About Azafady

Mission statement
Azafady aims to eradicate poverty, suffering and environmental damage in Madagascar.
Our mission is to alleviate extreme poverty and protect unique, biologically rich but greatly endangered forest environments in Madagascar by empowering some of the poorest people to establish for themselves sustainable livelihoods and improve their health and wellbeing.

Who are we?
Azafady is an award winning registered charity in England & Wales number 1079121, partnered to an independently registered Malagasy Non-Governmental Organisation. We currently work on a wide range of projects in the Anosy and Androy regions of southeast Madagascar. Founded in 1994, we work with over 80 rural communities & within the urban centre of Fort Dauphin.

What do we do?
We are a development organisation that aims to: Raise awareness about the plight of the Madagascan environment and the Malagasy people; to Empower Malagasy people to improve their own lives and provide Support to communities and threatened environments. We work for a better future for people, communities and the environments in which they live.

Our approach
Our approach is one of co-operation and participation with grassroots communities working to alleviate the effects of poverty and to support viable, environmentally-sensitive development. Our holistic development and conservation projects support some of the world’s most vulnerable people in threatened & irreplaceable environments. For an introduction to Azafady’s work, please watch our short film. Although filmed in 2005, this still gives a good introduction to our work in Madagascar.

Our Goals
We are working to assist the people of Madagascar to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) as defined in the Government of Madagascar’s “Madagascar Action Plan” (MAP), which is a strategic framework for economic growth and environmental stewardship, with the aim of reducing poverty by 50%.

We do this by responding to the highest priority needs of communities in the Anosy and Androy Regions in South East Madagascar, so as to contribute to achievement of the MAP objectives and targets in the fields of Sustainable Livelihoods, Health and the Environment, prioritizing our work in communities living near New Protected Areas (NAPs).

At the heart of our work is an integrated approach to the needs of the Malagasy people and their unique environment, sensitively built around what local people have told us are their most critical needs and which maximises community participation. We develop projects using the Sustainable Livelihoods model for poverty reduction, which aims to reduce vulnerability by strengthening communities’ Human, Natural, Financial, Social and Physical assets with a caveat that our projects and activities do not compromise the environment. Projects incorporate communication, training and support at the level of the Fokontany (village) and the household, with a priority for the most isolated and marginalised communities.

Our beliefs

• All people are equal
• All people have the right to live a dignified life
• All people should have access to basic health services
• All people should have access to basic education
• All species have an integral ‘right’ to exist
• The species endemic to southeast Madagascar should be protected from extinction
• A diversity of species is integral to the healthy functioning of eco-systems
• It is vital to maintain the delicate eco-systems in the southeast of Madagascar, for the biodiversity within these eco-systems themselves and the local people who depend on them for survival.

The word Azafady, for those who are wondering, means ‘please’ in Malagasy, or more specifically ‘excuse me’…. or even more specifically, it translates as ‘may it not be taboo to me’. Malagasy people are extremely polite and can be quite elaborate in their expressions. The Azafady logo is based on a cross-section of the seed of Dypsis saintelucei. This endangered palm species is only found in the Ambatoatsignana forests where Azafady works with the local community to protect this endangered environment.