Eau de Coco: shelter of young girls in Madagascar

Since December 2022, the setec Foundation has been supporting the Eau de Coco association within the framework of its Transition Fund for a social project in the south of Madagascar: “A welcome, a roof, a new start”.

The context

The association Eau de Coco, which has been working in Madagascar for many years, has reported a situation of extreme poverty affecting children in Tulear, the main city in southern Madagascar, and particularly young girls.

Indeed, following the COVID-19 crisis, Eau de Coco noted an increase in violence within families against children, and a worsening of the situation of exclusion of young girls from the community.

This exclusion is due particularly to the high rate of unwanted pregnancies among these girls. These pregnancies may be the result of sexual violence, which is becoming increasingly frequent, or of the practice of prostitution among young girls, sometimes encouraged by their families to contribute to the family income. Young pregnant girls are excluded from the community and are therefore even more in danger as they become isolated and fragile in the face of various acts of violence.

(c) Eau de Coco

The project

Eau de Coco submitted its project “A welcome, a roof, a new start” to the setec Foundation. This project consists of the reception in a shelter and the accompaniment of 15 young girls in distress in Tuléar.

The foster ensures safety and then allows the reintegration of the girls into their community. It is carried out in the shelter Eau de Coco already established in Tuléar where other children are received, and for whom the importance of this program has already been proven over several years.

The first months is an integration program, during which the girls are welcomed and cared for by health professionals (doctors, psychologists) and learn to evolve again within a social group, in a safe and secure environment. During this period, the orientation of the girls is decided in agreement with them and their families, whose participation in the follow-up is essential so that the children can rejoin them once their foster at the center is over. They can elaborate an educational and/or professional project, accompanied by the center’s staff and their families.

From the third month on, the beneficiaries can visit their families again and begin the implementation of the project previously developed. They go to school and/or start vocational training, while continuing to be housed, fed, and followed by the center’s medical team. During this period, the missing administrative documents (such as birth certificates) are regularized to allow the insertion of the girls in the formal Malagasy economy in the future.

The partnership with the setec Foundation allows for the financing of these first two stages of the girls’ accompaniment, but it does not stop there. They are followed up by Eau de Coco’s teams between 3 and 6 years after their release from the reception center, notably for support in setting up their professional project and access to healthcare.

 

This project is monitored by Bao Andritsaina, a setec employee in Madagascar, who is involved in the selection and monitoring of Transition Fund projects in Madagascar. Her volunteer involvement as a relay for the setec Foundation allows it to receive regular news from the reception center in Tuléar and feedback on the evolution of the local context.