Project of Integrated Approach Development in order to Promote Environment Restoration and Rural Development in Morarano Chrome

In the Republic of Madagascar, 57.9% of the land area is grassland grassland, and for many years, agricultural land was about 4.9 percent.  The percentage of natural forests has been decreasing at a rate of 9.3 percent per year from 1990 to 2000.  In particular, in the hilly and mountainous areas, degradation of forest land due to deforestation and forest fires has progressed, where most of the mountain and hillside is degraded land, and productive use of the downstream region has been severely hampered.

Based on the Government of Madagascar’s (GOM)  revised development plan June 2005, the GOM developed a medium-and long-term development called Madagascar Action Plan (MAP).  Among the priorities of the eight listed in this strategy, strong “environmentally friendly” and “green revolution and rural development” initiatives to be included at the programmatic levels.

However, it is not an easy task to achieve the improvement of the living standards of local residents while preventing the devastation of the hilly and mountainous areas.  A pilot program was rolled out during 2003-2008 to intensify the repair of the downstream irrigation as well as the productive usage of the upstream region.  Hindered by the political instability in 2010, JICA sent another project design team in January 2011, JICA commissioned IC Net to carry out the “Project of Integrated Approach Development in order to Promote Environment Restoration and Rural Development in Morarano Chrome.”  

IC Net supports the planning, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation of soil conservation and sustainable rural development activities at the local government level. The IC Net team: 1. Develops project implementation guidelines; 2. Conducts socioeconomic surveys to formulate locally appropriate and effective rural development plans; 3. Prepares rural development plans at the village and commune levels; 4. Supervises, monitors, and reports on the progress of project activities; 5. Revises and improves rural development plans; 6.  Organizes regional level committees to ensure stakeholder participation and obtains feedback from them; 7. Carries out the trial and improvement of various approaches to rural development and soil conservation for the establishment of an effective model; 8. Assists the improvement of the land registration system; 9. Conducts the capacity development of local government staff on the planning, design, implementation, monitoring, and supervision of rural development activities; 10. Conducts the capacity development of local government staff responsible for land registration; and 11. Trains local residents on rural development, soil conservation, and environmental conservation.