Empowered lives.
Resilient nations.

ANJA MIRAY ASSOCIATION

Madagascar
Equator Initiative Case Studies

Local sustainable development solutions for people, nature, and resilient communities

UNDP EQUATOR INITIATIVE CASE STUDY SERIES
Local and indigenous communities across the world are advancing innovative sustainable development solutions that workfor people and for nature. Few publications or case studies tell the full story of how such initiatives evolve, the breadth oftheir impacts, or how they change over time. Fewer still have undertaken to tell these stories with community practitioners
themselves guiding the narrative.
To mark its 10-year anniversary, the Equator Initiative aims to fill this gap. The following case study is one in a growing series
that details the work of Equator Prize winners – vetted and peer-reviewed best practices in community-based environmental
conservation and sustainable livelihoods. These cases are intended to inspire the policy dialogue needed to take local successto scale, to improve the global knowledge base on local environment and development solutions, and to serve as models for
replication. Case studies are best viewed and understood with reference to ‘The Power of Local Action: Lessons from 10 Years of
the Equator Prize’, a compendium of lessons learned and policy guidance that draws from the case material.

Click on the map to visit the Equator Initiative’s searchable case study database.
Editors

Editor-in-Chief:
Managing Editor:
Contributing Editors:

Joseph Corcoran
Oliver Hughes
Dearbhla Keegan, Matthew Konsa, Erin Lewis, Whitney Wilding

Contributing Writers

Edayatu Abieodun Lamptey, Erin Atwell, Jonathan Clay, Joseph Corcoran, Sean Cox, Larissa Currado, David Godfrey, Sarah Gordon,
Oliver Hughes, Wen-Juan Jiang, Sonal Kanabar, Dearbhla Keegan, Matthew Konsa, Rachael Lader, Erin Lewis, Jona Liebl, Mengning Ma,
Mary McGraw, Brandon Payne, Juliana Quaresma, Peter Schecter, Martin Sommerschuh, Whitney Wilding

DesignSean Cox, Oliver Hughes, Dearbhla Keegan, Matthew Konsa, Amy Korngiebel, Kimberly Koserowski, Erin Lewis, John Mulqueen,
Lorena de la Parra, Brandon Payne, Mariajosé Satizábal G.

Acknowledgements

The Equator Initiative acknowledges with gratitude Anja Miray Association, and in particular the guidance and inputs of Ms. Rabetaliana
Hanta and Mr. Victor Samuel Rahaovalahy. All photo credits courtesy of Anja Miray Association. Maps courtesy of CIA World Factbook andWikipedia.

Suggested Citation

United Nations Development Programme. 2013. Anja Miray Association, Madagascar. Equator Initiative Case Study Series. New York, NY.

ANJA MIRAY ASSOCIATION

Madagascar

PROJECT SUMMARYKEY FACTS

Anja Miray Association was established in 1999 in responseto the degradation and clearing of local forests, thesedimentation of water resources, and the loss of wildlife
such as ring-tailed lemurs, chameleons and tropical birds.
The Association operates a 30-hectare community forest
reserve in the Haute Matsiatra region of Madagascar.

EQUATOR PRIZE WINNER: 2012
FOUNDED: 1999
LOCATION: Haute Matsiatra region
BENEFICIARIES: 2,500 community members

The community has established an ecotourism initiative
which funds community works projects – schools, healthclinics and environmental education – and ongoingconservation activities. Ecotourism has also provided arevenue stream for alternative livelihood projects suchas fish farming and tree nurseries. The Association has
provided a leading model of community-based forest
management in the country.

BIODIVERSITY: Ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta)

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Background and Context

5

Key Activities and Innovations

8

Biodiversity Impacts

10

Socioeconomic Impacts

10

Policy Impacts

11

Sustainability

12

Replication

12

Partners

133Background and Context

Madagascar has evolved in isolation over millions of years and ishome to thousands of flora and fauna species, 90 per cent of which
are endemic to the island (i.e. found nowhere else in the world).
Known as a biological hotspot for its abundance of animal and plantlife, many scientists refer to Madagascar as the “eighth continent”
because of its truly unique biodiversity. The country’s biological
heritage, however, is under threat from unsustainable development
patterns and anthropogenic pressures. Meeting the basic needs
and development aspirations of a growing population, while also
ensuring biodiversity conservation and sustainable natural resource
management, is a top priority for development agencies andconservationists across the country.

