Azafady's mission is to alleviate extreme poverty and protect endangered, biologically rich forest environments in Madagascar by empowering some of the poorest people to establish sustainable livelihoods and improve their health and wellbeing. Their aims are to raise awareness about the plight of the Madagascan environment and the Malagasy people; to empower Malagasy people to improve their own lives; and provide support to communities and threatened environments. Azafady's approach is one of...
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Azafady's mission is to alleviate extreme poverty and protect endangered, biologically rich forest environments in Madagascar by empowering some of the poorest people to establish sustainable livelihoods and improve their health and wellbeing. Their aims are to raise awareness about the plight of the Madagascan environment and the Malagasy people; to empower Malagasy people to improve their own lives; and provide support to communities and threatened environments. Azafady's approach is one of co-operation and participation with grassroots communities working to alleviate the effects of poverty and to support viable, environmentally sensitive development. Their holistic development and conservation projects support some of the world's most vulnerable people in threatened & irreplaceable environments. At the heart of the charity's work is an integrated approach to the needs of the Malagasy people and their unique environment, sensitively built around what local people have told the charity are their most critical needs and which maximises community participation. Azafady develop projects using the Sustainable Livelihoods model for poverty reduction, which aims to reduce vulnerability by strengthening communities' human, natural, financial, social and physical assets with a caveat that the charity's projects and activities do not compromise the environment. Projects incorporate communication, training and support at the level of the Fokontany (village) and the household, with a priority for the most isolated and marginalised communities. The charity has recently recruited a Research, Monitoring and Evaluation Manager, who will implement Azafady's new HIV/AIDS activities with pregnant and married women, with the aim of reducing rates of maternal transmission of HIV within the town.
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