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Restoring Transportation Links Rapidly
after
Cyclones Helps Families Maintain Incomes
In early 2000, cyclones Eline and Gloria hit
Madagascar’s east coast, destroying food and cash crops. Unrelenting
downpours caused landslides and washouts that closed roads
and rail lines, isolating families from domestic and international
agricultural markets. About 700,000 families were robbed of
food, farm and employment income.
One six-member family, belonging to the Betsileo
ethnic group, held long discussions after the cyclones hit.
On their 1.5 hectare farm, they grew coffee, bananas, pepper
and pineapple. All these crops depended on the rail line to
get to market. Everybody worked together to produce and harvest
the crops and carry them to the rail line for sale. With the
rail line closed, there would be no market and no income.
Without income, they would be unable to buy rice for food.
Reluctantly, they decided to cut down their coffee, banana
and pepper plants and other trees, too, so they could grow
rice themselves.
But before their work began, they saw a group
of strangers coming up the rail line in a small oxen-drawn
wagon. Landslides were being cleared from the track and the
trains would be running again within two weeks. Good news!
The Betsileo family members went back to work, preparing their
crops for harvest.
USAID recognized the importance of rapid restoration
of rural transportation even before the cyclones struck. Money
was reprogrammed quickly to clear the line and help rural
families maintain their livelihoods. Subsequently, under USAID’s
Southern Africa Flood Recovery program, the Betsileo and other
families in the stricken area were assisted with a wide range
of rehabilitation activities. Farmers planted vetiver grass
and fruit trees on the denuded hillsides around their farm
to prevent erosion and future landslides. Now, more than ever,
they realize the value of trees and the importance of their
rail link with outside markets.
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Fish Production Increases Incomes and
Reduces Pressure on Natural Resources
In rural Madagascar, where 77 percent of the
population lives in poverty, people will only abandon environmentally
destructive practices such as slash-and-burn agriculture when
they have alternate sources of income. Among the many alternatives
promoted by USAID and its partners is fish culture, especially
raising fish in rice fields. In 2000, a USAID-funded initiative
arranged the sale of 7,000 fingerlings to farmers in a corridor
between two national parks. A local NGO partner provided technical
advice. Farmers’ groups agreed to discontinue environmentally
destructive practices and asked for assistance in establishing
fish nurseries to assure a constant supply of fingerlings.
Individual farmer members now operate 12 commercial fingerling
centers along the corridor between the parks, producing 60,000
fingerlings for local farmers.
Until last year, Daniel R. had never raised
fish. He had heard about farmers in a nearby village doing
this, but had no knowledge of how to get started. With help
from a USAID partner, he decided to experiment and learned
how to establish a fish pond. When the pond was in place,
he purchased 350 fingerlings of royal carp for about US$13.
Four months later, he had plenty of fish to sell and to eat.
His profits were US$61, about 80 percent of the average annual
income in the region. Following this success, he built additional
fish ponds to expand fish production.
Other farmers in the area have had similar
experiences and are now raising fish. About 40 percent of
farmers raise royal carp directly in rice fields. After each
season, they dig out the manure rich mud and use this to fertilize
dry season garden plots or small parcels of land devoted to
intensive rice production. Farmers report that the yields
on these plots have increased significantly.
Before the recent harvest, when food supplies
were low, fish farmers were able to stave off hunger by eating
fish and potatoes. But problems remain. Due to severe food
shortages, fish theft is widespread—as is theft of other available
food. Markets need to be expanded as more and more farmers
take up fish production. But for the time being, fish culture
is helping to reduce pressure on natural resources and providing
local families with the food and income they need.
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The Champion Community Initiative
Is it possible to spark greater achievement
among communities already well engaged in health promotion?
This question led to the USAID-supported Champion Communities
Initiative with Madagascar's Ministry of Health. Phase I of
this activity clearly demonstrated that local leaders and
community associations were enthusiastic to become "Champion
Communities" by meeting a series of well-defined health
targets. Phase II started by working with 24 communities,
7,000-10,000 inhabitants each, to develop and test targets
that could be attained with a reasonable community effort
over a six to nine month period. To promote the initiative
at the village level and outline targets and steps for local
officials, USAID funded an easy-to-understand publication
entitled "How to Become a Champion Community" in
French and Malagasy.
