Silver Spring, Maryland—On October 3, 2007, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) welcomed the newly appointed United States ambassador to Madagascar, R. Niels Marquardt, to the site of its six-year food security project in Moramanga. In addition, the project welcomed representatives from its funding agency, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), in late September.

The project, which includes agricultural, infrastructure, natural resource management, and health and nutrition interventions, is known locally as TANTSAHA, or Tetik'asa Antoky Ny Tontolo Salama Ambanivohitra sy ny Harena Ampy in Malagasy. In English, the phrase means, "The Healthy and Prosperous Farmers Project."

Ambassador Marquardt, who was sworn in to his post in August, was accompanied on his first tour of USAID-funded projects in the Moramanga region by Lisa Gaylord, the environmental and rural team leader for the USAID Mission office in Madagascar.

The ambassador visited a Moramanga community where ADRA had recently completed a three-mile road. ADRA is currently training community health workers and model farmers, and assisting farmers in forming a cooperative where they can sell their produce.

While there, the visitors conversed with village women, who shared how their children's health had improved as a result of TANTSAHA's emphasis on increased consumption of fruits and vegetables, as well as sleeping under the insecticide treated mosquito nets purchased through the project's social marketing program.

The tour gave the ambassador the opportunity to see how USAID-funded projects operate and cooperate together. "The visit went very, very well," shared Gaylord. "Ambassador Marquardt thought the TANTSAHA project was excellent."

"TANTSAHA is improving the quality of life within the targeted communities," affirmed Peter Delhove, country director for ADRA Madagascar. "The villagers appear more robust than those in communities ADRA has not entered."

On September 28, ADRA Madagascar hosted a visit by USAID representative Michael Hess, assistant administrator of the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance, (DCHA), along with other USAID staff. The group toured TANTSAHA's model training center and spoke with trained farmers and community health workers.

The visit demonstrated the agency's support for the TANTSAHA project and other USAID-funded food security projects in the region. "The ADRA project is going well," enthused Hess. "It's important to see these [types of] programs; they give people hope, and I would like to see this project replicated all across the country. There is a great amount of need in Madagascar, but we are making great steps to meet those needs."

The TANTSAHA project will increase food accessibility for 18,000 households in the Moramanga and Anosibe An'Ala districts, located in the Alaotra Mangoro region of central Madagascar. ADRA is reaching this objective by training farmers in new or improved farming techniques and facilitating access to better seeds and tools. The project helps farmers reach markets by improving roads and developing marketing cooperatives and business associations.

In addition, ADRA is working to directly impact the nutrition of young children and pregnant and lactating women in the region through initiatives that strengthen the health system, and provide health education and direct nutritional assistance.

TANTSAHA began in October 2003 and currently operates in 26 of the 31 communes in the Moramanga region. The project has reached over 120,000 beneficiaries.

Officially recognized in Madagascar as a nongovernmental organization (NGO) in 1992, ADRA Madagascar implements community development initiatives in food security and emergency food aid, child survival, and family planning programs.

ADRA is present in 125 countries, providing community development and emergency management without regard to political or religious association, age, gender, or ethnicity.

Additional information about ADRA can be found at www.adra.org.

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Media Contact: Kara Watkins ADRA International 12501 Old Columbia Pike Silver Spring, MD 20904 Phone: 301.680.6357 E-mail: Media.Inquiries@adra.org