Madagascar, quality soaps to promote hygiene in rural areas in the country where 70% of the population lives in absolute poverty

ROME – “I haven’t had a job since COVID-19, but now I can pay for my three children’s school and support them”. Corine is one of the women who has joined the new laboratory of quality soaps made by Help for Optimism in Madagascar in the archipelago of Nosy Be and Nosy Mtsio for the promotion of personal hygiene.

Below the poverty line. In Madagascar, in fact, more than 70% of the population lives in absolute poverty, with average wages of less than a thousand dollars a year (Source: World Bank, 2021), especially women who mainly carry out often unpaid jobs that do not guarantee economic independence. Furthermore, the average age in the country is 19.6 years and most of the deaths are associated with preventable causes, first of all diarrheal diseases (Source: UNDP, 2019). Data Unicef-WHO of 2017 state, then, that most of the population in rural contexts does not have access to products to be used for correct personal hygiene (49.46%), clean water (63.77%) and appropriate sanitation ( 83.39%).

Outside the tourist circuits. Leaving the tourist circuits, almost all the inhabitants of the rural islands still practice open-air defecation in the forest or on the beach, creating problems of health, privacy, safety and personal hygiene, also in this case especially for women. Through a feasibility study it thus emerged that the soaps currently distributed in the Malagasy territory present some criticalities: an excessively intense odor deriving from the animal fat used in the production phase and a reduced foaming power due to the low content of surfactants, which determines a consistent use of water in the rinsing phase.

The virtuous model. From the analysis of these data, the transversal approach of H4O was born which proposes, through the model of the social enterprise where small and medium-sized local enterprises network and support each other by guaranteeing constant supplies of raw materials or local semi-finished products, to promote good hygiene practices, helping to improve health and well-being, thus ensuring decent work, economic growth, responsible consumption and production, and gender equality.

The project. The Tanana Madio project offers, in fact, a response to the COVID-19 emergency and to the precarious economic conditions in which Madagascar finds itself, thanks to the setting up of a laboratory for the production of quality soaps and the promotion of hygiene. The soap made responds to the needs highlighted by the community and guarantees an eco-compatible product, composed exclusively of natural raw materials and km-0, and accessible to all. Furthermore, among the objectives there is that of guaranteeing the training and employment of female personnel, in order to create new job opportunities and offer women economic independence and social emancipation. The financial sustainability of H4O’s social enterprises then makes it possible to pay for raw materials, the salaries of local employees and above all to reinvest 100% of the profits deriving from the sale of products in other initiatives aimed at supporting the local economy. And thanks to the active involvement of the local community, the soaps are made using a short and controlled supply chain, with organic raw materials at Km0, such as coconut oil which is processed by the local population of the archipelago of Nosy Be and Nosy Mitsio.

Program sponsors. An action, the one carried out by H4O thanks to funding Call Technologies for Sustainable Development promoted by Cariplo Foundation And Company of San Paolo Foundation as part of the Innovation for Development programme, which also continues with awareness campaigns in schools, to raise awareness of the importance of correct hygiene.