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Overview 2009 At the beginning of the year, Madagascar's newly elected government is overthrown. The country slides into a major political and economic crisis. Around 75 % of the Malagasy state's income comes from foreign funds. This money does not flow for months. Tourism, the second major source of income, is also collapsing. In the annual report, Otto Frei writes, among other things: "It is

Overview 2008 ADES opens its third centre in May. The new location is Morondava. The opening speeches are broadcast on the radio, followed by a two-hour special programme, and national television is also said to have aired sequences. At the end of the year, ADES had 42 employees. This is almost double the number of the previous year. The same applies to

Overview 2007 In the meantime, 25 employees work in the factories in Toliara and Ejeda. Otto Frei, a board member from the beginning, resigns from his position and takes over as ADES coordinator in Madagascar instead. Heinz Vetter, co-president of ADES since 2006, also spends eleven weeks on the island in an honorary capacity, in order to get to know the local people.

Overview 2006 The Annual Report 2006 begins as follows: "Very gloomy prospects for the future of our planet have been looking for quite some time. However, it seems that Al Gore is managing to shine a spotlight on this gloomy subject so impressively that an ever greater proportion of the earth's inhabitants are becoming aware of climate change." Less

Overview 2005 ADES is growing. The construction of a second carpentry workshop is already nearing completion. It is being built in Ejeda, 240 km south of Toliara. The region is one of Madagascar's "poorhouses". It is scheduled to open in February 2006. Pradel, the future manager of Ejeda, has been living on the site since December and is designing the surroundings.

Overview 2004 Almost one year after moving into the first centre in Toliara, the official opening ceremony takes place on 24 April with guests from Madagascar and Switzerland. Regula writes about this in the annual report: "Obviously the government was very impressed by our work, where everything is based on private initiative without us having to rely on

Overview 2003 It took a while for the last two ministers to sign the "acord de siège", the official recognition of ADES as an NGO. But in June, the long-awaited document arrives. Also in June, ADES moves into the new carpentry workshop in Toliara with a large salesroom, an office and a

Overview 2002 It took more than six months for the political unrest caused by the presidential elections to calm down somewhat. The original president had not recognised his popularly elected successor, moved to the east coast and unceremoniously proclaimed Tamatave as the capital. This was followed by roadblocks, curfews, police and military operations. After many national negotiations and numerous mediations

Overview 2001 Regula Ochsner spent the turn of the year 2000/2001 in Madagascar and was busy with her team - Eduard and Vreni Probst, Adrienne Borsari and Roland Baumann - on very different levels. Among other things, they had to bring a container with the first kits for 500 solar cookers out of customs, and in return, they had to be paid for by