The Centella Asiatica Project

The initiative started in October 2015 in the Alaotra-Mangoro region in Madagascar, where most of the Centella asiatica processed by the company is harvested.
Indena partnered with the Italian NGO RTM – Volontari nel Mondo, and worked in cooperation with its local supplier, to:

• Provide school kits and teaching materials, every year, to almost 3,000 children and 84 teachers in 10 elementary schools;

• Organize teachers' didactic and linguistic training;
  

• Build toilets and water wells or pipelines to provide clean water;

• Renovate and maintain the school buildings.

The project has achieved very encouraging results:

• Attendance rate in participating schools reached 90%, compared to 80% in the rest of the country;

• Children’s enrollment increased +10.67% compared to the previous year (+34% for 1st grade);

• School literacy rates and exam results improved;

• Teacher motivation increased.

The project has been entering a second phase in April 2020: our local partners asked for our support, through a new special initiative, to limit the risk of Covid-19 mass contamination in such a deprived area.

Main actions: 

• We provided 356 fifth-grade students with a kit composed of 2 washable masks and soap;

• Each school in the program was equipped with water tanks and soap, to guarantee hand-washing and basic standards of hygiene.

Furthermore, a “Parents Schools project“  was launched in all 10 participating schools, to raise awareness about children's schooling. To get started, 21 educators trained 200 parents on a weekly basis. Due to the Covid-19 emergency, this activity is on standby and will resume as soon as health conditions allow.