Prior to 1815, the forest at the base of the mountains served as a
refuge that could support up to 200 people during times of invasion,
allowing the people to remain unconquered for two centuries andearning them the name “Betsileo”, meaning “The Many Invincible
Ones.” In 1817, however, the Betsileo kingdom of Anja was finallyconquered by the Merina, beginning the process of their assimilation
into Malagasy society. Accelerated by French rule, the Betsileo
were made to establish villages and farms and to pay taxes. Many
descendants of these same clans live in Anja today, and are active
participants in the community association that protects the land of
their ancestors.
In addition to their anthropological importance, the mountains
are home to several rare and threatened species of birds that nest
along the cliffs. The Anja forest, meanwhile, is notable for its dense
population of ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta), as well as six snake
species, three varieties of chameleon, seven lizard species, andtwelve amphibians. The forests also contain one of Madagascar’s
rarest mammal species, the Lowland Streaked Tenrec (Hemicentetes
semispinosus), a black and yellow-striped animal distantly related tothe hedgehog. The diverse plant life includes species from the spiny
deserts of southern Madagascar, the central highland mountains,
and the western dry forests, including families of exotic saxicol plants
and species of rare terrestrial and epiphytic orchids. Additionally,
many medicinal plants used in traditional Madagascar healing canbe found in the area.

The community of Anja
One example of meeting these twin challenges comes from the rural
town of Anja, located in southern Madagascar’s Haute Matsiatra
region in the province of Fianarantsoa, 400 kilometers south ofthe country’s capital, Antananarivo. The province of Fianarantsoa
is known for its tall mountains (which reach altitudes of up to 2658
meters) and its rich biodiversity. Plant and animal diversity in theprovince comes from its distinct location between three ecosystems:
low altitude rainforest, mountain plateau, and highland forests.
The forests surrounding Anja are located at the base of three
deep-grooved granite domes known as the Three Sisters (“TeloMirahavavy”), which rise to 400-500 meters in height. Tafonies, caves
formed from wind erosion, speckle the near-vertical façades of themountains. The caves have been used for more than two centuries
by the local people, originally as shelters by the Betsileo people (ahighland ethnic group of Madagascar) and later as a place of refuge.
Up until the 1930s, the tafonies were used as sacred tombs for noblesof royal ancestry by the Betsileo. The deceased were traditionallywrapped in ornate silk lambas (the traditional rectangular clothworn by both men and women in Malagasy culture) to be carried tothe top of the mountains in ceremonies known as vahi-masoandro
and then lowered into the caves by ropes made from plants foundin the area.

Threats to the environment and local livelihoods
In the early 1990s, local concern for environmental degradation arose
in response to a vicious cycle of deforestation, land degradation,and biodiversity loss. It is estimated that around 90 per cent ofMadagascar’s original forests have been cut down. The common
practice of tavy (“fat” in English), a type of slash-and-burn agriculture,
has been particularly harmful to the island’s forests. Tavy has provendifficult to contain not only because of its practicality in agriculture,but because of its traditional associations in Malagasy culture4with prosperity, health, and ancestral tradition. While convenient
for clearing areas for crop cultivation, the cycle of burning heavily
depletes soil nutrients. After only a few years, the soil is exhausted
and more land is needed.

society that has bound communities together for generations is
the Fokonolona. Deriving from the word foko (‘tribe’) and olona(‘human’), this social system has worked to protect villages andsurrounding ecosystems throughout Madagascar’s history by
granting a large degree of resource governance autonomy toindividual communities. In Anja, this system was reintroduced as avehicle for collectively addressing the deteriorating environmental
situation.

