Disaster Response Madagascar Project #68963

Help Madagascar Build Resilience

Project Report | Jun 18, 2026
Building Sustainable Beekeeping in Anosy

By Frankie Bird | Programmes and Office Assistant

Bee keepers Business Training

Over the past few months, Project Renitantely has continued supporting beekeeping communities across the Anosy region as the project transitions toward long-term sustainability. Significant progress has been made in strengthening the skills, resources, and confidence of the participants who need to independently manage their apiaries and beekeeping businesses.

Across the six participating communities, beekeepers have continued improving the health and productivity of their hives. During the previous phase, the average number of healthy hives per beekeeper increased substantially, while honey production more than doubled compared to the previous season. Building on this success, the project has focused on reinforcing core technical skills through refresher training sessions covering topics such as queen breeding, hive health, honey harvesting, and bee forage management. Participants have also received visual learning materials that can be used within households and communities to support ongoing knowledge sharing.

The project has continued to promote environmental resilience through the expansion of bee forage. Beekeepers have established tree nurseries and dedicated planting areas, and additional fruit tree seedlings are being distributed to strengthen local ecosystems while creating future sources of food and income. These efforts help ensure healthy forage for bees while contributing to broader environmental restoration.

At the same time, participants have strengthened their financial literacy and business management skills through refresher training designed to support long-term planning, saving, and investment. These sessions have encouraged greater household involvement in financial decision-making and reinforced the skills needed to manage beekeeping as a sustainable supplementary livelihood.

Community collaboration has also remained a priority. Local beekeeping associations continue to manage shared equipment, exchange knowledge, and explore opportunities to connect with cooperatives and local buyers, helping ensure that support networks remain active beyond the life of the project.

Thank you for making this work possible. Your support is helping rural communities build resilient livelihoods, restore local ecosystems, and sustain beekeeping as a source of income for years to come.

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Feb 27, 2026
Building Resilient Livelihoods

By Cassie Senn | Programmes and Office Assistant

Participatory mapping in Ambanihazo

This update highlights the progress made by SEED through Project Oratsimba and Project Renitantely, and the tangible impact your support continues to make.

Lobster fishing remains a main source of income in the Anosy region; however, stocks have declined in recent decades due to population growth, export market demand, climate change, and unsustainable fishing practices. Project Oratsimba aims to support fishers in implementing adaptive, sustainable, locally-managed marine areas (LMMAs) by strengthening community-led governance structures, helping to secure more sustainable and resilient livelihood options for fishing households.

The project has made significant progress. In Ambanihazo, participatory mapping enabled fishers to document key fishing sites, identify areas under pressure and record their ecological knowledge, such as seasonal trends and reproductive cycles. This is all key information and evidence which will guide decisions on closures, patrol priorities, and advance LMMA establishment and Dina development. In Elodrato, workshops on financial management have provided practical tools for budgeting, record keeping and planning at both the household and committee level. Patrol training has also strengthened governance and enforcement.

Project Renitantely (which translates to “queen bee” in Malagasy), aims to promote beekeeping as a sustainable, environmentally friendly, and economically viable livelihood in the Anosy region. The project has faced several challenges in recent times with droughts, floods, cyclones, and wildfires in 2025, having a significant impact by reducing bee forage, putting pressure on colonies.

Despite this, in 2025, the 53 participating beekeepers harvested a total of 1,135 litres of honey, an average of over 20 litres per beekeeper. This more than doubles the figures from the previous year, and is primarily attributed to a strong lychee flowering season.

To further strengthen financial resilience within the project, an introductory savings scheme was established in April 2025. The scheme encourages beekeepers to put aside a small portion of their income to be saved and redistributed later in the year, before the lean season begins. A total of 2,512,000 MGA (£425), an average of 52,000 MGA (£9) per beekeeper, was redistributed back to participants in December. This timely support provided beekeepers with a critical financial buffer during a period when crop harvests and incomes are typically low.

These achievements represent real, lasting impact in SEED’s mission to help build resilience and ensure that livelihoods can offer sustainable employment and business opportunities now and in the future. We sincerely thank you for your continued support.

Hive Monitoring

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Oct 30, 2025
Building Financial Resilience

By Betty Gisore | Grants and Administrative Assistant

Financial Literacy Training

Launched in September 2025, Project Miarina (“to bounce back”) is a new initiative that aims to strengthen the financial resilience of households across Madagascar’s Anosy region. In a context where families often face recurring economic shocks and limited access to financial education, the project focuses on equipping communities with the tools and knowledge to better manage their resources, recover from crises, and plan for the future.

Through locally adapted financial literacy training, SEED is developing a curriculum that responds directly to the needs of Anosy’s rural households. The training will include mothers participating in Project Miatrika, helping to reinforce the connection between financial management and improved child nutrition. In addition, Introductory Savings Schemes will be introduced to encourage regular saving habits, with the long-term goal of transitioning participants to self-managed Community Savings Groups (CSGs); fostering independence and sustainable community-led development.

Recent achievements mark promising progress for this new initiative. Pre-training surveys have been completed with Miatrika participants, providing valuable socio-economic data to shape the delivery of upcoming training sessions. Meanwhile, CSG Needs Assessments have been carried out with local fishery households to identify readiness levels and interest in joining SEED’s first community-managed rotating savings groups.

Together, these activities lay the groundwork for meaningful change; empowering households to build resilience and financial stability even in the face of uncertainty.

SEED Madagascar extends its deepest thanks to all donors and supporters whose commitment is helping families in Anosy “bounce back” stronger than before. Your generosity is enabling communities to gain vital financial skills, strengthen livelihoods, and create brighter, more secure futures for themselves and their children.

Thank you for making this progress possible.

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