Nature, child’s play

Tools and environmental trainers to protect the Makay

Project :

Nature, child’s play

The “La nature, un jeu d’enfant” project (Nature, child’s play) aims to secure the voluntary commitment of local communities to Makay’s conservation and the respectful management of natural resources. With the help of fun, interactive teaching aids, animators will carry out awareness-raising missions – particularly with children – to pass on general ecological knowledge. These will enable us to understand how ecosystems work and the global ecological issues at stake.

Awareness_Photo fresco

An emergency context

The island of Madagascar is exceptionally rich in biological diversity . Unfortunately, the vast majority of its forest cover has disappeared, leaving this unique biodiversity to be found only in rare, preserved environments such as the Makay, a spectacular massif of ruiniform sandstone that has become a veritable treasure chest for nature.

Unfortunately, due to the failure of the education system, the villagers of the Makay are unaware of the causal links between the damage done to nature and the deterioration in their living conditions (difficulties in accessing food and water). They reproduce ancestral practices that are particularly harmful to the environment (poaching, bush fires, excessive clearing and felling). As a result, the massif’s forest cover is now shrinking drastically, putting many species and hundreds of thousands of human lives at risk.

The people of the Makay have a great practical knowledge of the plants and animals that surround them and on which they depend. However, preserving the massif will only be possible through an understanding of ecosystem functioning and global ecological issues, as well as a voluntary commitment to conservation on their part.

“Awareness-raising missions to provide a better understanding of how ecosystems function and the ecological issues at stake”.

Awareness-raising missions

our objectives

  • Demonstrating the interdependence of man and his environment
  • Improve practices (sustainable water management, rational use of wood, waste sorting and management, respect for wild animals, etc.).
  • Obtaining the voluntary commitment of local communities to the conservation of Makay
  • Convey general ecological knowledge (the importance of trees and forests, the role of biodiversity, ecosystem services, the water cycle, etc.).
Awareness_Drawing old school

Our method

We’ve designed an educational trunk for children. With games, colouring sheets, frescoes, models and posters, it fosters a sense of wonder and awakens to the richness and fragility of nature. Today, it is used by animators to present environmental issues in general and those specific to the Makay in particular.

With the help of local teachers, the organizers concentrate their efforts on the youngest children, who are more available and more inclined than their elders to accept the contribution of knowledge. What’s more, the youngest members of the family prove to be good intermediaries with adults. These interventions take the form of 3-4-hour workshops per school level, over an average of ten days per village.

Our experience in the field has shown us that some adults, especially mothers, are also eager to learn and understand. In addition, awareness-raising tools for adults are also designed using existing materials (films and powerpoint presentations), and also give rise to specific interventions.

We’d like to be able to enable 4 animators to carry out these awareness-raising efforts throughout the year in some sixty localities around the massif.é

Awareness-raising teaching aids

“Fun and interactive teaching aids, to obtain a commitment to the conservation of the Makay and a respectful management of natural resources.”

our needs

This year’s budget: €30,000

We need an initial investment to complete and duplicate our “young public” teaching kit, to design awareness-raising tools for adults and to train 2 pairs of environmental coordinators.

We also need more regular support to finance their salaries and cover their mission expenses.

Awareness_Photo painting

Funding scale :

  • Duplication of a trunk: €2,000
  • Annual salaries for 4 animators: €10,000
  • All missions: €20,000 / year (includes logistics and salaries for 4 animators)

Beneficiaries

This project will primarily benefit the children of the surrounding Makay villages. But it also benefits the adults to whom the children’s learning is naturally passed on at home, and who also benefit from dedicated training courses and workshops throughout the year. With this information, the whole population is encouraged to change its practices, to live more harmoniously with its environment and to guarantee a more sustainable future for all.

Awareness_Drawing portrait

Why support us?

To contribute to :

  • support the diffusion of knowledge about biodiversity
  • help design appropriate awareness-raising tools
  • help improve natural resource management

Who are we?

Naturevolution, which was behind the creation of the New Makay Protected Area, is now the manager mandated by Madagascar’s Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development.

In order to respond to all the threats facing the massif, its biodiversity and its people, the association is deploying an ecosystem of complementary initiatives ranging from awareness-raising and humanitarian aid to agroecological diversification, the development of sustainable economic alternatives such as ecotourism, scientific research and reforestation.

Sensibilisation_Photo enfants

Our supporters

We are still looking for funds to complete and extend this project. Help us make it happen with a donation!

Project updates