The Anja area has been no exception to these trends. By 1990,
more than half of the original Anja community forest had been
illegally cleared through slash-and-burn methods as local demand
for agricultural land increased. In addition to a loss of flora andfauna, the clearing of the forest triggered erosion and led to a lossof water retention in the soil, creating a severe water shortage.
As predominantly subsistence farmers, the local community
depended on water to irrigate crops and flood the rice paddies.
After deforestation, irrigation became impossible, erosion left thelands heavily silted, and agricultural land became unproductive. As
a consequence, the community needed more land to farm: moreland led to less water and even less productivity, nurturing a vicious
cycle that threatened to further erode and destroy the forest. The
destruction of habitat was particularly devastating to the local lemur
population, as their food sources disappeared. Adding to their plight,
lemurs were hunted when people sought to supplement poor diets
because of food shortages. By the early 1990s, it is estimated thatfewer than 100 lemurs remained in the surrounding area.

Recognizing the unfolding ecological disaster, a group of 20 youths
from the Anja community resolved to take action to improve thesituation in and around their village. Working with Madagascar’s
national forest service, the group began to raise funds and provide
outreach to families who had been farming on public land. The
strategy was to clear the reserve by offering farmers alternative lands
outside the protected area. Once all of the farmers were resettled
and the reserve was cleared, a community Dina was instituted thatprohibited further use of the protected land. Dina is a customarysystem of rules and regulations used in Madagascar to guide andcontrol resource use and shape community behavior. The rules havetraditionally been passed orally from generation to generation, but
are today backed by legal authority in many areas.

Fokonolona: the community takes action

Building on these efforts, six villages surrounding Anja begana collective campaign to reforest the area with native tree
species, educate resident communities about the necessity ofenvironmental protection, and develop the area’s forests as an
ecotourism destination. Recognizing the area’s ecotourism potential– both Andringitra and Ranomafana National Parks have long been
popular destinations for tourists interested in lemur-spotting – thecommunities endeavored to leverage this revenue stream for local

In 1996, in an effort to stem deforestation, the national government
enacted land management legislation that would allow communities
to manage local natural resources. The legislation – which proposedusing a signed contract with the community as the legal basisof communal land management – first needed to be adapted to
local Malagasy culture. The traditional social structure in Malagasy

5economic development and the conservation of local forests. In
recognition of this groundswell of local conservation action, theAnja forest was designated a community-managed reserve by theGovernment of Madagascar in 1999.

to give a total of 72 hectares of land under local management. The
Anja Community Reserve grew from 13 to 18 hectares. Today, theAnja Community Reserve is a thriving tourist attraction, popular withvisitors from all corners of the globe. In 2011, Anja Miray received
12,000 visitors and generated USD 45,000 for the association. Anja
Community Reserve is one of the most visited community-managed
forest and ecotourism sites in Madagascar.

The Anja Miray Association
In 2001, with the aim of serving the area’s 2,500 residents, community
representatives and local government officials came together toform the Anja Miray Association. This organizational development
phase was supported by the UNDP-implemented GEF-Small Grants
Programme (SGP). Management of 60 hectares of land was officiallytransferred to the Anja Miray Association on November 23, 2001 in
accordance with Malagasy Law No. 096-025 (1996), which mandated
community management of renewable natural resources throughthe protection and administration of local sites. Initially, 13 hectares ofthis was demarcated as a community reserve. Following a successful
evaluation in 2009, the association was granted a ten-year contract tomanage the area, with an additional 12 hectares being demarcatedGovernance and institutional structure
The association holds biannual community meetings, where all
major decisions are discussed and voted upon. The meetings areheld in a large community center (constructed by the association
for this purpose) and provide a forum for residents to identify andagree upon investment priorities. Reports on Anja Miray Association
activities and finances are produced regularly and shared with
community members through a number of media channels,
including local radio.

