Supporting Malagasy primatology students

Last year we were able to support field training for 16 Malagasy master’s students during a pandemic year – with your help! Subsequently, we built on that success - we found grants for 8 of them to finish fieldwork (working with Sadabe and Planet Madagascar) and they are writing up theses right now. This year, we want to continue that support for the next cohort!

 

Normally, Malagasy master’s students complete fieldwork to earn their master’s degree by being embedded in a team led by a foreign researcher. The pandemic may be on the wane (?) but this financial and mentoring support network is still lacking. This year’s cohort of master’s students in the ADD division of the University of Antananarivo are struggling to figure out how they’ll complete the fieldwork needed for their degrees. The first step is getting them to the forest to get experience and design their projects.

 

I’m asking for your help to support 6 Malagasy students for a 2-week fieldwork expedition in March 2021 to the Tsinjoarivo research station. SADABE, the non-profit I co-founded based in Madagascar, will handle the logistics, and ADD professor Jean-Freddy Ranaivoarisoa and senior Malagasy students will lead the team, but we need funds to cover transport, local guides and porters, food and supplies. The full budget is $1900 and Mitch and Karen have pledged up to $500 of the total as needed

 

This first trip will allow the students to learn primatology field methods and try out project ideas for fieldwork beginning around June.

 

Thank you for joining us in supporting the next generation of Malagasy primatologists!

 

Mitch Irwin (https://www.sadabe.org/Irwin/Index.html), Abby Ross, and Travis Steffens