Repair Mahatalaky Primary School

Three of the school’s five buildings incurred severe cyclone related damage in 2022, with further destruction caused by Tropical Storm Jude in 2025, the most severe tropical storm to reach Madagascar in recent history. Consequently, only four classrooms are available to accommodate 411 students situated across five school years, requiring lessons to be delivered on a half-day basis. The school’s poor infrastructure and extreme overcrowding expose students to ongoing health and safety risks, undermining their right to a safe learning environment. Increasingly frequent and severe cyclones driven by climate change further heighten health and safety risks, while the absence of cyclone-resilient infrastructure leaves the school highly vulnerable to weather-related damage and disruption.

Mahatalaky currently has insufficient Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) facilities which prevents students from adopting and practicing healthy behaviours. The two current latrine blocks are in a state of disrepair, with unsanitary conditions discouraging use amongst staff and students. Furthermore, the current facilities have broken doors and non-existent locks which reduce privacy, particularly for menstruating students who are unable to safely practice Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) at school. These poor conditions contribute to open defecation in the community and around the school, which can contaminate water points and increase the risk of communal disease transmission.

SEED aims to address these challenges by conducting a seven-month repair project at Mahatalaky Primary School in 2027. This project intends to improve the education and WASH environment of the school by achieving the following outcomes:

• Increase classroom capacity and student-teacher contact hours through the rehabilitation and furnishing of four school buildings.
• Improve water access for 411 students and 15 teachers through the installation of a 10,000-litre rainwater harvesting system with drinking and handwashing stations.
• Improve gender-equitable sanitation for 411 students and 15 teachers through the rehabilitation of seven latrines and the construction of an MHM facility.
• Increase WASH knowledge and behaviours amongst students and teachers through the delivery of WASH education sessions and the establishment of a school WASH committee.

We thank you all for supporting this worthy project