Fig. 1: Anja Miray Association organogram

Source: Anja Miray Association

6

Key Activities and Innovations

The association has created a model in Madagascar for communitybased ecotourism. By creating a network of marked trails throughthe Anja Community Reserve – and providing knowledgeable,
experienced guides – the association has been able to attract
tourists, students, and scientists from across the globe. Since
its inception, the Anja Miray Association has hosted more than
50 organizations and more than 10,000 schoolchildren, sharing
insights and knowledge about the reserve, about community
forest management, and about the area’s unique biodiversity.

community with unforeseen events – in effect, a local social safety
net. In the association’s 2012 work plan, for instance, a percentageof the reserve fund was dedicated to helping community members
deal with and recover from brush fires. The General Assembly
votes on each disbursement of funds, which range from USD 150250 for each individual ‘crisis’ and are executed by the Executive
Board. To offset the need for fuel from the forest, the association
has established eucalyptus (kininina in Malagasy) tree nurseries in
the communities to provide sustainable sources of fuel wood. Fora nominal fee, members of the association can receive additional
seedlings.

Ecotourism
The Anja Community Reserve offers visitors two trails of varying
difficulty. The first, a two-hour hike, allows visitors the chance tosee several different species of lemur as well as natural caves, someof which serve as Betsileo tombs. The second and longer of thetwo hikes takes visitors to the top of a 1400-meter mountain on
a winding six-hour loop. Visitors are accompanied by local guides
who take an active role in promoting environmental sustainability
in the reserve. A campsite equipped with simple shelters, latrines
and a bathing area offers visitors a place to tent or enjoy a picnic. The
Anja Reserve is equipped to host people with physical disabilities,
allowing everyone to see the beauty of the forest. At least ten
private tourism and non-profit organizations provide growing
visibility and supportive contacts for Anja Miray throughout thecountry.

More than fifty percent of association members are women. In
a deliberate strategy to empower women, the association has
funded the purchase of materials (such as textiles, fabrics andraw silk) and provided training to promote a handicraft industry
marketed to tourists. Guiding jobs, meanwhile, have been targeted
at local youth, with 28 professional guide positions created sofar. In a pioneering step, vocational training has been provided
specifically for disabled members of the community.

Forest patrols and low-impact harvesting
Four monitoring officers maintain daily, twelve-hour patrols of
the community-managed reserve. Harvesting of plants within
the site is strictly prohibited, but members of the association may
submit requests for gathering small amounts for non-commercial,
medicinal purposes. One plant that is commonly harvested within
the reserve is Imperata cylindrica (known locally as “tenina”), a
perennial rhizomatous grass that local people use in traditional
ceremonies: Betsileo funeral processions require the dead tobe tied to a hand-made ladder and then pulled by rope to theirresting places in the mountain caves; Imperata cylindrica stems are
harvested to create these natural cords.

Investing in the community
The flourishing ecotourism operation has allowed the Anja Miray
Association to fund numerous economic development projects
within the community. Chief among these has been the investment
made in local education, with revenues used for the constructionof schoolhouses, teacher wages, and subsidizing school fees fororphaned children. A reserve fund was also established to assist the7Sustainable agriculture and fish farming

transplant and re-plant small seedlings, requires much less water
than traditional rice cultivation and as little as 10 per cent of theseed input. Initially, the technique requires increased labor, but has
proven to increase yields while maintaining soil integrity.

The Anja Miray Association also runs activities intended to improve
agricultural practices. The association has been successful at reducing
local farmer reliance on slash-and-burn agriculture, a key driverof deforestation and biodiversity loss in the region. Adoption of a
System of Rice Intensification (SRI) – a rice farming method intended
to increase yields in irrigated farming systems without relying onpurchased inputs – has allowed the community to double rice yields
in recent years, from the national average of two tons per hectare
to over five tons per hectare. SRI was developed in Madagascar in
the early 1980s and has only recently come into widespread use
throughout the rest of the developing world. The system, which
differs from traditional cultivation in that farmers must physically

The association has also been instrumental in cultivating fisheries
in the rice fields, a traditional practice that had diminished overthe past two decades. Previously, fish from the flooded rice fields
were a primary source of food for many community members.
The association has helped to reintroduce this practice and, today,
farmers harvest a total of around five tons of fish each year, a notinsignificant number given food security and alternative incomegeneration concerns.

