About Us

Madagasikara Voakajy uses conservation science and community participation to protect endemic Malagasy species and their habitats. We currently have projects devoted to chameleons, frogs, bats, and baobabs and a number of cross-programme strategies allow these different activities to be integrated.

Our Mission

1. Livelihoods and exploitation

It is important to understand how biodiversity functions as an economic resource and whether it provides opportunities for conservation or threats to populations and habitats. We are interested in the consumption of wild animals (bats, lemurs, frogs) by people and how this contributes to income generation and food security. The threats associated with bushmeat are also being explored, and these include the risk of pathogen transfer from animals to people and the consequences of unsustainable exploitation on population persistence. We are also investigating other ways that our focal species may be exploited to improve livelihoods, including ecotourism, direct payments for conservation and community-benefits for trade in CITES Appendix II species.

2. Applied re earch and conservation science

Decisions about conservation management and resource allocation are best made with robust scientific data that holds up to scrutiny. We therefore strive to conduct high quality research and publish it in peer-reviewed journals. Where possible we make our research projects relevant to conservation and livelihoods. For example, we are using results from a studies on diet and movements by flying foxes to promote their conservation as seed dispersers. Only though a better understanding of the ecology our our focal species can we hope to tailor appropriate conservation plans.

3. Education and Capacity Building

Education is the conrnerstone of community conservation and we always engage local people in the sites where we work. Indeed, our focal species tend to either be unprotected (e.g. bats), occur outside of protected areas (e.g. Mantella aurantiaca) or are neglected by other conservation teams (e.g. chameleons) and community participation and cooperation is therefore essential.

Through our student training programme we continue to nurture the next generation of Malagasy scientists. However, we also believe that capacity needs to be supported after its creation and we therefore aim to build the careers of promising Malagasy biologists through employment in Madagasikara Voakajy.

4. Site-based Conservation

Increasingly we are becoming involved in conserving critical habitats for our focal species. These sites are usually small forest fragments that have been overlooked in conservation planning but are vital for the survival of certain fruit bats as well as threatened amphibians.

Meet the Team

Herison Dolce Daniel ROMARIO

Daniel is our social organizer based in Morondava

Nick Tommy VILY

Tommy is our conservation assistant based in Moramanga.

Simon Aristide RANDRIAMBONIMANANA

Simon is a social organizer based in Ambatondrazaka

Bernard RANDRIAHANDRINIAINA

Bernard is one of our agents who is located in Ambatondrazaka.

Louise RAZAFINDRAVAO

Louise is one of our agents who is located in Ambatondrazaka.

Lalatiana RAVOANGIARISOA

Lalatiana is one of our agents who is located in Ambatondrazaka.

Robin RASOLONJANAHARY

Robin is one of our agents who is located in Ambatondrazaka.

Sauger Felana RAHOLIARIMANANA

Felana is an Ecological Restoration Assistant at MV. She is based in Ambatondrazaka.

 

Sarah Ismaël Honorine ANDRIATSIATOSIKARIVONY

Sarah is one of our agents local based in Moramanga.

Samuel ANDRIAMIADANA

Samuel is our agent local based in Ambatondrazaka.

Antolice AMBININTSOA

Antolice is in charge of the schools and hospitals construction and repair for communities such as wells, schools and hospitals.

Harivony Sydonie RABARISON

Sydonie works across all programs and projects in Mangabe to ensure effective, timely and successful communication and collaboration with international partners.

Albà Félicien RASOLOMALALA

Albà is our ambassador for change at the local level and heads our information center in Andranomandry.

Tolotra Ny Hery RAMANANTSOA

Tolotra is our Youth Project Assistant based in Moramanga.

Victor RAKOTOMBOAVONJY

Victor leads field teams to collected information on bushmeat consumption. Victor has been working with Madagasikara Voakajy team since its creation and even before. Originally from a village near Maromizaha forest, he started by helping our team to find bat roosts there and monitor them. Subsequently, he helped us finding more bat roosts around the Ankeniheny-Zahamena corridor. Victor easily gets on with communities in rural areas. With this unique skill, he is a strength in researches involving people, and also when running awareness campaigns and community engagement projects.

