Without long-term behavioural change, the protection of Madagascar's nature will not succeed. Education and environmental awareness is an essential factor for the country to stop deforestation. That is why we are strongly expanding our environmental education programme, which has been in place since 2011. Instead of selective coverage, we are anchoring our education programme in the selected schools and making environmental education an integral part of the curriculum. ADES is expanding the programmes geographically, continuously developing the teaching units and creating new content for young people.

In order to reach young people as efficiently as possible with environmental education, ADES trains teachers in a targeted manner and enables them to integrate environmental education into their school curriculum. In this way, ADES creates multipliers who continue to operate the ADES awareness-raising measures in the long term. With the same aim, ADES also trains teacher trainers from the DREN Directorate of Education, who in turn pass on the knowledge they have acquired to teachers. Both the trainers and the teachers will continue to be supervised and accompanied in the following years.

Environmental education project film

Our more than 200 self-employed selling agents have played a central role in the large growth of ADES sales in recent years, accounting for more than half of all sales. They receive targeted support so that they can build up their own livelihoods. ADES accompanies them closely and also supports them in business management issues such as drawing up a business plan for self-employment. Selling agents are taught the core values of ADES and learn about their importance in the ADES sales network. They also receive coaching on their product knowledge and sales techniques. They are among the most important multipliers of our organisation. Especially for single mothers, this is an opportunity to generate much-needed income in addition to childcare. The majority of selling agents are female.

Ms Mialy, a retailer in Tana:

"I started working with ADES in 2020. In the ADES training, we created a business plan together. To promote it, I made posts on social media, among other things.

This year I was able to open a second shop and now I can also sell directly from the back of my car. With the profit, I pay my children's school fees."

ADES staff in Madagascar are the decisive factor in whether we succeed in sensitising the population to the need to use their resources and environment with care. For this reason, ADES employees are promoted in all areas and at all levels of the hierarchy and, where appropriate, receive training or further education. Our employees are the face of ADES in Madagascar and represent our values and ideals. They are therefore our most important multipliers and central to the credibility of our organisation.