Fig. 2: Anja Community Reserve visitor numbers

14,00012,00012,00010,000
8,000

8,000

7,000
6,000

6,000

6,000

5,000
4,000

4,000

3,000

2,000

1,200
200

350

2001

2002

0
2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

Source: Anja Miray“Prior to our initiative, this vast territory was cleared every year for corn planting. Local
communities were hunting the lemurs as a source of protein to supplement their poor food diet.
Our environment was completely destroyed.”
Victor Rahaovalahy, Chairman and Founder, Anja Miray Association.
8

Impacts

BIODIVERSITY IMPACTS

Ecosystem restoration

The southeastern region of Madagascar is one of the most biologicallydiverse areas in the world. The region sits at the crossroads of three
distinct habitats and is home to a high diversity of wildlife and plant
species. Human activity – in particular slash-and-burn agriculture,but including the more general pressures one might associate withpopulation growth and development – has had a deleterious effecton this unique area. The Anja Community Reserve, sitting at the heartof the region, contains an abundance of lemur, reptile, amphibianand bird species, the majority of which were previously threatened
due to severe environmental degradation.

Reforestation has had a profoundly positive effect on local
ecosystem health and the provisioning of ecosystem goods andservices. Where deforestation once led to land degradation, which
led to compromised soil integrity, which led to a lack of water
retention in the soil, which led both to flooding and a lack of water
security for the local population, reforestation has improved water
infiltration into the soil and increased the availability of fresh waterin the community. Droughts have become far less frequent and thecommunity now has the water it needs to irrigate its crops. As one
example of restored ecosystem functioning, a lake that had dried up
during the period of extreme deforestation has once again emerged
and today serves as a primary source of fish for the communities.
Additional income from tourism has also allowed members of
the community to become less dependent on agriculture, which,combined with vastly improved agricultural practices, has reduced
some stresses on the land.

Reforestation and wildlife conservation
Although responsible for only a small portion of what remains of thelarger surrounding forest corridor, the Anja Miray Association has
been successful in its reforestation and wildlife conservation efforts.
Slash-and-burn agriculture had severely depleted soil nutrients andled to erosion and drought-like conditions in the area. Following
Anja Miray outreach and the institution of the community Dina, theflora and fauna of the reserve made a stunning recovery. Voluntary
efforts by members of the association have reforested three hectareswith a mixture of indigenous and exotic tree species: indigenous
species have been used to enrich and support the biodiversity of
the forest, while exotic species serve as a food source for lemurs. The
association has also overseen resurgence in the lemur population
along with other notable wildlife in the reserve, including 40 speciesof birds. According to environmental surveys conducted in the late
1990s, there were fewer than 100 recorded lemurs. In 2009, scientists
recorded 337 lemurs in the area, and, in 2010, that number grew to415. The full-time officers monitoring the reserve prevent any illegal
logging, hunting or harvesting of medicinal plants. The expansionof land under community management by 20 per cent in 2009, from60 to 72 hectares, can be seen as a vote of government confidence
in the conservation efficacy of the association.

SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS
The ecotourism project developed around the Anja Community
Reserve has transformed the local economy. The association has
created more than 450 jobs, directly benefitting more than halfof the area’s 2,500 residents. Since the association began its work,
tourist visits have skyrocketed from 100 in 2001 to more than 12,000
in 2011. It has become one of the most visited community-managed
ecotourism sites in all of Madagascar. Ecotourism brings in USD
35,000-45,000 to the community annually, roughly equivalent to theinitial grant received from the UNDP-GEF Small Grants Programmein 2001.

