Category: Programmes
Aquaculture in profile – Soanatoa: “If you take care of it, then you benefit.”
As he talks, Soanatao draws shapes in the bleached Nosy Tsolike sand with a piece of splintered wood he found in the same spot. He doodles, like one does on a piece of scrap paper while chatting to a friend...
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.
New partnership brings vital health services to isolated fishing settlements in the Barren Isles archipelago
Blue Ventures links up with JSI/MAHEFA to provide family planning options and basic healthcare to remote communities in the Indian Ocean’s largest locally managed marine area.
Condoms, crabs and cottonii seaweed: progress update from Belo sur Mer
From humble beginnings over five years ago, locally led mangrove fishery management initiatives are now flourishing in Belo sur Mer and surrounding villages, alongside community-based health promotion and alternative coastal livelihoods in the form of aquaculture.
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.
Mysterious mangrove mice: an unexpected encounter
[avatar user=”zo” size=”thumbnail” align=”left” link=”http://blog.blueventures.org/author/zo/” target=”_blank” /] by Zo Andriamahenina, Geospatial Scientist, Blue Forests, Madagascar We were nearing the end of five months of forest inventory work in the mangroves of Ambaro-Ambanja Bay, northwest Madagascar. After almost three weeks...
Belief in the Reef!
[avatar user=”marc” size=”thumbnail” align=”left” link=”http://blog.blueventures.org/author/marc/” target=”_blank” /] by Marc Fruitema, Community Officer, Belize As we squeezed ourselves under the narrow roof of a snack tent, sheltering from the fifth squall to disrupt the fair that day, our spirits and energy were...
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!