cemented her reputation as an expert on the region
during her time as an MEP as co-president of the African, Caribbean and Pacific
-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly and with the British Government as Minister
of State for Africa, the Caribbean, Central America and the UN. She is now
Shadow Spokesperson on International Development in the House of Lords.

Dr Barbara and Dr Allan Prys-Williams set up Money for

Madagascar and largely ran it for its first decade. They were
responsible for establishing the basic principles and structure upon
which more than twenty-five years of success has been based.
 Our development partners
Education...
Friendship, trust and cooperation
Our approach is to support Malagasy people in finding their
own solutions and changing their own communities. We are
not a large charity so it is important that what funds we have
are spent wisely. We make grants directly to an established
network of development partners. These inspirational peo-
ple lead organisations from across civil society including edu-
cational, community, and faith-based groups. Here’s what
they have to say about their experience of working with Mo-
ney for Madagascar:
“My organisation has worked in partnership with Money
for Madagascar since 1991. They have funded many vital
projects for us: income generating projects for remote
communities, literacy and numeracy schemes, initiatives to
help prisoners, the funding of primary education and many
vocational training programmes..”
Mme Charnette, Director FATOAM, Tamatave

“Thanks to Money for Madagascar hundreds of children

now have a decent place to study. ”
Mr. Martin Ravelomanantsoa, Director of
Association ALF, Central Highlands, Madagascar
“We are so impressed by the strength of the long-term
commitment that Money for Madagascar have made to us.
Their Coordinator travelled 600km by car just to visit our
project—what courage and enthusiasm!”
Mr Jean Pierre, Head of SAF Development Agency,
Maintirano.

The success of the projects that we fund is only possible thanks to a network of trusted Malagasy
development partners established over more than 25 years.
 Our beneficiaries
Education...
Who we help
Using our network of partners and the experience of our trustees we provide support to
those groups of Malagasy society who suffer most from the economic and environmental
crisis that Madagascar is enduring. We also target communities who we feel have an impor-
tant part to play in tackling the key problems facing modern Madagascar. Here are the
principal groups of beneficiaries that we support :

Destitute children
Every year more than 1000 street kids receive food, education
and medical care at MfM funded drop-in centres in the capital
whilst 140 destitute kids have a safe place to live. The sixty
classrooms that we have built since 2004 are used to educate
more than 2000 children in locations across Madagascar.

Vulnerable women and girls

We fund vocational training for vulnerable and impoverished
women and support the formation of income generating
co-operatives enabling Malagasy women to support themsel-
ves. Elsewhere our money supports projects helping single
mothers, troubled teenagers and victims of domestic violence.

Young people with physical or learning disabilities

The Malagasy state provides virtually no specialist support for
those growing up with a disability. Money for Madagascar funds
specialist education and care for dozens of children and young
people who otherwise would spend their youth confined to
their homes and deprived of friendship or education.

Families escaping poverty

We are committed to helping destitute families escape the
poverty trap by funding vocational training and start-up grants
which allow ordinary people to begin small businesses. Such
schemes are funded both in urban areas and also in rural
cyclone-hit regions to enable communities to regenerate.

Communities in ecological hotspots

In more than 73 villages we fund projects including
reforestation, food security and environmental education.
These projects are designed to protect precious habitats whilst
supporting the communities around them. We also fund wells,
latrines, schools and income generating schemes.
Our principles:
Malagasy solutions to Malagasy problems
Any visitor to Madagascar is sure to be impressed by
the resourcefulness and initiative of the Malagasy people.
Money for Madagascar manages to produce big results with
small sums of money by harnessing the ideas and local know
-how of Malagasy people to build lasting, cost-effective
solutions. We believe that Malagasy people themselves best
understand the issues which affect them and are best placed
to find realistic ways of tackling them.
We only fund projects that have been planned and
initiated by Malagasy people. Once a project proposal has
been accepted by our trustees the money is sent to one of
our Malagasy partners and the project is then managed
through to completion by local people. Once a year a
A charcoal-alternative fuel
trustee visits such projects to verify the success of the ven-
making scheme based on
ture and assess its genuine impact on the beneficiaries. Malagasy ideas and ingenuity.

Rewarding resourcefulness
We favour ideas which make the best possible
use of available resources and are proud to support
projects with an emphasis on recycling and sustainable
technologies. These include rainwater harvesting
systems, the innovative use of plastic bags and bottles,
and the production of charcoal alternative fuels.
Such solutions help reduce living costs for our
A boy waters an urban market gar- beneficiaries whilst helping to address some of the
den planted in discarded plastic bags underlying environmental issues plaguing Madagascar.
using an improvised watering-can.