Investing revenues in conservation and community
Each year, the community establishes a budget and decides how
to distribute and invest that year’s revenue. The uses to which
9Improved agricultural productivity and food security

ecotourism revenues are put vary. One consistent target ofreinvestment has been all the conservation and restoration activities
associated with maintaining the Anja Community Reserve, including
but not limited to reforestation, environmental surveillance, andmonitoring and evaluation. Taxes are also paid to the Municipalityof Iarintsena (approximately 5 per cent of total ecotourism revenue)
and to the Regional Environment and Forest Management Bureauof the Haute Matsiatra region (as forest usage fees, to cover periodic
follow-up and evaluation costs incurred by the Ministry of Forests –also around 5 per cent). Both taxes were established as conditions of
the management transfer contract signed in 2001. In addition, funds
under ‘public investments’ – around 14% of all revenues – have beenused to build six new schoolhouses. The schools now provide formal
education to 450 students (an increase from 80 students previously).
These funds have covered the salaries of six teachers and provided
subsidies for several orphaned children. The association has also
used revenues to construct a community center that is used formeetings, information exchange, and local events.

Two additional benefits from Anja Miray Association work havecome in the form of improved agricultural productivity and greater
food security. The community – and region more generally – hashistorically suffered from high rates of malnutrition and limitedaccess to food. Through the work of the association, the community
has become completely self-sufficient, managing to grows its
own food and autonomously provide food security for the local
population. Much of this success owes to the agricultural training
provided by Anja Miray Association. In recent years, increased
rice yields have even allowed farmers to maintain crop surpluses.
Advances in agricultural productivity are also inextricably linked
to parallel improvements in environmental health and restored
ecosystem functioning; improved water provisioning by the Anja
forest has boosted irrigation of rice fields and created ponds for fish
farming.

POLICY IMPACTS

Twenty-eight young people in the community are employed as
professional guides in the reserve. Any visitors entering the reserve
are accompanied by a local guide, many of whom are multilingual.
Each guide is also responsible for training new guides, thus ensuring
sustainability and allowing more villagers to participate. Many
women sell crafts to the tourists, providing an additional source ofincome to supplement the traditional reliance on agriculture andhelping to increase school enrolment, as more families can afford
to pay annual fees. The association has also taken care to include
community members with physical disabilities in their development
plans. Welding materials were purchased and classes held for thispurpose, training disabled community members in a new andmarketable skill-set.

As a leader in the field of community ecotourism in Madagascar,
the group has sought to share its experience with other groups inthe country and has proven extremely successful in spreading its
message and expanding its reach in environmental conservation
and advocacy. Anja Miray has been held up by the National
Public Interest Group for Sustainable Community Management of
Natural Resources in Madagascar as a model of success. The land
management law was originally proposed as an economicallyfeasible way to promote conservation and development. By
granting communities the legal right to protect their own land, thegovernment correctly predicted that communities would be better
equipped to promote conservation. Anja Miray has proven to be
one of the most successful examples of this trend of community
leadership in biodiversity conservation for sustainable development.

Fig. 3: Uses of revenue from ecotourism as
decided by General Assembly

Source: Anja Miray

10

Sustainability and Replication

SUSTAINABILITY

forested areas based on: i) respect for the rule of law; ii) the efficiencyof the existing organizational structure; iii) the effective participationof each structural entity; iv) the healthy management of all resources(renewable and otherwise); and v) the prevention of corruption andadherence to transparency.

The association has enjoyed steady growth in its membershipand operations, owing in large part to a high level of community
investment in and ownership of its activities. Anja Miray Association
has grown from 20 members at its founding to 350 today.
Undoubtedly, much of this is due to the tangible successes of theassociation’s work, particularly in job creation, the development of
more sustainable and more productive agriculture, and the publicly
visible investment of ecotourism revenues.

REPLICATION
Anja Miray has become a benchmark for community-based tourism
in Madagascar and has served as a model for replication. With thesupport of the UNDP-implemented GEF-Small Grants Programme(SGP) Madagascar, the association leads a local network of village
associations (Vondron’Olona Ifototra or ‘VOI’) responsible for natural
resource management in Ambalavao district: the Fédération des VOI
Mitsinjo Ny Ho Avy aims to share and spread Anja’s success and todevelop the Anja tourism circuit to involve surrounding sites.

