| ‘Vaovao’ means ‘news’ in Malagasy, and over the last 6 months the SEED team has been working harder than ever to bring about some amazing results from our Food Distribution and some good news to you, its supporters. As the first cycle of our emergency response came to an end earlier this month, our team held a talk to discuss the details of this work so far and the impact that it has had on 653 families across Madagascar’s Anosy region. As well as the second cycle of Food Distribution, many other projects at SEED are due to commence in August, including one focused on protecting Sainte Luce’s threatened palm trees. With Madagascar continuing to battle a wide range of threats, our ‘International Day of Cooperatives’ celebrations this month reminded us that no matter the obstacles we face, together we are stronger. | | Child with emergency ready-to-eat therapeutic food from SEED. Photographed by: Daniel Wood | Food Distribution: a 6-month Update | Earlier this month, SEED held a talk to discuss the ongoing humanitarian crisis in southern Madagascar and the work we have been doing to combat it. During the talk, our Deputy Director Tsina Endor shared personal insights on the situation affecting her home region, remarking that ‘there is nothing for people to eat in this (Anosy) region’. Sadly, this reality is set to worsen still with many harvests failing and, as you may have seen either from following our social media channels or from other media reporting of the crisis, it is predicted that the number of malnourished children in Madagascar is to increase fourfold since last October. However, as we shared in our talk this month, SEED’s Food Distribution has already made a tremendous difference to the children diagnosed with malnutrition who we have been working with. Thanks to your incredible support, we have managed to distribute 36,006 kilograms of rice, 24,301 cups of beans, 3,588 litres of oil, and 47,942 sachets of emergency ready-eat-therapeutic food across 41 villages in Madagascar’s Anosy region. Most importantly, it is because of this that 641 children have now recovered from malnutrition. An enormous thank you to all of those who have supported this work so far. | | | | The Stitch Sainte Luce Cooperative. Photographed by: Daniel Wood | 'Community for Opportunity' | To mark the ‘International Day of Cooperatives’ this month, our Programme Officer for Environment and Sustainable Livelihoods, Polly Hedley, sat down with Project Mahampy’s Coordinator Paula Amour for a chat about Sainte Luce's cooperatives. The cooperative model is crucial to the 166 women of SEED’s Project Mahampy and the 96 women who are a part of 'Stitch Sainte Luce'— an embroidery cooperative— even more so now after 15 months of border closures and the resultant economic impact of COVID-19. As Paula explains: ‘The women's Cooperative is so important because it is the women’s livelihood. It is a really important income for them to support their family… The women are able to send their children to school which is a great opportunity. They are like a family and if people have difficulties they help each other, talk to each other and resolve problems.’ They say that a problem shared is a problem halved, and when you’re sharing your problems with the women of these cooperatives, they are solved faster than you can say shop Stitch! | | | | Palms in Sainte Luce. Photographed by: Annelin Verkade | | SEED’s Conservation Research Team is due to start a brand new palm tree project in August! In Madagascar there are 194 known species of palms, with 97% of these found nowhere else in the world. Existing research by our Executive Director of Conservation Sam Hyde Roberts has highlighted a decline of up to 65% of threatened palm species in Sainte Luce and so, starting in August, our Conservation Research team is going to be spending 3 years studying 6 of these species – all of which are threatened. As well as conducting a census of where these palms are currently found, we will also be collecting natural history data, doing germination trials in the nursery, and studying how best to transplant these back into the forests. Along with foliage, knowledge too is power, and with a strong understanding of the threats to Sainte Luce’s palms, we can develop a comprehensive conservation plan to properly protect them into the future. | | | Monthly Mini Malagasy Lesson with Lima ‘Mankasitra’ - to appreciate | ‘Safako’ - food | ‘Ino vaovao?’ - what’s news? | ‘Tsy misy’ - not much* *the only proper response! | | | This email was sent to friend@example.com | © SEED Madagascar. All rights reserved. |
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