The region of Lhorombe is located in the south of theisland of Madagascar. The community’s source of livelihood is mainly agriculture. High levels of illiteracy and school dropouts, poverty, gender-based violence, and lack of voice and agency characterizes the life of many womn and young girls in the region.
A study carried out by LOREL Association, showed that in Lhorombe 70% of girls aged between 14 and 35 had dropped out of primary school and were victims of early marriage, and had become agricultural workers in rice fields or cultivated small plots of land by raising chickens and pigs. The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated their situation, not only threatening their means of subsistence but also their health due to lack of hygiene and safety kits and total loss of livelihood for many.
Being aware of this situation, the LOREL Association, a feminist organisation based in Madagascar launched a campaign to fight the spread of COVID-19 through income generating activities for womn and girls in Lhorombe. The campaign was also aimed at supporting the womn with training to mitigate the impact of climate change on their farms, as well as providing livestock endowment to improve their source of livelihood during the COVID-19 lockdown.
LOREL Association focused on disseminating communication materials on protection against COVID-19 in the local dialect. The Madagascar government had disseminated messages prior to this but they were produced in French or in official Malagasy, which was inaccessible to most womn in Lhorombe due to the low literacy level in the region. LOREL Association alongside a select group (womn and young out-of-school girls) from the Lhorombe region began a messaging process that reflected the thinking and voice of these womn and young girls. At the end of the
exercise, they developed radio messages, video messages and poster messages, which became the campaign messages against COVID-19 for the region.
The group selected 200 young people to take part in the awareness campaign throughout the region and the focus was on hygiene measures to adopt in order to prevent COVID- 19—washing, social distancing, wearing of masks, and so on. The second component of the initiative focused on ensuring the womn’s economic autonomy. Sixty of the womn received an endowment of livestock and agricultural products including jerry cans with taps and paper recycling materials.
LOREL Association was able to mobilise the Regional Directorate of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, community leaders and administrative services to train the womn on environmental management and understanding their rights based on the environmental laws in Madagascar. With
the young womn’s knowledge of their rights and resolve to continue to raise awareness, protect themselves from COVID-19 and improve their source of livelihood], , LOREL Association noted that the organisation had found an additional source of motivation to become more involved in promoting the rights and economic empowerment of womn and girls across Africa.
