Category: Velondriake
Velondriake is Madagascar’s first locally managed marine area, established in 2006 by a network of communities located around the village of Andavadoaka on the southwest coast. Our work in the Velondriake area encompasses sustainable fisheries management, sea cucumber and seaweed aquaculture and community health, as part of our integrated approach to marine conservation.
From the classroom to the field: Malagasy marine science students join Blue Ventures’ Expeditions
In the early hours of a crisp morning in Toliara, two Malagasy marine science students, Andry Razakandrainy Andriamanjato and Max Lahitsiresy Gasimandova, eagerly wait to hop into a car full of international volunteers destined for their new home in Andavadoaka...
Aquaculture in profile – Marie-Louise: “We are preparing for our future”
The sun is at high noon just a few days after winter solstice in Lamboara. Marie-Louise and five of her fellow seaweed farmers sit in ankle-deep water tending to cords of seaweed. The women laugh, sing and dance while working,...
Signed, sealed, delivered, I’m your protected area
Creating a new protected area takes time. The members of the Velondriake locally managed marine area (LMMA) management association in southwest Madagascar have been patiently biding theirs for a number of long years. The seven-year journey towards formal government recognition...
Women’s groups take action to address emergency transport challenges for accessing maternal healthcare
In Madagascar—where women face a 1 in 43 lifetime risk of maternal death—community mobilisation can improve maternal health outcomes. In rural areas, clinics and hospitals are located far from many villages, which means that transport in emergency situations is vital...
Community health workers embrace mobile technology for smarter service delivery and reporting!
Following in the footsteps of our shark fishery monitoring initiative, community-based distributors of contraceptives in southwest Madagascar are embracing mobile technology for smarter service delivery and reporting.
Expedition volunteers hit north Velondriake!
[avatar user=”madison” size=”thumbnail” align=”left” link=”http://blog.blueventures.org/author/madison/” target=”_blank” /] by Madison Kane, Expedition Manager, Madagascar Blue Ventures’ expeditions, is by no means just focused on diving. Though dive training and surveying plays a large part in expeditions life, there are many opportunities...
Lights, Camera, Mangroves, Mosquitoes!
Tahiry Honko is a community mangrove carbon project being run by our Blue Forests team with the local communities in the Bay of Assassins, Southwest Madagascar.
Women take control in the fight against climate change
[avatar user=”Cicelin” size=”thumbnail” align=”left” link=”http://blog.blueventures.org/author/Cicelin/” target=”_blank” /] by Cicelin Rakotomahazo, Socioeconomic Scientist, Blue Forests, Madagascar Mangrove replanting is a new idea for the remote coastal population living within the Velondriake Locally Managed Marine Area (LMMA) in southwest Madagascar. Until very recently,...
Our Madagascar expedition has a newly qualified PADI Divemaster!
Patrick Ramindrasoa, known to us here in Andava as Patty, is an essential member of the expeditions team in Madagascar. He began working full time for expeditions in 2013 as a boat captain, after working as Blue Ventures retainer captain...
Call the midwife!
After months of passionate campaigning and thanks to strong collaboration with the Madagascar Ministry of Health, a government midwife has been placed in Andavadoaka!
Divided by sea, united by vision: a community exchange across the Mozambique Channel
As the clock neared midnight on a beautiful starry night on the coast of southwest Madagascar, eight sets of bemused and weary eyes peered out at us from the dark depths of a seafood collector truck. Our visitors had spent...
Women in Lamboara: Preparing for the future
by Cicelin Cicelin RAKOTOMAHAZO and Dolce RANDRIANANDRASAZIKY, Blue Forests southwest team, Madagascar “Planting mangroves is not a question of money, but a question of our future”, said a group of women from the island fishing village of Lamboara, situated in the...
Making my mother proud…
I feel like I’m gaining skills that will help me to accomplish my goals and hopefully continue to make my mother proud as well.
A Muddy Mangrove Experience for Expeditions!
Mere hours after the annual conference for Blue Ventures had ended in Andavadoaka, our eighth, and final, expedition of 2014 began! Typically, when the cars arrive on-site, volunteers have the chance to unpack, shower and get acquainted with their new...
Through school I know that I’m capable of achieving much more…
I know that staying and finishing school will help me get somewhere where I’m fully satisfied. Doing something other than living day-to-day, doing small jobs, hauling cement or moving rocks. Through school I know that I’m capable of achieving much...