Mission - What is the need ?

HOORAY!

Madagascar finally made it "out of the basement" of the world's ten poorest countries, . . . but not by much. [1]

The latest figures from the World Bank indicate Madagascar's per capita income at $320. [2]

This means if every factor is ideal (which seldom happens), a Malagasy family of five should expect to live on $135 a month. Very few families in Madagascar experience such "luxury."

 

80% of Madagascar's population lives in rural areas where most people live on a subsistence level with one or two cash crops a year.

According to the World Bank [3] , 35% of deaths among children under five are related to malnutrition.

In response to this focus, 80% of PFM's projects and budget are committed to development of Madagascar's rural communities (20% to the urban context).

PFM's leadership has a composite work history of living in rural Madagascar of some 40 years. We believe the answers to these problems and injustices are not "food handouts." The real solution is community level development and accountability.

The present leadership in Madagascar has failed completely to achieve economic success. The World Bank lists Madagascar among the ten poorest countries in the world. Fifty percent of its population is under twenty-five years of age with fifty percent of that number under fifteen years of age. The annual per capita income is $295 according to World Bank 2006.

Because of the basic difficulties of rural life (80% of the population), thousand of people are moving into urban areas. Most people have no educational or technical skills for employment in the urban area. They face poverty, crime, prostitution, and child trafficking.

Those who remain in rural Madagascar desperately need educational and economic opportunities, as well as basic food, clothing, health needs, while facing agricultural and environmental challenges.

There is much to find out about Madagascar, a truly beautiful land of great potential.

1 InternationalTrade ~ Madagascar among top ten poorest countries

2 DoingBusiness.org - Madagascar Economic Statistics

3 WorldBank.org - Malnutrition death among children