Teacher training and school market gardening activities are an important part of our multi-year project in CAZ West, Madagascar, made possible thanks to the support of The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF).  

Schools in Rural Madagascar

Families in rural areas of Madagascar are eager for their children to receive an education, but numerous challenges make it difficult to achieve this goal. Education is compulsory from the ages of 6 to 14, but many rural children don't complete primary school due to factors such as poverty, inadequate infrastructure, and the distance they must walk to reach a school. In addition, the quality of education in rural areas is often lower than in urban areas, with fewer resources and less trained teachers. 

Children line up outside school building before starting their lesson  © The Aspinall Foundation Madagascar 

Why Focus on School Market Gardens?

Many of the threats and pressures that degrade the vital habitats and harm the unique wildlife of Madagascar are driven by human activities, and often they originate with the local rural communities dependent on natural resources for all their living needs. Our work in the country has always focused on community-led conservation initiatives that seek to protect and restore wildlife and habitats whilst also improving the conditions for local people. Many of our project activities target the adult population, but with the difficulties that children face, and with the young generation being the decision-makers of the future, we include activities directly related to children to improve their situation, and to work towards environmental education becoming mainstream in the school curriculum.

One of the main reasons for children to drop out of school is linked to food availability. When parents are unable to provide sufficient food, their children stop going to school. Our school programme includes training for both teachers and children in climate-smart agriculture, with each school group practising their new skills by creating school market gardens where they grow produce to provide them with healthy, nutritious school meals. This establishes good agricultural techniques at a young age and helps to keep the children in education.   In addition, surplus produce can be sold to generate income. Although they are public schools, government funding is limited, and it is usually the parents who pay teachers' salaries, meaning that any additional income helps to ease the burden on rural families.

School Garden being prepared for planting © The Aspinall Foundation Madagascar
 
Training Teachers

We are working with local NGO Fanambinantsoa to deliver the school programme of activities, as they are unique in that they combine Ecosystem-based Adaptation and Climate-Smart Agriculture with teachers and schoolchildren, providing training in the field with practical follow-up sessions included. They also hold accreditation for working with children. 

As part of the training, they assess the teaching skills of each teacher and provide advice and training for improvement. In the training sessions during January this year, there were 50 teachers from 12 primary and secondary schools participating.  The level of training previously received by the teachers was determined to be variable, with 44% of participating teachers having had no professional training since starting their teaching career. Developing teacher skills has benefits beyond the environmental education and market gardening activities, as it will improve teaching standards across all subjects. As part of this process, NGO Fanambinantsoa assesses and advises the teachers across a wide range of teaching skills.

Example of some of the teaching skills being monitored  © The Aspinall Foundation, Madagascar

Practical Application  

Formal classroom-style learning is an important element of the training, but with agricultural techniques, the learning is reinforced with the school market gardens. The market gardens allow newly learned skills to be tried and tested whilst the trainers are still available through follow-up sessions, during which they monitor progress and provide additional training and support. 

Trainer supporting practical application of skills © The Aspinall Foundation Madagascar 

Multi-Year Projects Are So Important

Altering long-held practices takes time, and seeing the improved results that can be achieved from climate-smart agriculture compared to traditional techniques provides powerful motivation for change. That is just one of the reasons why the multiple growing seasons that can be achieved as part of a multi-year project are so valuable.

Trainers work to a high standard © The Aspinall Foundation Madagascar 

When the trainers carry out their follow-up sessions, they assess a wide range of processes, including areas like weed control, compost making, sowing techniques, area cultivated, species grown, crop yields, etc. They also include management techniques such as record keeping and the potential to generate income from surplus produce. The aim is to ensure the training is as comprehensive as possible. Inevitably, difficulties arise, and the change in rainfall patterns has an impact even when using climate-smart techniques, but overall, the school gardens programme continues to provide positive results.

The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund is a joint initiative of l’Agence Française de Développement, Conservation International, the European Union, the Global Environment Facility, the Government of Japan and the World Bank. A fundamental goal is to ensure civil society is engaged in biodiversity conservation.