Madagascar Media Message (M3) Ainga Program

May 2002 - September 2004

Please note that this is a closed, archived program.

One has but to look at Madagascar to understand that the reintegration of civic education into the media and educational institutions of Madagascar is an extremely timely issue. A growing proportion of the Malagasy population—most particularly adolescents and young adults—are interested and engaged in observing, questioning, analyzing and participating in the growing debate about free and fair elections and their roles and responsibilities as citizens in these processes. Seizing the opportunity and acting in a rapid and progressive way to leverage off current public interest and debate is essential.

The objective of the USAID-funded Madagascar Media Message (M3) program is to enhance youth civic education in Madagascar through media, CSO, and formal educational structures in order to contribute to more informed and responsive public participation in economic and legal issues. To enhance civic education of youth and improve civic awareness in Madagascar, Pact/M3 Ainga focuses on three interrelated components: a) improving the civic education program in Madagascar, b) increasing the skills and knowledge of educators, including teachers, civil society organizations (CSOs) and media, and c) increasing the direct participation of youth in civic life and debate.

In collaboration with Pact consortium partners, the Center for Civic Education (CCE) and Internews, and in conjunction with local partner Actions sans Frontières (ASF), the M3/Ainga program will show youth, both in- and out-of-school, the dynamic role that they can play as citizens of a democracy. Recognizing the vulnerability of disenfranchised youth, particularly out-of-school males, to recruitment into rebel militia forces and fundamentalist religious organizations, this program uses educators, the media, and whole communities to help youth realize understand and feel their stake in a democratic system of government.

Pact's approach

Concentrating on the rights and responsibilities of youth as citizens of Madagascar, M3/AINGA is three approaches that are mutually reinforcing each other:

• An issues approach designed to identify a coherent set of civic issues germane to youth at this stage of Madagascar's political and economic development. This entails identifying and testing issues across market segments or cohorts of youth with similar interests and characteristics.
• A formal, in-school approach designed to encourage a greater degree of direct participation of youth in civic life and debate. This entails reinforcing and elevating the quality of civic education in the classroom by shifting the curriculum from a purely standard didactic, lecture format to an interactive one encouraging students to identify and try to resolve civic and public policy issues directly affecting their lives.
• A media/CSO approach designed to generate a broad awareness of civic issues among youth at large. This entails building the content and programming capacity of media and CSOs with respect to developing and disseminating information on key issues, including feedback from youth and young adults for broader discussion, policy dialogue and/or advocacy.

Results

• Beginning with development of focused, relevant civic education messages, the program implemented a participatory information/data collection technique to ensure that all players in civic education were able to voice their needs and opinions. Initial conversations with youth groups, teachers, CSO leaders, and media organizations were held to identify key needs and areas on which to focus.
• Once media messages were identified and developed, Internews and ASF provided national and local media organizations with training focused on identifying proper delivery techniques, improving current infrastructure, designing targeted civic education campaigns, and efficiently and effectively delivering messages through multimedia (radio, TV, print) to both rural and urban areas.
• In collaboration with CCE, a new school curriculum (text books and teachers' guidebooks) was developed and implemented in schools.
• Similarly, CCE assisted local CSOs in design and development of focused media messages targeting out of school youth (ages 15-24) who would not otherwise have access to civic education information. Sixty CSOs were trained.
• At least 34,000 middle students experienced a new teaching approach in civic education; 50% of the youth population (13-25 years in the target regions of Fianarantsoa and the city of Antananarivo) heard about civic themes and 80% of them can now exercise more independent thinking and problem solving and are playing a significant role in decision-making and development projects in their communities.
• The Ministry of Education has adopted the civic education curriculum.
• The President of the National Assembly (Parliament) of the Government of Madagascar approved students participating in the M3 program to carry out public debate and a presentation about public policy advocacy at the National Assembly. The president of the National Assembly, and the Assembly Members participated in the events and engaged in discussions with the students.