Photo: UNICEF

Engaging girls in climate change in Madagascar

Deforestation has affected about 94 percent of Madagascar's former forest land. Today, only 41 percent of the population has access to water and the sanitary needs are great. Just over 80 percent of schools lack clean water and one in three schools lack toilets.

Through this project, UNICEF will enable children, especially girls, to understand the importance of the environment and empower them to take action to change and build climate-resilient societies. The project will create an effect both in the short and long term.

More than 1,000 students (of whom approximately 540 are girls), 750 teachers and the residents of two communities in the southern region of Androy, will take part in the project. Androy is a region particularly prone to drought.

Since 2016, Zonta has supported girls' education in Madagascar through the "Let Us Learn Madagascar" program. Over the next two years, 2022-2024, Zonta International has committed to contribute $500,000 to UNICEF USA to provide environmental education for children and youth in Madagascar.

Goal

The overall goal is to support girls and a generation of children and youth by providing environmental education in child-friendly schools in Madagascar.

Specifically, the project shall:

• Allow children to learn about safe and inclusive environments and empower them to take action to build communities that can withstand the stresses of climate change.
• Support Madagascar to meet the Sustainable Development Goals for water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), while the project contributes to improving the quality of children's education, especially girls, through environmental conservation and education initiatives.

More about the project

More detailed information about the project is available at zonta.org.