The process of becoming a "Champion Community"
first requires district health officials to prequalify a limited
number of communes, e.g., those where community volunteers
hold regular health promotion sessions at the local health
center and also have a solid record of collaboration between
local leaders and health workers. Then through meetings with
community officials and leaders of local associations, targets
are discussed and local activity plans drawn up.
District and communal leaders have responded
enthusiastically to the program's five targets for becoming
a "Champion Community. These are:
- achieve 80 percent vaccination coverage,
- insure that 65 percent of all newborns have a family-friendly
health card,
- 70 percent of all children have received 3 doses of vitamin
A by their second birthday,
- over a 6-month period, community volunteers carry out
family planning promotion activities at the health center
on a weekly basis, and
- community insures overall cleanliness.
Finally when self-monitoring indicates that
a community has met the targets, the community leaders request
an evaluation. Of the 24 communities participating in the
Phase II program, 14 were evaluated. Of this group, 12 form
the first cohort of "Champion Communities." Festivals
to celebrate this achievement have been planned by the communities.
In April 2001 following further adjustments
and streamlining of the targets, the Champion Communities
Initiative will include over 100 localities. The expanded
2001 targets reflect the most important lesson to date: successful
expansion requires clear goals of recognized importance to
the overall population. Since the program was first launched,
progressively specific standard targets have replaced goals
that are more open-ended. In a sense the playing field has
become more level, something local officials requested since
a key source of motivation is the desire to outshine neighboring
communes.
The potential of the Champion Community Initiative
is perhaps best expressed in the comments of a rural mayor:
"We have always had a tradition of being hard workers
in our region. Now we have the chance to prove it to everyone."
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Investing in Promising Women in
Leadership Positions Pays Off
Transforming legal education into a dynamic
laboratory for the exploration of human rights issues. With
USAID support in June 2000, Bakolalao Ramanandraibe Ranaivoharivony,
Director of the Malagasy National Magistrate School (ENMG),
participated in the World Conference for Women and Peace,
or Beijing + 5 Review, in New York City. Fully cognizant of
the implications of her government's endorsement of the Convention
for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW),
upon her return Dr. Ranaivoharivony devised a strategy to
address human rights violations in Madagascar. Through her
position as ENMG Director, she involved her students-the next
generation of Malagasy magistrates, of whom over 50 percent
are women-in an innovative program on the human as well as
the legal dimensions of domestic violence. This initiative
received an enthusiastic response from the students. Together
they wrote and produced a play on wife beating that was videotaped
for broadcast on national television. The airing of the provocative
program on African Women's Day in July 2000 met with acclaim
by the public and the press.
Applying advanced strategies for the promotion
of microfinance. As part of its support for expanded access
to financial services in Madagascar, USAID identified two
candidates to attend the high-level course on "Financial
Institutions for Private Enterprise Development" at Harvard
University in June 2000. Both women play key roles in the
development of microfinance in Madagascar: Emma Andrianansolo
Randreza, director of the Banking and Finance Supervision
Commission (CSBF) at Madagascar's Central Bank; and Monah
Andriambalo, secretary general of the Professional Association
of Mutual Financial Institutions (APIFM). Following current
"best practices," Madagascar's regulatory approach
to microfinance continues to be more analytical than repressive,
encouraging innovation and experimentation among practitioners.
Ms. Randreza and Ms. Andriambalo are making significant contributions
to the evolution of microfinance in Madagascar at the regulatory
and local cooperative levels. In addition to applying the
knowledge they acquired during the course in the exercise
of their professional duties, they have jointly planned a
series of technical workshops on regulatory and supervisory
banking activities for microfinance institutions to begin
in May 2001.
Heeding the advice of women vice-presidents
to enter politics. Energized, focussed, and determined. These
are words that describe the USAID-supported delegation upon
their return from the Global Summit for Women in Johannesburg,
South Africa, in October 2000. At the conference they heard
outspoken female government leaders, including the vice presidents
of South Africa, Uganda, and the Philippines, insist that
women business leaders enter politics to ensure that nation's
laws reflect their interests. When they returned to Antananarivo,
two members of the delegation decided to move into action.
Lalao Raketamanga and Elia Ravelomanantsoa entered the December
2000 election for provincial council members, the first election
to set-up decentralized government in the country's six provinces,
as independent candidates. Ms. Raketamanga garnered enough
votes to win a seat on the council and became one of seven
female members of the 76 member provincial council in the
capital region of Madagascar. During provincial council debates
on the regional business environment, Ms. Raketamanga will
have the opportunity to represent female business owners,
whose concerns she knows well.
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