Community participation
We work with Malagasy partners who involve
and empower their beneficiaries. When funding con-
struction or repair projects we ask, wherever possible
that the local community contributes land, labour and
what local materials they can gather, such as clay,
rocks or river sand to the project.
This not only keeps costs down but also engages
the commitment of the local community and authori- Villagers digging the foundations of a
ties in the project and acts as a permanent reminder of Money for Madagascar funded
what can be achieved through collective action. school in a rural community.
Keeping costs to a minimum
As a small charity we strive to ensure that the
donations that we receive provide the maximum possi-
ble benefit to the people and environment of Madagas-
car. To achieve this we keep our running costs to an
absolute minimum, operating using volunteer staff,
working from our homes and keeping our postal,
printing and administration costs low.
This “no frills” approach can be found in every This “no frills” tree-nursery
embodies our low-cost approach
aspect of our work. We do not pay the salaries and
to development and conservation.
living costs of expatriate staff to manage our projects
but instead invest in agencies run by Malagasy staff. When visiting Madagascar, our trustees
eat, live and travel as our Malagasy development partners do. Our partners also play their
part - striving to make their projects as cost-effective as possible.
A donation to us is not wasted on fleets of 4x4’s, glossy ad campaigns or irritating
mail-drops. It is sent to the motivated, trustworthy, ingenious people who need it to fund
small-scale initiatives which make a lasting difference to communities across Madagascar.

“The road less travelled”: by our Co-ordinator, Theresa Haine

Helping isolated
communities brings with it
unique challenges for visiting
trustees!
Every year Money for Madagascar sends a trustee to
meet with our local partners and to monitor in person the
progress of key projects. The remoteness of many of the
communities we support when twinned with our meagre
transport budget means that this is often easier said than
done. I have lost count of the numbers of times I have
fallen into rivers, endured marathon “taxi-brousse”
journeys or trudged, ankle-deep in mud, for miles to visit a
newly constructed school, latrine or compost heap. River
crossings are a constant nightmare, whether by road
bridges in a frightening state of disrepair, rickety
footbridges or wobbly bamboo rafts.
Our founder Barbara Prys-Williams recounts a sca-
ry tale of a homeward voyage by canoe at night across the
mouth of a wide, shark-infested river, after visiting a
vegetable growing project somewhere on the east coast.
Such experiences remind us that these are the conditions
that our development partners live in every
day. It makes the work they do all the more
impressive and makes us all the more
determined to help.
Conserving and replenishing
Investing in people and their environment
Madagascar is an environmental hotspot.
Deforestation and ‘slash and burn’ agriculture
threaten the very survival of its flora and fauna,
80% of which is found nowhere else in the world.
Money for Madagascar has always seen human
development as essentially linked to environmental
protection. In Madagascar many people depend on
the forest for their livelihoods. It is not realistic to
expect people to abandon traditional but environ-
mentally damaging practices without promoting Providing food security and reliable
alternative methods of producing food, fuel and sources of income to rural communities
income. is critical to protecting the rainforest.
We work with Malagasy partners who have built trust and understanding with
communities that use the forests. By providing agricultural training, environmental
education, tools, seeds, livestock, small grants and technical support, we have helped
thousands of villagers to improve their quality of life, whilst also protecting the forests.
The next generation
Teaching Malagasy children to respect and
nurture their environment is critical to the survival
of Madagascar’s biodiversity. Children and young
people will one day go on to raise families of their
own, passing on their own attitudes - whether
good or bad. MfM helps schools both inside and
outside the rainforest to set up kitchen gardens
and tree nurseries, which are accompanied by agri-
cultural training and environmental education.
Students of an MfM sponsored By working with children we hope to change
environmental education programme. attitudes and promote environmentally sustainable
development for years to come.
Recognition for our work
Our work over 2 decades with 73 villages surrounding the Reserve
of Betampona recently gained recognition at an international conference
held at the University of East Anglia. Amongst the experts in Madagascar
Conservation who attended was Dr Alison Jolly, a renowned primatolo-
gist who has conducted extensive fieldwork on lemur biology and even
had a new species of mouse lemur, Microcebus jollyae, named in her
honour. After hearing our presentation she offered these words of praise:
“I applaud Money for Madagascar’s local level, long term, investment and
involvement. This is the only real way to help local people conserve their Dr Alison Jolly
own environment”.
 Adding value by adding forests
Often the best way to protect an old forest is to plant a
new one. Money for Madagascar has funded village co-
operatives and women’s groups to plant wildlife corridors and
new buffer forests. In Maintirano local
women, concerned about dwindling
supplies of forest-sourced craft mate-
rials, secured land to plant their own
A group of female artisans
forest. A grant from Money for Mada-
started the Maintirano
reforestation project. gascar enabled them to set up a plant
nursery and start their project.
This new forest now helps to protect the indigenous for-
est and provides a sustainable supply of materials for their craft
production. We also funded public toilets and an extension to
the market place to help the women sell their produce.
It is unrealistic to try to banish people from the forest, we One of several market
prefer instead to help them to use it in a sustainable way. By buildings built for the
becoming forest stewards our beneficiaries value the flora and sale of sustainably
fauna as precious commodities to be preserved and nurtured. produced crafts.

