Mikama - Jun 26, 2018

Dans The Morung Express
Locals pioneer safer fishing alternatives to protect seas off Madagascar. Madagascar, the world’s fourth largest island, is one of the poorest countries in Africa. With some 5,000 km (3,100 miles) of coastline, many of its people rely on the ocean to survive. (..) Madagascar’s first locally managed marine area (LMMA) was set up in 2006 and is called Velondriake, which means living with the ocean. (..) Velondriake is the largest locally managed marine reserve in the Indian Ocean, spanning 640 square km (247 square miles). (..) Hundreds of aquaculture farmers – many of them women – grow seaweed and raise baby sea cucumbers in ocean pens for sale to local seafood exporters. This has transformed lives as sea cucumber farmers can earn $124 a month, triple the average income in the area, said Liz Day, a manager with Blue Ventures.

Dans Financial Times
Madagascar is the world’s only non-conflict country to have become poorer, according to the World Bank. Annual income per head has nearly halved, to about $400. (..)  Yet until two years ago it received less aid per capita than any nation bar North Korea. (..) Madagascar has one of the worst road networks in Africa and spends just 3 per cent of gross domestic product on healthcare, among the lowest in the world. “About 80 per cent of the population lives on less than $1.90 a day
 (..) Almost one in two Malagasy children is stunted through malnutrition

 Dans Mercom India
The World Bank has also approved $40 million credit to Madagascar under International Development Association (IDA) program to develop its electricity sector governance and operations. The World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA), established in 1960, helps the world’s poorest countries by providing grants and low to zero-interest loans for projects and programs that boost economic growth, reduce poverty, and improve poor people’s lives. “The government has shown commitment to transform the public electricity utility JIRAMA. We are equally committed to accompanying them. This project is a vital building block of the World Bank’s long-term engagement to address the sector’s challenges in a holistic manner,” said Coralie Gevers, World Bank Country Manager for Madagascar. The fund will help the implementation of the performance improvement plan of JIRAMA (Jiro sy rano malagasy), a state-owned electric utility, under the Madagascar Electricity Sector Operations and Governance Improvement Project (EGOSIP).

Dans Ecofin Agency
World Bank approved $40 million in financing to Madagascar to develop the Electricity Sector Operations and Governance Improvement Project (EGOSIP). The money granted under the International Development Association (IDA) will enable the national power distributor -JIRAMA- to implement its restructuring program prepared in 2016. Specifically, the project will focus on restructuring the company, upgrading the power dispatch center and network automation systems, as well as rehabilitating and strengthening the national grid to improve electricity supply. (..) Let’s remind that Madagascar is currently the 185th out of 190 countries in Doing Business Report 2017’s ‘Getting Electricity’ indicator. Back in 2016, electrification rate stood at 15% (39% in urban areas and 5% in rural areas).