Madagascar

Schooling of children and
community development in a sub-desert region

Less than a euro

per day for 1 family with 10 children

Areas of actionEducation, Access to water

Duration7 years: 2016 - present

LocationFokontany Andohasatra, Betioky District, Atsimo Andrefana Region, Madagascar.
One of the poorest regions of the planet, isolated and arid, 7 hours by muddy roads from Tuléar, in the south of the country.

With whomMinistry of National Education
SOS Villages d’Enfants (SOSVE), a recognized public service association in Madagascar, active for more than 30 years in the field of the protection of children and young people. In 2021, it gave support to 44,318 people spread over 7 regions.
Toro Hay, local partner

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A dictation for a good cause

The Brechbühl school came up with the idea in 2013. It’s simple and brilliant at the same time: students ask parents and friends to commit to paying them the sum of their choice according to the number of words correctly spelled in the dictation. Students of all ages can participate in the Dictée du Chœur! For example in 1P, four-year-olds must spell the word MADAGASCAR correctly by pasting the correct letters in the correct order. And, for each well-placed letter, they recover the amount promised by their dear sponsors!
The idea is gaining momentum. The Don du Chœur is organizing a major Dictée du Chœur in 2017 with all the private schools to cover the running costs of the Andohasatra school for 18 months!

Situation

Limited access to water affects more than 1.6 million people in southern Madagascar. Often around a single well, some 70 families with 10 to 12 children each survive in mud houses on less than one euro a day. Access to education has become impossible there since the passage of the cyclone, which destroyed the small school. It had only one class for 100 students of all levels.

Priorities

Improve access to water. Build a public nursery and primary school with six classes with a canteen and a well, in order to be able to accommodate and feed the 360 children of the village. Acquire the necessary equipment and furniture for them. Provide electricity through solar panels. Provide academic support. Create a protective environment around children by offering their parents training in income-generating activities. Inform to better enforce the rights of women and children.

Objectives achieved

Thanks to the Don du Chœur concert and after completion of the work in Andohasatra-Betioky, 360 children were able to go to school for the first time in their lives. In Switzerland, the fundraising continued in 2017 around the Dictée du Chœur*: for 18 months, eight private schools helped to finance a daily meal, uniforms and school supplies for these distant friends.
From 2018, the operation of Andohasatra-Betioky school canteen has been underaken by the World Food Program (WFP), an essential factor for the success of the long-term education of all these children who live with great food insecurity and exacerbated by the intense drought.
The installation of a manual pump provides access to water, supplying the school, despite the significant drop in the water table.
In Betioky, SOS Villages d’Enfants (SOSVE) opened a community support center ten years ago for 1,000 people in need: schooling, professional integration, maternal and child protection, food assistance, etc. It is the manager of this center who watches over the public school of Andohasatra in collaboration with our local partner Toro Hay and in coordination with Claude-Alain Burky, the project manager, based in Tuléar.
Over the years, a library, toilets and additional accommodation for the director and teachers have been built. The purchase of 13 bicycles facilitates the daily movements of the latter, who travel in full sun across this sub-desert region.
Since 2021, Don du Chœur has continued to support access to drinking water, the development of reading and of training programs adapted to teachers. We have also participated – thanks to SOS Villages d’Enfants Betioky – in the literacy of women and their training in various activities (weaving, goat breeding, market gardening) to gradually give them financial autonomy.

Today

The effects of the climate crisis are worsening in the south of Madagascar. Don du Choeur has committed itself, for the next three years, to a new project of community assistance there, in collaboration with SOS Villages d’Enfants Madagascar.

Thanks to the proceeds from the Don du Choeur concert on 1 May 2023 earmarked for Madagascar (40,155 CHF), the community in Andohasatra will be offered tangible and sustainable basic social assistance and income-generating activities. Access to water will also be facilitated in the coming months. And, of course, the purchase of school supplies for the 200 pupils of the primary school will continue, as well as educational support for 30 students who are continuing their secondary education at the high school in Betioky.

Help us to help them