Case study: Forests for life

Over twenty years ago MfM funded a
village tree nursery project in Ampefiloha. The
local community began by planting thousands of
saplings on barren land. These saplings have now
grown into an impressive forest. The villagers
look after their forest and harvest the wood
sustainably. They recen-
tly used timber from
their forest to build a Planting began over 2 decades ago...
new primary school.

A few hundred pounds

for tools and seedlings
was all this village nee-
The forest today. ded to invest in their
future. Now they have a
sustainable source of fuel and timber, a source of
income, and a new school. Money for Madagascar
is proud to help communities who want to help Over twenty years later this school
was built using wood from the forest.
themselves and their environment.
Health and Hygiene
Safe water & sanitation
Across Madagascar thousands of people die every
year for want of access to clean water, sanitation, and
primary health-care. According to the World Health
Organisation, a shocking 64% of the rural population are
without access to improved water sources, and 73% of
them have no access to improved sanitation.
For those that fall victim to water-borne illnesses the
situation is bleak. With no free health-care and less than 2
doctors per 10,000 of the population it is little wonder that
1 in 10 Malagasy children don’t make it to their fifth birth-
day. Clean water saves lives.

Dying for a toilet

Squalid toilets like this are often shared by
hundreds of people.
We fund lasting, hygienic replacements.
Money for Madagascar helps to improve
health and hygiene in isolated rural communi-
ties, which have been overlooked by the
Malagasy Government and NGOs alike.
In areas where mains water is unavail-
able we install wells and water pumps to
provide a supply of safe water. Despite the
relatively low cost of such installations they
are frequently beyond the means of people
who are already struggling to feed themselves.
In Madagascar living conditions are often
shockingly basic, building decent toilet facilities
is often a very low priority. We have funded
the construction of dozens of hygienic toilet
facilities in schools and villages across the
country. 9% of deaths in Madagascar are from
diarrhoeal diseases, these simple improve-
ments to basic hygiene have the potential to
save thousands of lives and provide an exam-
ple to nearby communities.
Health Education
The World Health Organisation
calculates that Madagascar has less
than 1000 health workers in the
whole country, covering an estimated
19 million people.
With doctors rare and medicine
prohibitively expensive the more you
can learn about keeping yourself and
your family healthy the better. Money
for Madagascar funds health education Confronting ignorance and saving lives - an HIV and
programmes in both urban and rural sexual health awareness workshop.

community projects. Working with women’s groups, teenagers at risk, schoolchildren,

teachers, and farmers, education and advice is delivered by peer educators and covers
basic health-care and first-aid, family planning and sexual health.

Case study: surgery for street kids

With no National Health Service, health-care in
Madagascar does not come cheap and if you are home-
less, your chances of affording surgery are zero. For
over a decade we have been funding the Sisters of the
Good Shepherd in Antananarivo to provide education
and health-care to street kids.
In 2005 the Sisters first identified a child who
urgently needed surgery. They wanted to help but the Sales of these toys enabled this
fees were astronomical by local standards and well boy to have life-saving surgery.
beyond their ordinary budget. As a result the ‘Sisters
Surgery Fund’ was born.
Thankfully the boy went through surgery and
made a good recovery. Ever since, thanks to sale of
hand-knitted lemurs made by our supporters, we have
been able to pay for essential surgery for a further two
children each year.
Helping vulnerable children
Lives in the balance
Decades of political and economic
crisis have left millions of children living
lives beneath the poverty line. Life is hard
enough for those lucky enough to be born
healthy and into loving families but for
Madagascar’s most vulnerable children
there is no safety net.
In the absence of meaningful
government funding, we support several
projects aimed at providing care and
education for orphaned, abandoned,
homeless or disabled children living in the Street children at one of our feeding programmes
in Antananarivo.
capital.
Making education a right and not a privilege
Madagascar’s underfunded education system is barely
able to provide a basic primary education to pupils in
mainstream schooling. Provision for those with learning
disabilities is practically non-existent or, where available,
archaic in its preconceptions and approaches. La Source is a
specialist school offering progressive education, vocational
training and hope to disabled children and young people
from across the nation’s capital. It is one of only a handful of
such centres in a country of over 19 million people.
For over a decade Money for Madagascar has
sponsored the salaries of teachers and backed numerous
initiatives to improve the range of activities and the quality
of education offered to the dozens of children who study at
Two pupils at La Source. La Source. The results have been a joy to behold.