Underpinning the association’s success and sustainability has been
consistent growth in tourism numbers. From 2001 to 2011, thenumber of visitors (and corresponding tourism revenues) increasedby an average of eight to ten percent annually. Anja Miray is among
the most visited community-managed forests and ecotourism
sites in Madagascar, and is a prominently featured destination ofsuggested ecotourism routes for southern Madagascar.

Transferring best practice community-to-community

The association is financially self-sustainable. Importantly, it is
not entirely dependent on tourism for its financial security andsustainability. The association learned first-hand about the necessityof diversified revenue streams when, in 2009 and 2010, a national
political crisis led to a downswing in tourist traffic and the numberof visitors to their site dropped significantly. In response, association
members used a reserve fund to supplement lost tourism revenue
and invested in new agriculture activities. They focused on adopting
modern farming techniques to improve harvests. Higher yieldsof rice, tomatoes and manioc were able to fill the shortfall in local
household incomes from the drop in the tourism industry.

Through involvement in knowledge sharing initiatives, the association
has also been at the centre of a growing national movement callingfor improved local management of natural resources. In May 2012,
Anja was the site for creation of TAFO MIHAAVO (the national
network of local communities for natural resource management,or Tambazotran’ny Fokonolona Miaro ny Harena Voanjanahary in
Malagasy.) This network of 482 local communities, drawn from 17
of Madagascar’s 22 regions, has helped Anja Miray to amplify its
success and inform community-based action across the country. The
network is described as a forum where member communities canshare ideas and address common concerns about the environmentand sustainable development.

In 2011, to celebrate its tenth anniversary, the association launched
a new development plan for the next ten years with a view toimproving local living conditions and the overall environmental
health of the reserve. The main goal of the new development plan
is to ensure good governance and the sustainable management of

The network aims are stated in the ‘Anja Declaration’, also released
in 2012, which calls for the increased transfer of natural resource
management to local communities throughout Madagascar. It
11

PARTNERS

highlights Fokonolona – the traditional social structure based on
Malagasy values – as “the most stable, well-established and durable
structure” accepted by Malagasy communities across the country,
and underscores its value as a tool for sustainable natural resource
management. While acknowledging the benefits of existing laws
– especially the GELOSE legislation of 1996 (Malagasy Law No.
096-025) – the declaration calls on the national government tostrengthen and clarify these laws. Through the declaration, TAFOMIHAAVO also calls on the international community to engage inhorizontal learning and exchange to improve local development
throughout the world. The Anja Miray ten-year strategy calls forstrengthening and developing stronger Dina laws in line withlocal and environmental needs, followed by giving an expanded
role to TAFO MIHAAVO member organizations in national resource
governance.

The UNDP-implemented GEF-Small Grants Programme has provided
support to the association since its inception, allocating an initial USD
38,000 grant to increase local awareness of the potential benefitsof environmental conservation and sustainable tourism. Today,
the local ecotourism enterprise generates a similar sum each year.
SGP Madagascar has also been critical to association networking
and knowledge-sharing activities through its support to both the
Fédération des VOI Mitsinjo Ny Ho Avy and TAFO MIHAAVO.
Since its formation in 2001, Anja Miray has worked closely with the
Ministry of Environment and Forests. Funding partners have included
the National Rural Development Support Programme, World Wildlife
Fund, World Mountain People Association, USAID’s EcoRegional
Initiatives Program, and the European Association of Zoos andAquaria Conservation Campaign (EAZA), which contributed €18,000
in 2008.

“With the income generated by ecotourism, and the sale of handmade items, we were able tobuild two schools for our children and also pay teacher salaries.”
Victor Rahaovalahy, Chairman and Founder, Anja Miray Association.

12

FURTHER REFERENCE•••

Anja Miray Association Equator Initiative profile page:equatorinitiative.org/index.php?option=com_winners&view=winner_detail&id=32&Itemid=683
Anja Miray Association website: http://anjacommunityreserve.netai.net/
Presentation on Anja Miray Association (PowerPoint):
equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/Community_Aldeia/Day_2/Madagascar_Anja_Miray.pdf

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