A long-term environmental, economic and social project, run with rural communities in Madagascar since 2005.
Madagascar is the world’s fourth-largest island, in the Indian Ocean off the south-east coast of Africa.
Its rainforest has been almost entirely destroyed. Without trees, the soil wears out, native plants and animals disappear and the land dries up into desert.
The island’s resources have been exploited for more than 2,000 years. The country has signed many international agreements to protect its environment, but they are not always easy to enforce.
GDP per head remains one of the lowest in the world. In the villages, the report also notes little awareness that plant species are disappearing, and little reforestation followed through over time.
Background figures quoted by Favini, without a reference year.
Voiala works on two fronts. One is replanting parts of the lost forest. The other is raising awareness and training local people, mostly maize and peanut farmers, so they can improve how they farm.
Sahavondronina was chosen because the hills around the village had suffered extreme deforestation and the nearby fields had become barren.
There, the forest is protected through tree-planting and ecotourism. The goal is a more sustainable way of farming that respects the forest and local ecosystems, and that other communities can follow.
2005project begins
2,077 haof virgin forest to protect
7 communitiesin beekeeping
The two sources name different places, each for what it describes. Here they are, with their scope.
The 2025 report places the association’s work in the Haute Matsiatra Region.
Local people decide and manage. The association trains, supports and connects them with partners and the authorities.
Local associations and residents run the nurseries through management committees, supervised by the technical services. Young people in particular are trained in participatory planning and nursery management.
It was drawn up in a participatory, inclusive way with the communities of the rural municipality of Manamisoa and of Androy. It sets the framework in which everyone replants and protects.
In Madagascar, a community-based organisation, or VOI (Vondron’olona Ifotony), can be given the management of natural resources such as a forest under contract: this is called a management transfer (TGRN). Voiala works to restore and sustainably manage these areas in its third phase (2025–2028).