In addition to providing
critical funding for running costs,
we have also raised money to
enable La Source to take steps
towards financial independence and
long term sustainability. One such
project was the creation of an on-
site patisserie where students could
learn valuable kitchen skills whilst
the proceeds of the cakes and
pastries sold provided much needed
revenue for the school.
 The work of La Source simply could not continue
without the support of Money for Madagascar. Without
this project dozens of disabled children would be con-
demned to a life excluded from their communities,
deprived of education and denied the friendship of
others.
Thanks to our supporters this oasis of progressive
education goes from strength to strength.

A refuge for the harmed and abandoned

Situated on the outskirts of Antanana-
rivo, Akany Avoko is a children’s home
providing a refuge for more than one hun-
dred abandoned, orphaned or destitute chil-
dren. More than two decades of support
from Money for Madagascar has seen this
centre grow from modest beginnings to be-
come one of Madagascar’s leading centres of
education, vocational training and social care
for destitute children and young people
Akany Avoko is home to children of
all ages between newborns and young
adults. Children rescued from the streets
or impoverished and sometimes abusive
homes are offered the chance to live in a
loving, secure environment whilst receiving
nutritious food and a great education. In
addition to providing a model of childcare
for other centres Akany Avoko is also a
demonstration centre for alternative
technologies and sustainable living.

In addition to contributing significantly to

the running costs of the centre, Money for
Madagascar has fundraised for dozens of one-
off projects aimed at improving standards of
education, health, hygiene and childcare. By
committing to providing long-term we have
enabled Akany Avoko to grow into the vibrant,
loving community that it is today.
The smiles of the children say all you
need to know about this inspirational project.
Disaster relief
Weathering the storm
Almost every year Madagascar is battered
by cyclones of incredible strength and violence.
During the most violent storms 100 mph winds
tear off roofs, demolish buildings, bring down
power lines and fill the air with deadly projec-
tiles. Meanwhile the accompanying heavy rains
flood homes, decimate crops, cut off roads and
destroy bridges.
Hundreds of thousands of people suffer
every year from the effects of these storms.
Whether killed, injured, left homeless or impov-
erished, whole communities can be devastated
within a matter of hours.
The damage to public buildings and infra-
structure can be enormous. Sadly the govern-
ment rarely provides sufficient funding to rebuild
lost hospitals, schools, roads or bridges meaning
that it is a miracle if the damage from one year’s
cyclone season is repaired before the next ar- Every year violent cyclones lash the coast
rives. This downward spiral has left many coastal of Madagascar destroying homes,
communities as shadows of their former selves. businesses, infrastructure, and livelihoods.

Picking up the pieces

In the immediate aftermath of a
cyclone Money for Madagascar is able to
provide swift, effective emergency relief
through trusted local partner organisa-
tions. We send money to help fund feeding
stations and temporary shelters and to
organise 'food for work' schemes whereby
the able-bodied are paid in rice for
repairing the cyclone-damaged roads in
their area.
To address longer-term issues we
Emergency food aid is distributed by one of our have also funded vital repair work to
network of partner organisations. damaged schools, hospitals, children’s
homes, and community resource centres.
Whilst no building could ever be described as entirely “cyclone-proof”, wherever
possible we encourage building practices designed to minimise the danger of the future
storms that will visit Madagascar in the years to come .
Disaster preparedness
In addition to emergency relief work
Money for Madagascar also funds important
work to help communities prepare for the
impact of future cyclones. In one community we
funded the purchase of two boats which are now
used as emergency vehicles during the cyclone
season and for the rest of a year to transport
local pupils to school and goods to market. In
others we have supported schemes to plant large A boat, purchased by Money for
numbers of hardy, strong rooted plants to Madagascar, to reach isolated communi-
protect against the mudslides and dramatic soil ties in the aftermath of cyclones.
erosion that often accompanies the rainy season.
Of course cyclones are not the only disasters which threaten Malagasy communi-
ties. Bush fires, often caused by the environmentally disastrous practise of “tavy” (slash
and burn agriculture) are a huge danger to rural communities and precious wildlife
habitats. We ensure that the reforestation schemes funded by us incorporate safety
measures such as firebreaks to minimise the impact of forest fires and anti-erosion
planting programmes designed to protect against heavy rains and flooding.
Case study: Repairing a hospital at Belo-sur-Mer
Cyclone Fanele hit the west coast of Mada-
gascar in late January 2009, bringing with it
180mph winds and devastating the vital port
of Belo-Sur-Mer. Many homes and civic
buildings including the town’s hospital were
severely damaged.

