Capacity building

Introduction

The people of Andavadoaka are working with conservationists, neighbouring villages, government agencies, and others to develop and implement management plans that benefit both communities and nature.

Villages across southwest Madagascar are creating protected areas, using sustainable fishing practices, and launching mariculture and eco-tourism businesses to ensure that the marine resources they rely upon for survival will be healthy and productive for generations to come.

Andavadoaka recently launched it's first children's environmental club and the charity Blue Ventures sponsors a scholarship program that trains Malagasy students in marine conservation. There are also womens associations based in Andavadoaka and Lamboara that aim to help provide local women with the tools and skills required to provide them and their family with alternative sources of income, a step to help diversify the local economy within Velondriake and ease pressure on the regional fisheries. These programs are helping educate a new generation dedicated to protecting critical marine resources both within Velondriake and elsewhere in Madagascar.

Womens associations

Women's association

There are currently two women's associations within Velondriake situated in Andavadoaka and Lamboara. Established in 2006 in Andavadoake and followed shortly by Lamboara, women's associations within Velondriake have the primary goal of providing local women whose financial alternatives, besides harvesting ever dwindling octopus stocks, are limited with a number of opportunities for income generating activities.

By using financial capital initially loaned by Blue Ventures to buy tools and materials, the women involved have been able to develop their skills and partake in training where needed. In addition to monetary loans, Blue Ventures are able to source materials for the womens associations on their regular trips to Toliara, some 150km south of Andavadoaka. Membership of the Women's Association is available to any women from the area at the cost of a monthly fee of 100 Malagasy Ariary and is presided over by a preseident and a treasurer, themselves voted in by the members of the association.

For more information about the women's association please read the report, The Womens Associations of Andavadoaka and Lamboara, Southwest Madagascar at the Blue Ventures website.

Guide Training

Members of the Andavadoaka community are training to become eco-tour guides. Tourism in Andavadoaka is small but growing, and it provides locals with an alternative income to destructive fishing practices. These eco-tour guides will lead snorkelling expeditions, boating trips and birdwatching treks, while also educating visitors about Andavadoaka's unique natural resources and the need to protect them. The guide training program is part of a larger initiative to develop sustainable livelihoods in the Andavadoaka region.

The training program takes place over two months of lessons, field work, one to one and role playing sessions. Potential guides are taken to potential tourist destination such as Mangrove stands, reef flats, baobab forests and taught how to conduct canoe tours to islands off the coastline of the Velondriake area. In addition to adding to the local knowledge required to be an effective guide, the students are also being given training in group leadership, first aid and communication skills such as helping them to improve their grasp of conversational French. In an effort to reinforce the importance of professionalism and punctuality when working with tourists, the attendance of classes on the training program was strictly enforced with only one absence throughout the course of the program allowed.