Education
Education is a key component of Atsika’s mission and the crux of its philosophy on sustainable development. Atsika works through the Ankarana Education Project, an informal organization that has built a school in the rural village of Analasatrana. The Ankarana Education Project was started by Christi Turner through generous donations from the Verder Family who visited the area on their holiday. The Ankarana Education Project focuses on providing primary school education for children in the Southern Ankarana area. It is managed by a local teacher who lives in Analasatrana, overseen by Christi and the resident Peace Corps Volunteer, Ted Koenig, and supported by the Verder Family.
Atsika focuses its education efforts on repairing schools damaged by cyclones and heavy rains, providing schools supplies and scholarships for children, and ensuring access to safe water at school. Atsika also provides adult education to local organizations and motivated individuals.
Atsika focuses its education efforts on repairing schools damaged by cyclones and heavy rains, providing schools supplies and scholarships for children, and ensuring access to safe water at school. Atsika also provides adult education to local organizations and motivated individuals.
Teaching through technology.
Community members watch an educational video about rice intensification on a laptop computer.
Ecotourism
Ankarana Reserve Speciale, located in Northwestern Madagascar, is famous for its, pinnacle, limestone formations. These formations are commonly known as tsingy, derived from the Malagasy word mitsingtsingy, meaning to tip-toe. The Ankarana tsingy houses over 120 kilometers of caves which host endemic species of bats, crocodiles, and countless tombs of ancestors of the Antakarana people. Although most of the Ankarana tsingy is within the protected reserve, several large massifs extend southward. The Tsingy Mahaloka is one of the limestone massifs located outside the special reserve in the small village of Ampotsehy. A strict system of taboos, or fady, are associated with the tsingy because of its sacred importance as the resting place of the Antakarana ancestors. These fady have prevented destruction of the last remaining portion of deciduous forest in the area. Agriculture, mostly rice and sugar plantations, combined with slash and burn practices, have destroyed the majority of forest that once surrounded the tsingy. The narrow strip of forest that remains is the only link to the protected ecosystem in the government-run reserve to the north. This forest is home to endemic species of lemurs, fossa, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and plants.
In 2003 the Malagasy government initiated an action plan to increase protected land in Madagascar. This plan included transferring management of small natural areas to communities and local associations in order to promote sustainable conservation. KOFAMA (Koperative Fikambana Ankarabe Mitsinjo Arivo) is one of these local associations that manage the land around the Tsingy Mahaloka. KOFAMA’s mission is to conserve the area around the Tsingy Mahaloka while improving the lives of community members through environmental education and responsible ecotourism. KOFAMA, in the village of Ampotsehy, was created in 2007 by local community members and Peace Corps Volunteer, Christi Turner. The majority of members are subsistence farmers who suffer from lack of work and low income. Many people moved to Ampotsehy in the 1990s to work for the sugar plantation, SACOM. However, in 2003 SACOM shut down, leaving the majority of residents jobless. Eco-tourism, regulated through KOFAMA, is a promising new venture to bring income and education to this poor community.
In 2003 the Malagasy government initiated an action plan to increase protected land in Madagascar. This plan included transferring management of small natural areas to communities and local associations in order to promote sustainable conservation. KOFAMA (Koperative Fikambana Ankarabe Mitsinjo Arivo) is one of these local associations that manage the land around the Tsingy Mahaloka. KOFAMA’s mission is to conserve the area around the Tsingy Mahaloka while improving the lives of community members through environmental education and responsible ecotourism. KOFAMA, in the village of Ampotsehy, was created in 2007 by local community members and Peace Corps Volunteer, Christi Turner. The majority of members are subsistence farmers who suffer from lack of work and low income. Many people moved to Ampotsehy in the 1990s to work for the sugar plantation, SACOM. However, in 2003 SACOM shut down, leaving the majority of residents jobless. Eco-tourism, regulated through KOFAMA, is a promising new venture to bring income and education to this poor community.
Tourists already pass through the area on their way to the remote western entrance of Ankarana Reserve Speciale and to visit the nearby luxury eco-lodge, Iharana, run by Oceane Aventures.
As part of one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots and as a culturally
unique place, Atsika seeks to bridge the gap between tourists and the
local community by training members of KOFAMA to work with existing
Malagasy tour guides and western visitors to promote conservation and
cross-cultural exchange.
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L’ARTISINAT de L’ANKARANA (Artisans of Ankarana)
Despite the growing ecotourism activity in the Ankarana region, local handicrafts
were rarely being sold to the tourism market before 2007. In fact, local
residents did not understand that their skills could be used to bring valuable
income to their families. For the most part, artisans simply did not know how
to sell their goods to foreign tourists, and saw themselves as external to the
entire tourism industry. Most travel agents, tour guides, and other
players in the tourism sector came from cities hundreds of kilometers away, ignoring
local residents on their tourist circuits.
Chritsi Turner, and later Julia Nelson, worked with local artisans to develop crafts suitable for tourists to the Ankarana region. The artisans began to design smaller versions of woven “shopping bags”, hats, and coconut jewelry, so even backpackers could find room to take something home with them. Through educational trainings the artisans began to understand what draws ecotourism to Madagascar. They began using local, natural, sustainably harvested materials and dyes and incorporating and Malagasy designs into their work, thereby instilling local pride in the artisans.
The artisans formed a local organization, L’Artisanat de L’Ankarana, and forged partnerships with local ecotourism sites and the national park, Ankarana Special Reserve. The group recently built an ecoshop along the tourist route into the Anstaravibe area. This ecoshop allows artisans to sell directly to tourists in addition to their merchandise for sale at other sites. It also provides tourists the chance to watch crafts being made and try the techniques themselves. The artisans have even built a small bungalow where guests can stay the night—perfect for backpackers, researchers, or crafters visiting from other areas .
Chritsi Turner, and later Julia Nelson, worked with local artisans to develop crafts suitable for tourists to the Ankarana region. The artisans began to design smaller versions of woven “shopping bags”, hats, and coconut jewelry, so even backpackers could find room to take something home with them. Through educational trainings the artisans began to understand what draws ecotourism to Madagascar. They began using local, natural, sustainably harvested materials and dyes and incorporating and Malagasy designs into their work, thereby instilling local pride in the artisans.
The artisans formed a local organization, L’Artisanat de L’Ankarana, and forged partnerships with local ecotourism sites and the national park, Ankarana Special Reserve. The group recently built an ecoshop along the tourist route into the Anstaravibe area. This ecoshop allows artisans to sell directly to tourists in addition to their merchandise for sale at other sites. It also provides tourists the chance to watch crafts being made and try the techniques themselves. The artisans have even built a small bungalow where guests can stay the night—perfect for backpackers, researchers, or crafters visiting from other areas .
L’Artisanat de L’Ankarana has become enmeshed in local ecotourism activity, and has itself helped to inspire other new local endeavors, including other artisans, restaurants, and the community-managed nature reserve described in the eco-tourism section on this site. The artisans are also selling their crafts at limited locations in the capital city, Antananarivo, and even in small quantities overseas, mainly at Midnight Sun in Wickford, RI.
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