Money for Madagascar quickly launched an Before...

appeal and, within months were able to pay
for the hospital to be re-roofed and much of
its interior to be repaired. This was a
considerable undertaking as all of the mate-
rials had to be brought in by sea and then
carried to the site of the hospital on peo-
ple’s backs.
..and after.
As the photos show the project was a
resounding success and Belo Hospital is Funding from Money for Madagascar
once again able to provide vital medical care allowed the roof of Belo sur Mer’s only
hospital to be repaired.
to the residents of the area.
Working towards independence
A struggle to survive
With less than 20% of the
population in formal employment,
earning a living in Madagascar
requires incredible ingenuity, energy Photo
and hard work. In our experience
the Malagasy poor are desperate to
lift themselves out of poverty but the
struggle of daily life makes it
impossible for people to save-up
even the funds needed to start their Funding to start small businesses can be almost
own business. impossible to find.
Our partners across the island work with the urban and rural poor to foster enter-
prise and income-generation. They offer training, small grants, tools, materials and support
to thousands of people to help them start their income-generating enterprises.
Backing urban enterprise
In urban areas Money for Madagascar
funds small business creation schemes
delivered through community centres,
refuges and outreach workers. These
schemes aim to help the homeless and desti-
tute, young offenders, orphans, young
mothers and young people with special
needs.
By offering training and small grants
By backing budding entrepreneurs Madagascar Money for Madagascar enables society’s
helps lift disadvantaged people out of poverty. poorest people the opportunity to get back
on their feet.
A new start for destitute young women
At Akany Avoko Children’s Home
destitute teenagers learn innovative craft-
making skills, using natural and recycled
materials, such as this bike made from a
discarded can.
Once the young adults are skilled and
ready for independence, they are given a
start-up grant to set up their own workshop
as well as assistance with selling their Vocational skills help single mothers reach
produce through the Akany Avoko gift shop. Independence and financial stability.
Rural initiatives
Often issues of overpopulation and
unemployment in urban areas are a direct
result of the influx of the rural poor into
major cities in search of jobs. To enable
remote communities to earn sustainable in-
come we fund support schemes in four rural
regions.
Our development partners build rela-
tionships with communities, responding to
local initiatives and training and encouraging A rural craft collective at work using sustainably
would-be entrepreneurs. sourced forest materials.

Bringing women together in co-operatives reinforces their skills and helps them to
lobby for decent prices for their goods. It also enables them to access larger markets to
sell their wares. On the East Coast our Partner SAF FATOAM has established co-
operatives of craft producers and fruit sellers, who are now producing for both the local
and export markets.

Case study: Farming in the forest

Farmers living in and around Madagascar’s
threatened rainforests face hard lives and diffi-
cult dilemmas. As their families grow and their
land degrades they must either chop down
more forest to cultivate, or find new ways to
improve their yields. When cash is needed for
medication or school fees, they might fell and
sell a precious tree unless they have another
way to generate cash.

We have helped hundreds of entrepreneurial

farmers in Betampona with materials, tools and
training. Thanks to initiatives in fish-farming,
vegetable growing, animal rearing, beekeeping,
fruit-growing, coffee cultivation and improved
rice production these farmers now produce
enough food to nourish their families. Increased
productivity also enables them to earn an in-
come by selling their surplus. With this profit
they are able to buy essential supplies and also
to further invest in their businesses. ”Teach a man to fish…”
Education: a right, not a privilege
Breaking the cycle of poverty
Education is crucial to helping the people of
Madagascar escape poverty but sadly across
much of the country thousands of children are
unable to go to school because there are not
enough places or because their parents cannot
afford educational fees, materials or uniforms.
These issues are compounded by the chronic
shortage of money available for repairing and
Access to education is a fundamental right
maintaining school buildings. denied to many Malagasy children.

