Food Security Madagascar Project #54882

Recovery & Resilience

by SEED Madagascar

Project Report | Mar 8, 2024
Addressing Food Insecurity and Malnutrition

By Alexander Cook | Programs and Office Assistant

Madagascar continues to suffer from effects of climate change including increased cyclone activity, pest infestations, and the country’s most severe drought in 40 years. These events have caused a significant decline in harvests of key foods like rice and maize that have led to widespread food insecurity and malnutrition across Madagascar. The aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and rising food prices have only exacerbated the crisis, with hundreds of thousands of children under the age of five suffering from acute malnutrition.

SEED has been active in providing emergency food distribution across Madagascar. In 2024, SEED has procured and begun distributing RUSF for an additional 1,500 children suffering from acute malnutrition. A total of 1,283 children 6-59 months with moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) and severe acute malnutrition (SAM) across project sites have been identified. In addition, rations of rice, oil, and beans distribution to their families has begun.

SEED in collaboration with the Madagascar Ministry of Health has trained Heads of community healthcare centres on maternal and child nutrition, deworming, and associated health conditions. They have also been trained to screen and identifying acute malnutrition using mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) measurements. The trained heads of community healthcare centres are now prepared to subsequently train community healthcare workers and the local community members on identification and reporting of malnutrition.

With your help, in the next several years SEED hopes to continue this critical work, ultimately distributing enough RUSF to meet the health needs of 12,000 children diagnosed with SAM or MAM. Moreover, SEED hopes to continue distributing rice, beans, and oil to nearly 6,000 households, support 12,000 mothers and caregivers in malnutrition screening methods, and continue training community health workers to treat children suffering from malnutrition. We thank you for your support to this critical project.

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Nov 9, 2023
Building Community Resilience

By Betty Gisore | Grants and Administrative Assistant

Mobile CSB workers preparing malaria test kits

Prolonged drought lasting from 2018 to 2022, combined with the socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, left many people vulnerable to food insecurity in southern Madagascar. In 2021, during the peak of the most severe drought since 1981, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification System (IPC) declared 51% of the population in Anosy to be in crisis, with approximately 30,000 children aged 6- 59 months experiencing acute malnutrition.

In response, SEED Madagascar (SEED) launched an Emergency Food Distribution (EFD) Programme to support children with acute malnourishment and their families across Fort Dauphin. SEED distributed Ready-to-Use-Supplementary Food (RUSF) sachets and unprepared food to support the recovery of 4,843 children and 27,334 of their family members across Fort Dauphin from February 2021 to August 2023.

From April 2023, SEED has focused on promoting longer-term community resilience by supporting Community Health Centres (CSBs) to implement government led ‘Advanced Strategy for Proximity Care’ campaigns, bringing mobile health clinics to the rural communities. Through the campaign, communities received family planning services, HIV screening, COVID-19 and polio vaccinations, and children under five were screened and treated for malnutrition and common diseases like malaria. In addition, SEED provided six CSBs with water storage containers, installed rainwater harvesting system, and supported communities to repair and empty their latrines. This has improved access to clean and safe drinking water for staff and patients and enhanced the hygiene and sanitation of the communities.

SEED is preparing for the next three-year stage of its Recovery and Resilience Programme to support these communities in the longer-term. This will be through supporting early malnutrition identification by caregivers, referral to CSBs and training medical staff in best practices for treating the same.

Thank you in advance for choosing to support this initiative. Your contributions enable SEED to support sustainable change for the people in southeast Madagascar.

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Jul 12, 2023
SEED's People Led Approach

By Lauren Carrick | Programmes and Office Assistant

A fundamental aspect of SEED’s Recovery and Resilience programme is recognising the holistic and interlocking nature of development and capacity building. Thus, SEED’s focus continues to be placed on supporting individuals' and community resilience, helping build their capacity through alleviating some of the barriers that often pose challenges to health and livelihood opportunities.

SEED’s fifth and final round of Emergency Food Distribution has continued supporting community health workers to conduct household visits, helping increase community awareness of, and access to, family planning and maternal and child health services. At the start of Round IV, 100 community health workers received training on family planning and maternal and child healthcare. Next steps aim to further support recovery by tackling malnutrition, improving both health service delivery and promoting positive social behaviour change. SEED will train Community Health Centre (CSB) medical staff and primary caregivers to better prevent, identify and treat child malnutrition. Alongside this, SEED will support community members to adopt changes aimed at reducing the susceptibility of malnutrition. This new direction lends greater emphasis on community resilience, helping the charities transition from emergency humanitarian assistance to supporting the long-term development of communities.

Additionally, to help build individual capacity and resilience, SEED’s sustainable livelihoods programs are ongoing, helping support a range of livelihood opportunities. SEED’s Renitantely program continues supporting beekeepers to capitalise on market opportunities and provide them with training to improve technical and entrepreneurial skills. Having been key contributors to the previous phases success, local technicians will provide beekeepers with personalised support during monthly monitoring visits helping beekeepers manage hives independently.

SEED envisages communities thriving across Madagascar and works continuously to help alleviate barriers and provide support in health, education and sustainable livelihoods. Thank you for your interest!

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