After renewing its natural resource management transfer contract until 2031, Nosy Sakatia - Nosy Be aims to take a new step forward. Last week, from August 21 to 26, the grassroots community known as VOI RASIS, or "Vondron'olo Ifotony - Regroupement des Acteurs pour la Sauvegarde de l'Île Sakatia", met with two communities recognized for their experience in natural resource management and community tourism development.

A delegation of ten people, including VOI RASIS members, women representatives, guides, fishermen, technical supervisors and the coordinator of the Coastal Ecosystem Management project for the Baie d'Ambaro, Tsimipaiky, Ampasindava and Nosy Be archipelago landscape (GEC BATAN), left the perfumed island for a six-day exchange visit with COBA Tantely (grassroots community), manager of the Tsaranoro site in Ambalavao territory, and VOI Anja Miray (AMI), manager of the Anja village reserve (Matsiatra Ambony). The goal was to strengthen Sakatia community capacity in ecotourism, local governance and sustainable heritage valorization.

RASIS is now fully committed to sustainable management of Sakatia islet's terrestrial and marine ecosystems, including mangroves, forests, coral reefs and sea turtle nesting beaches.

Learning between communities

At Anja, VOI AMI is recognized for its participatory governance experience, transparency in association management, benefit-sharing and sustainable community ecotourism development. Tourism revenues have notably supported investments benefiting association member villages.

At Tsaranoro, COBA Tantely developed a model combining community natural resource management with tourism activity. Tourism-related revenues contribute to trail and local infrastructure maintenance, as well as financing village actions and projects. Partnership relationships also exist with valley tourism operators, who extensively employ local labor.

A GEC BATAN approach

This exchange visit illustrates the GEC BATAN project's ambition to promote solutions converging nature conservation, local economic development and community well-being.

According to project coordinator Hanta Rabetaliana, it also continues achievements from the KOBABY project, which sought to demonstrate that sustainable economic sector valorization can directly contribute to natural resource conservation and territory sustainability.

Through this meeting between communities from different Madagascar regions, the GEC BATAN project, with FFEM (French Fund for the Environment) financing, aims to foster simple, concrete dynamics.

According to Sakatia community vice-president Hugues Hamba, the Ambalavao visit was particularly revealing. The Nosy Be delegation found that VOI difficulties are often similar, though taking different forms according to local realities and contexts. Exchanges with Anja and Tsaranoro VOIs allowed them to share experiences, difficulties and especially implemented solutions. They were particularly impressed by their operating methods, benefiting entire communities, and their resilience facing difficulties.

"For VOI Sakatia, this experience brings new avenues to improve our organization and develop community revenue sources while protecting our terrestrial and especially marine resources. This meeting reminded us that project success depends above all on shared motivation: for the community, by the community and with the community," Hamba reported, confirming that Sakatia's task is particularly complex since management concerns both terrestrial territory and marine environment.