Madagascar

Madagascar

Pact has worked in Madagascar for more than 25 years, improving health, the environment, educational opportunities and more. Explore more below.

Where We Work Africa Madagascar

During Pact’s long history in Madagascar, we have supported communities as they have endeavored to reach a range of development goals. We recently successfully closed the USAID Hay Tao project, the U.S. government’s largest environmental investment in Madagascar in nearly a decade. Madagascar is one of the world’s highest priority countries for biodiversity conservation because of its exceptional species richness, high number of unique plant and animal species and the magnitude of threats facing these ecologically, culturally and economically valuable resources. Meaning ‘Know How’ in Malagasy, USAID Hay Tao focused on empowering local communities to lead the way in the management of their own natural resources

Our current programming is combatting child labor in mica-producing communities, namely in the Anôsy region. An estimated 10,000 children are currently working in unsafe conditions in the country’s informal mica industry, a consequence of poverty. Pact’s efforts are increasing immediate and long-term resilience in vulnerable households by connecting children with educational services and adults with support to improve their livelihoods. The project is also promoting the formalization of Madagascar’s mica sector, supporting civil society organizations and the media to improve public awareness around the issue of child labor in mining, and building the capacity of government officials to coordinate child protection measures in the mica supply chain, including establishing a code of conduct for mica mining.

Pact’s past work in Madagascar has combated HIV and AIDS, encouraged corporate-community engagement and reduced corruption. Pact helped to extricate more than 9,000 Malagasy children from exploitative labor in commercial sex work, domestic servitude and mining. Pact helped those children return to school and access psychosocial support and mentoring, and supported their families to increase their income.

PRIMARY OFFICE

Antananarivo, 
Madagascar

COUNTRY STATS

Antananarivo, Madagascar
  • POPULATION

    30 million

  • GEOGRAPHIC SIZE

    581,800 km2

  • YEAR PACT STARTED WORK

    1991

  • PEOPLE SERVED

    1,111,091 (in 2022)