Madagascar
Saving Madagascar’s Children
A fight against mica mine exploitation
Terre des Hommes Netherlands is working to stop child labor in Madagascar’s mica mines, where about 10,000 children work in dangerous conditions. These children face health problems, lack basic services, and are at risk of exploitation. The organization’s work focuses on protecting children through education, income-generating activities for their families, and raising awareness to eradicate child labor.
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Tsinjo Rahaingoarivelo
Terre des Hommes Netherlands Programme Manager, MadagascarThere is little coverage of the fight against child labour in Madagascar. You and I have a duty to protect children. They have the right to go to school and play.
Our work in Madagascar
In Madagascar’s impoverished south, mica mining is a desperate, meager income source. Families, including children, endure harsh conditions for a single daily meal.
We combat child labor in the Anosy Region by removing children from mines, providing education and life skills. Families receive fair income through alternative activities and financial training. We promote transparent supply chains by mapping stakeholders and training the private sector. We also advocate for expanded social and child protection systems, reducing reliance on child labor.
Our aim is to create sustainable alternatives, ensuring children escape exploitation and families achieve economic stability.
Our approach: children at the centre
Children’s Rights
Everything we do revolves around children. We do awareness raising to convince parents to take their children out of mica mines and support them to get their right to identity and their right to education.
Child Participation
In our development projects, we always support children in the establishment of child clubs. These clubs are safe places for children to learn of their rights, to grow, and to be empowered to speak out and up and raise awareness on the matters that are important to them. As part of our global approach, we also co-create with children, and consult them in matters that involve them.
Child Protection
One of children’s rights is to be protected, and to do so, we support community members through additional income-generating activities, strengthen their knowledge and awareness in regard to children’s rights, and set up child protection committees to prevent, detect, and report child exploitation.
Our partners in Madagascar
Together with experienced partners we are working towards a world without child exploitation. Terre des Hommes Netherlands is part of Joining Forces for Children, an alliance of the six largest child-focused international NGO.
Terre des Hommes Netherlands also is in partnership with:
ALT
ALT is a Malagasy non-profit organisation for Social and Environmental Development for reducing the effects of poverty through technical support and promoting the self-promotion of the community, including women and children.
By promoting the gender approach and knowledge of human rights, ALT enables the local population of the South to prepare for natural disasters to improve communication for development based on the needs of the local population through the “bottom-up” methodology with freedom of expression and the right to information for good governance.
ALT has relevant experience in the various formal and informal educational activities existing with the Ministry of Education in Madagascar. Examples of activities relating to education and school canteens carried out by ALT include: 1) School canteens for children in four public primary schools in Amboasary 2) School and social re-enrollment of children in the urban municipality of Fort-Dauphin.
Terre des Hommes Netherlands is working with ALT to implement the ‘Elimination of Child Labour in Madagascar’s Mica Sector’ project in Ankaroka and Antatabe.
FAFAFI
FAFAFI Manantantely is a faith-based non-profit organisation that has operated in the two southern regions of Androy and Anosy since 1989.
FAFAFI has provided support to people displaced in the region. FAFAFI promotes ecological agriculture to improve living conditions through various income-generating activities. Fafafi supported the improvement of food security and agricultural income with financing from the European Union. Moreover, they have supported households through (i) guiding them in a participatory manner to invest recovery funds granted to households in order to impact the lives of the beneficiaries in a sustainable manner. FAFAFI has also ensured the sensitisation of parents to establish school infrastructure. FAFAFI played the role of intermediary to facilitate the integration of schools and allocation of teachers. Terre des Hommes Netherlands is working closely with FAFAFI to implement the ‘Elimination of Child Labour in Madagascar’s Mica Sector’ project.
Donors
List of donors
- Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- RVO, the Dutch Agency for Enterprises
- Dutch Relief Alliance
- European Union
- Foundations that want to stay anonymous for the public