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ANNUAL REPORT2017 EDITORIAL ASSOCIATION POUR LE DEVELOPPEMENT DE Dear Friends of ADES L'ENERGIE SOLAIRE (SUISSE - MADAGASCAR) ‚Permanence and change – changes have a lasting effect‘. In support of this state- ment, the German professor Dr. Volker Becker commented approximately as follows: Permanence is needed if change is to have a lasting effect, whereby per- manence is synonymous with remaining committed to the goal. In a world where change is ever present, a high level of goodwill and fantasy is a necessity if new ways are to be found to reach those goals. When we began the ADES journey in Madagascar eighteen years ago, we had two clear goals. On the one hand, we were committed to producing efficient cookers. On the other hand, as a fair em- ployer, we were committed to providing our employees with a real opportunity to establish a sound livelihood for them- selves. In support of this, ADES offered fair salaries and social benefits and carried the schooling costs of the emplo- yees‘ children…and that from the first to the last class. Now, many years later, we are really beginning to see the fruits of this commitment. Convince yourselves! Hospice is the son of our guard in Tuléar. I first met him when he was 6 years old: a lively young boy. He built many things out of wood, mostly based on things he had seen at ADES. And today? Hospice is 21, has completed his studies and is now completing an apprenticeship with a large construction firm, with goal of becoming an engineer. In the following section of this report, I am happy to tell you the tales of two young children and of a grateful father. I wish you all a wonderful, colourful Spring, your Regula Ochsner Education for 200 children to modern industrial standards. Their that the young plants can adapt to the In 2015 the ETH in Zürich wrote the main problem is to find skilled perso- salty conditions. following about Madagascar’s educa- nnel capable of operating the hi tech Mangrove trees are enormously im- tion system: ‚Access to education is machines. portant for the population of coastal highly dependent on a family’s income. Hospice looks areas. Provided they are healthy, they Only a quarter of all children attended a forward one secondary school. Whereas some 40% day, under of the population of Switzerland have these circum- completed higher education, that per- stances, to get- centage in Madagascar is only about ting a well paid 5%‘. Right from its beginning in 2000, and interesting ADES has assumed job with, say, the schooling costs the drink produ- of all the children cer STAR. of its employees. A confident grin That translated to an passes over Re- average of almost gula Ochsner’s Not on the wood path! – ADES employees exactly 200 children face and, with wandering through the mangrove planta- tions and receiving expert instruction. per annum in each a twinke in of the last five years. her eye, she Hospice a a Child stem the risk of coastal erosion. Also, Last December, adds ‚I am (standing) – with they act as a buffer against the force of Regula Ochsner very confident siblings on the self- tropical storms, driven from the ocean wrote in a mail ‚I am Miangaly presents that this clever constructed car – and onto land. her diploma thesis very moved when I young man will as a Student. Globally, mangrove plantations are about ADES. see that our efforts be successful. subject to enormous damage. Defore- for children are now bearing the first I have known him since we began our station, agricultural use, environmental fruit‘. Tony Hasina Raherisoa sought programme in 2000 and was always waste, beach expansion and inappro- Regula out in a hotel in Mahajanga with impressed by his technical ability and priate fishing are all significant contri- the sole purpose of thanking her for his desire to develop his skills‘. The Honko project 25km north of Tuléar: the years of schooling support for his More about salvaging the mangrove plan- daughter Miangaly, who had success- ADES in the mangroves tations on www.reefdoctor.org. fully completed her Baccalauréat. Tony The mangrove forest in Ambondrolava has been working for ADES as a book- in the commune of Belalanda covers keeper in Mahajanga since 2012. He 1.3 square kilometers. The area, which is married with two children. His son is is some 15 kilometers north of Tuléar, 28 and his daughter 22. Moved by this was the destination of the ADES team spontaneous show of gratitude, Regula in March 2017. The entire Tuléar team Ochsner wrote further: ‘The proud fa- – 48 in all – took part in this project. ther showed me photos of the modest There were two main objectives; en- graduation celebration and stressed vironmental training for the personnel that his income alone would only have on the one