Supporting schools country-wide

Since 2004 MfM has funded work at 29 schools
across Madagascar. This includes the building or
renovation of 60 classrooms and the construc-
tion of two completely new schools. We have
also funded the purchase of land for school
buildings, sponsored the creation of school vege-
Money for Madagascar supports dozens of table gardens and canteens and built new latrines
schools across the Red Island. to improve health and hygiene.

Funding inspirational educators

A school building means nothing without
great teachers to bring it to life. As well as
helping to build and repair schools Money
for Madagascar also pays the wages of
educators in both mainstream and specialist
schools. As well as supporting children in
academic education we fund teachers pro-
viding vital education to some of Madagas- Providing additional teachers reduces class sizes
car’s most disadvantaged people including and raises the quality of éducation.

street children and children with disabilities. We also support the rehabilitation of offend-
ers through a prison literacy programme.
A first taste of formal education...
For many of Madagascar’s children the opportu-
nity to don a uniform and study in a classroom is
only a dream. Nowhere more is this the case
than with the thousands of street children living
homeless on the pavements of Madagascar’s ma-
jor cities. We fund a number of projects aimed at
giving these children the opportunity to join for-
Street children relishing their first
mal education for the first time. Of course no- experience of classroom study
one can study on an empty stomach so MfM also funds feeding programmes to provide
free meals for students, helping them to focus on their lessons rather than their tummies!

Case study: Rebuilding a school in the central highlands

One memorable project amongst many was the re
-construction of a school in the remote village of
Soanatohizana in the central highlands. This is what
the original building looked like from the inside:
cracked walls, no glass in the windows, earth floor
and a leaking grass roof (removed in this picture).
There is no road suitable for vehicles to
reach the village so all the building materi-
als: bricks, roofing sheets and timber, had
to be carried on people’s backs across a
perilous bridge and up the steep hillside to
the village. The parents of pupils volun-
teered to provide 10% of the cost by giving

their labour free of charge and by providing

some of the materials. MfM provided the rest.
The foundations were dug by hand with
spades—the whole village took part. The partici-
pation, energy and ingenuity of Malagasy com-
munities is vital to the work that we do.
 Closing words...
A final word from Money for Madagascar Patron, Hilary Bradt ,MBE
This year marks 35 years since I first visited Madagascar and fell in love with
the place. When I wrote my first little guidebook on the country in 1986 I
noted that the population was nine million. Now it is over 20 million. In that
book I described the train journey from Tana to Tamatave and the delight of
passing so close to the forests that bordered the railway that you could
‘almost pick the flowers through the window’. Over the years I’ve watched
this and many other favourite patches of forest disappear. I am not blind to
the causes of this deforestation. I’ve seen the poverty, the children with distended bellies,
and the relentless slog of the men and women to feed their families. I know there is no
easy answer.

It would be heart-breaking if it were not for my discovery, in the 1980s, of Money for
Madagascar. I saw immediately how they were different: how donations were used to al-
low the naturally hard-working and enterprising Malagasy to achieve their goals, and how
my favourite children’s homes in Tana relied on the regular income to see them over hard
times. At the heart of their work is the knowledge that a small amount of money can make
all the difference and that conservation and poverty relief can go hand in hand. Many of
their achievements are only possible due to their relatively small size and strong grasp of
the complexity of the Malagasy culture.

I hope that this booklet has helped you feel as inspired as I am by the selfless work done by
Money for Madagascar. The country engenders a special affection in so many people; if you
can’t go there yourself, making a donation may be the next best thing. Check out the MfM
website to see how they are continuing to find ‘small solutions’ for the big problems that
face Madagascar. They will ensure that not one penny of your donation is wasted.

Helping Us
We need your support to help us continue empowering
Malagasy people to protect their own environment and
improve their communities.
Please visit our website and blog or write to us at the ad-
dress below to find out more about:
• Donating money
• Sponsoring a child or school
• Alternative gifts
• Volunteering—at home or abroad
Thank You!!
Money for Madagascar, Registered Charity No. 1001420
Address: Madagascar, Llwyncelyn Isaf, Llangadog SA19 9BY
E-mail: info@moneyformadagascar.org Telephone: 01550 777535
Website: www.moneyformadagascar.org Blog: moneyformadagascar.blogspot.com