About NGO Vakanala

About Vakanala

    Vakanala ("Pearl of Forests" in Malagasy) is a Malagasy NGO working in the field of biodiversity conservation and rural development.
    Composed of a multidisciplinary young and dynamic team, Vakanala aims to make every effort to assist rural communities to develop new agricultural and economic practices in order to sustainably exploit their natural resources.
    While most of the stakeholders in the field of development and conservation in Madagascar focuses on big and large superficies of forest, on contrary we chose to work on the smaller forest fragments. These lasts, given the advanced state of fragmentation of the forests coverts in Madagascar, forests fragments became numerous and are often a last sanctuary for local biodiversity, the last barrier against soil erosion, and the main resources for the population.

The Team

AndréRAKOTOMAMONJY   - Chairman

Cofounder

• Graduated from Petersbourg University (USA), Civil Administrator,  Commander of the Malagasy National Order;

• Design, realization, monitoring and control of national development projects

Andriankoto Harinjaka RATOZAMANANA - Trésorier du Conseil d'Administration

Co-founder, Communication and Fundraising Coordinator

Social Entrepreneur

Expert in social and New Medias, crowd funding and rural development.

TED inaugural Fellow at www.ted.com

Daniela ROTOMAMONJY - Chief Executive Officer

Cofounder, Rural Development Coordinator

-  Engineer in Project Development  and ecotourism

- Expert in project management, management and governance of land with development of operational tools for monitoring and evaluation

Jérà´me LEBEAU - Advisor of the Board of Directors  

Cofounder, Scientific Coordinator

- Master in Ecology, Biodiversity et Evolution; BioInformatics and BioStatistics;

- Specialised in  participatory conservation, monitoring and restoration of biodiversity in rural area