Fitasoa GERMAIN

Fitasoa is our social organizer based in Morondava and work about Baobab project.

Sarindra Ellarissa ANDRIANJAFY

Larissa is the project leader of "Fitantanana Maharitra Ho Lovainjafy" project in Ambatondrazaka District. She assures the protected areas conservation promoted by Madagasikara Voakajy in this District.

Germain ANDRIANTSITOHAINA

Germain is our Youth Project Assistant based in Moramanga.

Zaidy HOMADY

Zaidy is our social organizer in our site in Bobaomby. He ensures the communication with the local communities and the implementation of the project.

Solofo Robert ANDRIANANTENAINA

 

Solofo is our nursery in Mangabe.

Tertius Rodriguez BELALAHY

Rodriguez is leading the process to establish the Bobaomby complex as a new protected area. He represents Madagasikara Voakajy in the DIANA region. With a background in biology, Rodriguez previously studied how people perceive lemurs and how these animals interact with the forest. He is a curious person, always seeking to discover and test new tools, methods, approaches in science and environmental conservation.

Harilefitra RATOVO-ANDRIANARISOA

Harilefitra is the "Lemurs for Youth and youth for lemurs" project officer in the Mangabe protected area.

Voahirana Claudia RANDRIAMAMONJY

Voahirana leads the Mangabe-Ranomena-Sasarotra project, the largest protected area we are in charge of. She also represents Madagasikara Voakajy in the Alaotra-Mangoro Region and ensures the coordination of our office in Moramanga. Voahirana is an agronomist but has also studied conservation and land management. With these skills, she designs and implements training program for community members where they can learn sustainable farming techniques adapted to the local conditions.

Fetra Arivony RAKOTONDRAZANANY

Fetra is also a bat biologist by training but currently, he is running our baobab conservation initiative in the Menabe Region. Fetra’s current challenge is to ensure that communities near the baobab resources benefit equitably from the baobab fruit harvesting and transformation processes. In that role, he collaborates with both public and private institutions.

Tonisoa Ivoandry RANAIVOANDRIAMANANTENA

Tonisoa is the botanist of Madagasikara Voakajy. He is particularly interested on baobabs and leads our research projects in SAVA and DIANA Regions. His research focuses on the restauration of the Endangered Perrier’s and Diego’s baobab populations in the wild. In addition, he helps the project leaders at all the protected areas where we work in designing and starting forest restauration initiatives.

Dr Daudet ANDRIAFIDISON

Daudet is a biologist by training, with a particular interest on bats and their interactions with plants. Since leading the protected creation process within Madagasikara Voakajy in 2008, Daudet has slowly moved from pure biology to community development and conservation. With this perseverance, Daudet was awarded the Disney Conservation Hero Award in 2014. He continues to lead our community and Conservation Programme which ensures the creation and sustainable management of protected areas and community reserves.

Aro Sitraka RAJOELINOMENJANAHARY

Aro Sitraka is a Project Assistant within the Mangabe-Ranomena-Sahasarotra protected area. He is in charge of conservation activities by leading awareness and enforcement missions, supporting the community-based organizations involved in managing the protected areas, and managing the biodiversity and threats monitoring database.

Lahadison Rolland

Rolland is a field assistant based in Ampahitra village within Mangabe-Ranomena-Sasarotra protected area. Living in this village, his role is to ensure smooth communications between MV office and the communities in the eastern part of the protected area. With a unique writing skill, Rolland participates in all important meetings we organize and is in charge of taking the notes.

Andrilala Lalanirina ANDRIANANDRIANINA

 Andrilala is one of our field assistants. He helps researchers and project leaders and implementing the project activities. He particularly works in Ambatondrazaka District, where we are managing four Protected Areas.

Faly Berthino RAKOTONANDRASANA

Faly helps running our ‘Youths and Lemurs’ project within Mangabe Protected Area. He is based in Moramanga.

Thierry RANOMENJANAHARY

One of our field Assistant. `He is based in Anosibe An’Ala district where he assures the communication with local communities concerned by New Protected Area Mangabe.