Education in Madagascar with the GRAZIE endowment fund
This summer 2024, the Merci endowment fund, which we have supported since 2021, becomes the Grazie endowment fund.
Thanks to you and everyone's participation, projects become a reality. The Ankilitelo middle school has already risen from the ground. It will welcome 200 middle school students at the next start of the school year, coming from the schools furthest south in the region.
Thank you, grazie!
Madagascar holds a special place in our chocolate-making hearts
Eager to deepen our relationships with producers and constantly improve the quality of our chocolates, we favor and develop the direct trade to supply ourselves with cocoa beans. This is how we went to Madagascar in 2018, to the north of the big island, in the magnificent Sambirano valley, to meet our partners with whom we work hand in hand.
If the beauty of the island and the discovery of local cocoa won us over, the economic situation and the living conditions of the Malagasy people deeply shocked us. "When you return to France, will you talk about us? About our magnificent country? Bring tourists, tell them... If you were Malagasy, what would you do for the country?". The youngest question us, press us, push us. But how? How to reach out to those whose future is still ahead of them? Where should we start?
A few years later, meeting the Cohen family, founder of the Merci endowment fund, finally allowed us to see the possibility of mobilizing ourselves; by supporting committed actors who are already working in Madagascar to educate children and give them access to a decent meal every day. We therefore commit financially alongside them and hope to raise awareness among all our customers to take part in the project by making a donation of €1 in addition to their gourmet purchases.
Special thoughts for Tanteli with whom we had this discussion a few hours before returning to France... Tanteli, here is our first stone in the building!
The Merci Endowment Fund and Abc Domino hand in hand in Madagascar
For 30 years, the most beautiful models of Bonpoint, a ready-to-wear brand for children created by the founding members of the Merci Endowment Fund, were embroidered and made in Madagascar. The desire to give back to those who contributed so much to the success of Bonpoint dictated the commitment of the Merci Endowment Fund in this country, ranked by the IMF as the 4th poorest in the world.
To ensure the proper implementation of its projects, the Merci Endowment Fund committed alongside the Abc Domino association, recognized for the quality and seriousness of its actions in the Tulear region, in southwestern Madagascar. In this particularly poor province, deserted by international organizations due to access difficulties, where according to the UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund) 47% of children under 5 suffer from chronic malnutrition and where only 1 in 2 Malagasy has access to drinking water, the needs are immense.
Since 2010, the Merci Endowment Fund has thus participated in the construction of 6 primary schools, 2 middle schools and 1 high school, allowing 3,600 children to go to school. 6 canteens, 3 sewing workshops, 3 vegetable gardens, boreholes and housing for teachers have also been created.
In this landlocked and arid region, schools, the only permanent buildings and stable institutions in the region, have become the anchor point for the sustainable development of the territory. In 2019, students successfully passed the Baccalaureate exams for the first time. In 2020, 96% of the final year students passed this exam while the national average is 26%. It is a great pride for the actors of the program, but also and above all for these young people who are becoming role models for the entire community.
PROJECT CHARACTERISTICS
- Historical commitment of the Merci Endowment Fund in Madagascar since 2010;
- Replicable project in an area where 70% of children were not in school;
- Collaborative project: involvement of parents, mayors, teaching staff, local businesses, the regional directorate of national education, the director of the association in Madagascar, the Malagasy coordinator of the schools, the Alliance françaiseand the WFP(World Food Program).
- Food security project: in this region affected by famine, our school canteens provide a daily meal to all students, sometimes the only one of the day.
- Sustainability of the project: construction of permanent buildings with access to water; professionalization of the supervisory team and the Malagasy teaching staff; strong involvement of volunteers mobilized for the development of vegetable gardens, sewing workshops, boreholes...
Our commitment to the cocoa sector
The biogeographical isolation of Madagascar, the variety of climates and terrains favored the development of a fauna and flora unique in the world, partly endemic. Fruit trees, legumes, palm trees, coffee trees, rice fields, vanilla... Cocoa trees are no exception and we thus develop many recipes from this exceptional cocoa.
On the ground we fully understand the reality of cocoa work. Maintenance of plantations, harvesting and fermentation processes, drying methods... Everything is very different from one producing country to another and sometimes from one plantation to another. We therefore establish partnerships with cooperatives whose specifications, very high quality, seem to be the best to us.
When we buy cocoa, we also make sure that the planters are paid their fair value and live decently from their labor. If it is a moral and intellectual satisfaction it is also a way to support our sector. When cocoa does not allow them to live properly, some producers do not hesitate to clear everything to turn to other more lucrative crops certainly but problematic in other aspects (soil depletion, drug trade...).
