Africa – Food security and its importance for school continuity in Madagascar
Madagascar is an island but very large. Faith and Joy Madagascar, was born in 2013 through the collaboration with Fr. JOAKIM S.J; and since then has tried to look closely at the social life of people who are 100km north-east of Fianarantsoa, capital of the Haute Matsiatra region and the province of Fianarantsoa, Madagascar. The pandemic of COVID-19 and malaria, which affects our intervention area, in addition to the drought that prevails in the region, prompted us to find a solution to the problem. It is an important problem and we have decided to take steps to solve it. At the moment we are strengthening agriculture by planting beans.
One of the main consequences of this problem, which affects the regions of SOLILA, IKALAMAVONY and MANGIDY, is that families do not have the means to support their children in their studies. The Society of Jesus has been working in this at-risk region for 150 years. This is why we have launched the SEED PROJECT, a joint project between the different Jesuit works. The aim of this project is to give seeds to grow, so that the parents of the students can first guarantee food on their plates, and then sell some of the fruits of the crops to enable them to have funds to buy school supplies and send their children to school. Foi et Joie Madagascar donated bean seeds so that the parents could help the children and provide for their basic needs without any problems.
The project is successful because it aims to reduce the dropout rate and promote illiteracy, an objective that has been achieved so far as we have seen that the seeds distributed to help these families and children enable them to complete the school year on time.
The seeds are distributed in the regions where Faith and Joy is present: Solila Ikalamavony, Fitampito, Ambatomainty. We have focused on families who are vulnerable to disease and who cannot afford to educate their children (Covid19 and Malaria); and we are also preparing for the rainy season with the support of the International Federation of Faith and Joy and Entreculturas.
Source : feyalegria.org
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