Madagasikara Voakajy has been active in the Mangabe landscape since 2008. Between 2015 and 2024, a youth-focused engagement programme supported 239 young people to adopt more sustainable farming practices, develop local leadership, and raise awareness of lemur conservation. Building on this foundation, the current project expands its scope from youth engagement to a community-wide approach in order to address persistent conservation challenges more effectively.

This project is implemented by Madagasikara Voakajy.

Project objectives

The project targets three key drivers of biodiversity loss: unsustainable agriculture linked to poverty, weak local governance and under-resourced community management bodies (VOIs), and limited ecological data to guide conservation planning. It combines livelihood support, capacity building, and ecological monitoring to strengthen local ownership and improve the long-term management of biodiversity-rich forests. By reinforcing the links between forest conservation, food security, and local governance, the project delivers integrated benefits for both people and nature.

The project objectives are to:

• Generate robust ecological data on the population status, spatial distribution, key threats, and habitat requirements of target lemur species in the Mangabe Reserve
• Support 500 households and three cooperatives to increase average household income by up to 80% while adopting sustainable land-use practices
• Strengthen 10 community-based organisations (CBOs) to implement at least 50% of their annual workplans using their own financial and technical resources