hand and planting young sufficed for five years of schooling for mangrove saplings on the other. his daughter‘. Fish, crabs and many other animals Hospice, the son of ADES guard in live among the roots of the trees. Tuléar, completed his primary edu- Insects, birds and mammals live in the cation so successfully that he is now branches. Twice within 24 hours, at attending an higher technical college high tide, the roots are submerged in in Fianarantsoa. There he is learning a mixture of fresh river and salty sea to become a machine engineer. There water. Seven varieties of tree grow in are now a first handful of companies in Ambondrolava. In many of them, the Madagascar which are manufacturing seeds shoot out so far on the branches Especially the jounger generation needs to be sensitised to the importance of environmental protection. ADES, working together with countless other NGO’s, has reached over 95.000 students at schools and universities. They show great interest and share their knowledge and experiences at home with their families. butors to this trend…and an end is not which gives life some purpose. New our budget of 34.000 and was a full in sight. The good news is that the level thinking is the order of the day and, 5.200 more than in 2016. Bionerr and of awareness that mangrove trees need fortunately, the process is under way. I BERMA continued to deliver the clay to be protected in the same way as rain know of many people, in Madagascar cores. and dry forests is increasing. With this too, who have recognised this need in mind, every member of the Tuléar and who are giving hope to people and Our mobile centre is creating waves team was charged with planting 150 relief to the environment. It fills me with This truck (see Bulletin 2/17) is writing mangrove saplings. Our goal of 5.000 happiness and gratitude. history…one success story follows new plants was thus achieved. Since another. It was an eye-opener for me 2008, the local NGO, Ala Honko has, to watch how a group from the six together with many partners, planted And now the plague person mobile centre team dived into 1.6 million new trees and has thereby As if poverty, corruption and crime a large crowd, assembled by the truck, positively contributed to the environ- were not enough, Madagascar has to demonstrate our cooker. A fine smell ment in the region. now been hit by a serious outbreak drifted from the two cookers, which of pneumonic plague. Unlike bu- naturally added to the attraction. Ano- bonic plague, which is transmitted ther group from the truck team visited by rat fleas, pneumonic plague is a neighbouring market to explain the transmitted by drops of moisture, economic and environmental virtues of like the common cold. This makes the cooker to the visitors. it highly infectious. The plague has Generally, the truck remains stationary assumed epidemic dimensions in in one location for about four weeks more densly populated areas. An while the team in an accompanying extensive WHO programme now vehicle visits neighbouring settlements promises an improvement in the si- on market day to make publicity for the tuation. But the improvement is not mobile centre and the cooker. In a few years, these still fragile saplings I lived the young ‚Truck Team‘, which will help to protect the coastline from without a price. Falling numbers is supported for one to three months erosion and storm damage. of tourists is a negative effect. Another is that the children in by a female animator, as exceptionally Full of new impressions, happy and Antananarivo cannot go to school dynamic, innovative and committed. motivated, the Tuléar team returned from June to November. This also The employees are proud to be wor- home in the evening. affected the ADES schooling pro- king ‚on the road‘. Positive reactions gramme. of admiration and amazement are the ACTIVITY REPORT reward for being away from home! Local communes and organisations, What a headline! ‚The global weapon ADES MADAGASCAR such as WWF, are desperate for the production business is flourishing‘. truck to visit them. The truck itself is While some are celebrating increased 2017 was a year of change. Country exceptionally well designed, thanks to turnover and profit (unaffected by the co-ordination responsibility passed the careful planning and close project danger of armed conflicts) others are from Isabelle Marthaler and Edgar management of Axel Brückmann. It is suffering from the ever increasing Flury to Kerstin Güthler and Dagobert creating waves wherever it goes and uncertainty of the climate. Madagas- Fröbel. We used the opportunity to way beyond the boundaries of ADES. car belongs to group of ten countries divide responsibilities and, thereby, We are following it closely.

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