{"id":28800,"date":"2022-10-28T14:41:53","date_gmt":"2022-10-28T13:41:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/?p=28800"},"modified":"2022-12-08T17:36:36","modified_gmt":"2022-12-08T17:36:36","slug":"a-song-of-change-in-madagascar-brings-goosebumps-and-tears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/a-song-of-change-in-madagascar-brings-goosebumps-and-tears\/","title":{"rendered":"A song of change in Madagascar brings goosebumps and tears"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a marine ecologist and self-acclaimed nerd, I get excited when I see a graph, especially one charting fish abundance or coral cover. But there are myriad ways to share tales of change beyond data, especially where numbers don\u2019t convey the whole message. Music also has the power to tell a story, transport us and make us feel in ways that data cannot.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Mangrove forests and fisheries are vitally important for communities in the Ambanja area | Photo: Adrian Levrel<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

I recently visited one of our sites in northwest Madagascar, almost 15 years from the day I first travelled to the country, to attend a natural resource management transfer (TGRN) ceremony, whereby<\/span> the regional government handed over local resource management rights to the communities. For some, this will be for three years, while others will maintain these management rights for the next decade.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Members of the community receiving their certificate of management during the handover ceremony at a centre in Tsimipaika bay, northwest Madagascar. | Credits: Ann Guillaume, Blue Ventures.\n<\/div><\/div>
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Members of the community receiving their certificate of management during the handover ceremony at a centre in Tsimipaika bay, northwest Madagascar. | Credits: Ann Guillaume, Blue Ventures.<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

During the event, a group of women from one of the communities (comprising fishers, a community health worker, a buyer, and members of the management committee) performed a song they had composed about working with Blue Ventures, the challenges and issues they have faced over the last decade and their courage to continue to get to this point.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Community actors perform as sea creatures during the handover ceremony at a centre in Tsimipaika, northwest Madagascar. | Credits: Charlie Gough, Blue Ventures.<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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It was more the words, and the story they told that moved me so much than the fact that they were singing about Blue Ventures. Through song, the women described feeling supported to achieve their own goals and realising that our work is not only about implementing projects but building the strength of communities to deal with threats facing their marine resources. The message goes deeper as they sing that despite the struggles and conflicts they have faced as a community, they feel prepared and supported to continue the work far into the future.<\/span><\/p>\n