Improving lives together.
Vision
In the language of northern Madagascar, Atsika means we or us. It is a word often used to invoke a sense of community, unity, and collective experience. Atsika’s vision is to bring together diverse people on a global scale, and through our partnership to improve individual lives and community well-being in the Ankarana region of northwest Madagascar.
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Mission
Atsika's mission is to improve the lives of the people of northwest Madagascar by increasing access to education, developing alternative livelihoods, and building local capacity while promoting environmental conservation and cultural preservation.
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Our philosophy on sustainable development
Education is the key to sustainable development. Understanding the relationship between hand washing and the prevention
of fecal-oral diseases can prevent child mortality; knowing best business
practices, or learning a trade, can allow people to earn money they otherwise
might not have. Atsika believes firmly in education and community participation
to empower people to take ownership in bettering their own lives. Effective educational
programs and trainings ensure an understanding of the relationship between one’s
actions and life improvements. We believe people must see both short
term and long term benefits from development projects to understand how their
behavior creates positive and sustainable change in their communities.
Board of Directors
 | Julia Nelson, Executive Director
Julia brings international non-profit experience and a background in biology to Atsika. Julia has worked training teachers on sanitation and hygiene curricula in various countries around the world and has experience managing international development projects. She was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Madagascar in 2008-2009, where she lived in the community of Ampotsehy in Northwestern Madagascar. Prior to Peace Corps she studied kit foxes, wolves, and coyotes and taught sixth grade students in an outdoor science school. |
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Christi Turner, Vice President
Christi's experience in the classroom and in the field has led her to become a specialist in community-based sustainable development, conservation, and innovative education. She has worked in Madagascar for over five years; founding a locally-managed protected area and building the first solar-powered community radio station on the island. Building on her experience, she worked for a national project creating educational radio programs for schools and communities in Madagascar and educating university students studying in Kenya and Tanzania on community-managed conservation and development. Christi is also a freelance photographer, focusing on conservation, education, and community development. |
 | Jim Nelson, Secretary/Treasurer
James Nelson was Vice President of International Operations for Lockheed Martin for almost 10 years and retired after starting up the Lockheed branch in Spain. He has extensive international business experience and served on the boards of several internationally focused non-profit organizations in the US. |
Partners: Joining Forces Together
The idea of a non-profit organization to benefit the community of the Southern Ankarana arose from a partnership between two Peace Corps Volunteers and two professors at the University of Western Ontario in Canada. Christi Turner began her service as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Antsaravibe, Madagascar in 2004, where she fostered the creation of several community organizations to improve the livelihood of local people. During her service she met Dr. Andrew Walsh of the University of Western Ontario who had become a legend in the area, and known locally as Jao Ankarana. Dr. Walsh has studied the culture of the Ankarana people for many years and is dedicated to helping the Malagasy celebrate their cultural heritage while helping them to lift themselves out of poverty while. Julia Nelson arrived in the Anstaravibe commune in 2008 as a Peace Corps Volunteer and continued working with the community organizations initiated by Christi. During that year Andrew took his first group of students on a field course to Northern Madagascar with his colleague, Dr. Ian Colquhoun, working in partnership with the University of Antsiranana and Dr. Alex Totomarovario in Northern Madagascar. The people in the Antsaravibe community welcomed all of these visitors as part of the community and thus a partnership, friendship, and dedication to the Southern Ankarana community was forged.