Supporting Families in Madagascar
In Madagascar. ATD Quart Monde, France Volontaires’ member, works with volunteers to support twenty-four priority families from precarious neighborhoods in the capital. By choosing these families, the objective is to show a deliberate choice to leave no one behind and to allow these families, at the end of long-term support that can last several years (around two to three years), to move forward on the road to emancipation and to observe significant and lasting changes in the quality of their lives. The support concerns all the rights (access to health care, education, vocational training, decent work, decent housing, exercise of citizenship, etc.) of all the members of the household, with a particular emphasis on women and girls. A global approach in the fight against extreme poverty is essential: global at the level of rights and global at the level of the members of the family household. Key volunteer activities include:
making regular visits, by the pair of volunteers in charge of the family, aiming at creating a long term relationship of trust
supporting the realization of administrative procedures, such as civil status, links with the fokontany (traditional Malagasy village), etc.
helping with schooling and vocational training, searching for solutions adapted to the particular situations of children and young people
working on the quality of intra-family and neighborhood relations
facilitating the creation of links between the family and partner NGOs (domestic violence, sexual abuse, access to health care, etc.)
providing the support and training necessary for the creation of one or more goals of training in budget management, savings, know-how, literacy, etc.
encouraging participation in collective actions at the neighborhood level
In the current stage, the most visible changes include:
women clearly showing their will to emancipate themselves
children and young people who have given up all ambition to learn returning to school, to a vocational training center, or to a boarding school
parents gaining confidence in themselves and in others, showing that they want their lives to change