Working Holistically

Devex mentions Blue Ventures' community health work as a successful example of a holistic approach to conservation: Conservation NGO Blue Ventures has integrated family planning into its work with coastal communities in Madagascar since 2007.  An evaluation revealed that the combined program effectively expanded contraceptive access to previously hard-to-reach communities while also promoting sustainable management of marine resources. Read ...

Twenty health and environmental organisations in Madagascar – including Blue Ventures – have signed the world’s very first PHE quality charter, signalling their commitment to rights-based PHE partnerships designed to improve the health of people and the environment. Madagascar’s PHE movement has been growing rapidly since the creation of a national PHE network in July ...

By working in partnership using the PHE approach, Safari Doctors and the Northern Rangeland Trust are looking to increase their impact in isolated communities in Kenya. Read the full post: PHE training brings new partners together in the Lamu Archipelago

David Johnson and Carina Hirsch of Resurgence & Ecologist tell the story of Irene, a resident of Tampolove village in remote southwest Madagascar, and of Blue Ventures' decision to start offering family planning services. Irene was still at school when she had her son. With little to no access to health care, she would have ...

Members of Hébergement Vezo, the homestay association of the remote village of Andavadoaka in southwest Madagascar, have proven their determination and drive from the very start of their ecotourism venture just under one year ago. Welcoming their first Blue Ventures volunteers into their homes informally in December 2016, and as part of an official programme ...

Amos Da Costa's family has always relied on the sea for their food and livelihood, but he believes they must look to the future. He now helps to conserve Ataúro Island's marine environments as Blue Ventures' Dive and Science Assistant. Read the full post: A fisherman’s journey into deeper seas: scuba diving and conservation in ...

After making the five day journey from Maintirano, Toalidy spent a month with Blue Ventures’ Safidy team in Andavadoaka learning new ways to support remote coastal communities. Read the full post: Visiting Andavadoaka: a community health learning exchange

The Lake Victoria Basin Commission (LVBC) in partnership with Knowledge for Health (K4Health) project and Population Reference Bureau (PRB) hosted a two-day regional Population-Health-Environment (PHE) Symposium in Entebbe, Uganda, on the 27th-28th of September. This event brought together over 90 PHE implementers, policy makers, development partners, and community representatives to discuss the main theme of ...

A workshop was recently hosted by our partner organisation Forkani with the aim of fostering cross-sector partnerships between health and conservation groups in Kaledupa. Read the full post: All in the same boat: integrating conservation and health in Kaledupa

A new web feature from The Skoll Foundation, “Solutions for a Changing Climate”, explores the diverse models of eight of its social entrepreneurs, including Blue Ventures' Executive Director Alasdair Harris. Harris won the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship in 2015 for Blue Ventures' work supporting communities in Madagascar to establish Locally Managed Marine Areas (LMMAs). Chapter ...