Protecting and Enabling Vulnerable Children: the last three months
We and the centres we work with reached and helped thousands of Malagasy children and young people – including many who would otherwise be homeless – with food, shelter, education, training, water, healthcare and vital attention, in the first three months of 2025
The residential centres we work with provide children and young adults with access to education, enabling young people who have dropped out or never attended school to gain and benefit from the education they need and deserve.
The centres are: Akany Avoko Ambohidratino, which cares for boys and girls aged 0-8 and girls aged eight and above; Akany Avoko Bevalala, which serves boys aged eight and above; Akany Avoko Faravohitro, which cares for girls aged 5-18. All three are located in the outskirts of Madagascar’s capital Antananarivo, and are run by the Protestant Church.
In the last three months, the centres have ensured the following pupils and students have attended primary or secondary school, university, and/or have taken full part in vocational training courses.
As well as the 119 children resident at the AAA centre who are in education or training, the centre is enabling a further seven, non-resident, girls, to gain the education they deserve.
The AAA and AAB centres’ efforts are supported by Money for Madagascar, Ankizy Gasy, Small Steps for Africa, PADEM, and the World Bank.
In the period January-March 2025, one AAB resident obtained his degree and secured a job, while one other boy chose to live independently while continuing his university study. For many of the young boys and girls who enter the residential centres, university would be impossible to reach without those centres’, and our, help.
The AAF centre enrolled 30 new pupils into local schools, 20 children resident at the centre and ten non-resident. It provided all 30 with school kits and monitoring by their new teachers.
Three girls entered vocational training programmes in pastry and sewing.
Sixty-five girls were given individual coaching, including personal interviews and monthly group sessions. Ten girls received mentoring to build their life projects, and 45 personal development profiles were drafted.
Also at AAF, the centre’s library opened, and staff aim to expnd its vocational training and support for life projects to residents.
Two girls at the centre passed the baccalauréat in 2024 and are preparing to study in Germany, taking German language and hospitality courses.
Among the day centres and organisations we support and work with, Ankizy Gasy’s Mentoring Centre at Ambohidratrino, for the construction of which we secured funding, opened on 1 March 2025.
It supports 1,050 vulnerable children with education assistance and mentoring, career advice, and access to books, technical equipment and solar energy.
The Akany Hasina day centre for vulnerable children in Ambohitrabiby, a landlocked, remote, rural area, 25 km from Antananarivo, serves 80 children who live in and around Ambohitrabiby, every Saturday.
It promotes citizenship education for children through traditional Malagasy culture: educators teach children traditional Malagasy dance and music in interactive workshops, attended by 80 children.
The children learn abut their heritage and ancestors, and the values of elders, community, the environment and being good citizens.
It offers English and French language courses, which are attended each Saturday by 80 children, improving their language but also their confidence and opening them to new – including previously inaccessible – educational opportunities.
The centre has invested in a wide range of new books, including reference, educational resources and fiction, suitable for all ages, for its library, which is used by the wider community.
Some children studying for the national Malagasy school exams come to the centre every Wednesday afternoon to get school support. The centre also supplies all children with school suppies and notebooks.
Healthcare
As well as shelter, food, water and education – and of course vital attention and care children need, but those without families would otherwise not receive – all the centres we support provide their residents and/or visitors with heathcare, including dentistry, and check-ups.
The three residential centres we support carried out:
The AAB centre reported that the main health conditions observed in the three months to 31 March were colds and allergies.
The centre’s nurse has also organised health promotion and information sessions for the boys, which included sessions on oral and dental hygiene, personal hygiene, sexual and reproductive health for adolescents.
At AAF, aong with 30 general consultations, 23 children accessed dental care, and one expectant girl had prenatal care.
The Ankizy Gasy Mentoring Centre will provide healthcare and check-ups, as well as health promotional sessions. The first of these, in March, was on drug awareness.
Food
All eight centres which we support and with which we work, provide at least one meal per day to the children and young people they and we serve.
The following centres provided at least one nutritious meal each day to:
This means that in partnership with Mary’s Meals, we ensured 1,685 children received at least one nutritious meal per day (three in each of the four residential centres – AAA, AAB, AAF and Topaza).
With the same partner, we also provided meals for 3,551 schoolchildren – 1,815 boys, 1,736 girls – in the three months 1 January-31 March 2025.
The AAA centre provided three meals a day to 180 people, including 149 beneficiaries and 31 educators, totalling 48,600 meals from January to March 2025.
This vital provision for the girls at the centre was made possible by financial support from PADEM, Mary’s Meals and GAMA Textile, as well as income-generating activities set up by the centre itself.
The AAF centre served 195 meals daily to all children and staff, once again with backing from Mary’s Meals. The centre also began agricultural projects to improve food resilience, including buying tools and planting brèdes, courgettes, and maize.
In the 31 schools with which MfM and Mary’s Meals are engaged, support and awareness-raising activities have also contributed to food production for young people, including installing vegetable gardens in three schools, and kitchen improvement courses in two.
The AAA/B centres relaunched its vegetable-growing activities, starting with a session at Avoko Elementary School, where pupils were introduced to market gardening techniques, with a focus on cultivating leafy greens.
The children took part in planting and harvesting the vegetables, which were incorporated into their meals, complementing the vegetables provided by Mary’s Meals, and enriching the nutritional value of school lunches, as well as promoting hands-on learning and the development of sustainable life skills.
Centre autonomy and income
The AAA and -B centres work closely with families and partner organisations to make it possible for chldren to rejoin their families if they can. The centres renewed their partnership with the Famada NGO, which provides support for social worker home visits, case studies, and child-centred therapy.
The centre is also using its own income-generating activities to cover staff salaries, food, school fees, and student transport.
In one initiative, the centre has ordered 100 laying chicks, with delivery expected in June 2025. The centre already has 48 hens, which lay 40 eggs each day, and are contributing to improved child nutrition as well as – through the sale of two-thirds of these eggs – the centre’s income.
Its other initiatives, with direct beneficiary involvement to build skills and environmental awareness, include:
fabric bags – unique, handcrafted items
recycled bags – promoting sustainable living and waste reduction
handmade raffia bags – locally-made and showcasing traditional skills
eco-friendly charcoal – a greener alternative supporting environmental conservation and responsible energy use
liquid and solid soaps
To find out more about the centres’ activities in the last three months, follow the links below.
You can learn more about the last year of our Protecting and Enabling Vulnerable Children programme here.
All of this is the result of our partners’ hard work and dedication, and your interest and generosity.
To help us and our partners deliver care, education, health, food and shelter to children unable to live with their families – and often forced onto the streets – please consider donating using the button below, or sharing this message with friends, family, colleague and contacts.
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