Launch of New Project for Sustainable Water Access and Climate Resilience in Madagascar

MONTREAL, March 22, 2021 – The One Drop Foundation and the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation are proud to announce the launch of their new Telomiova Project in Madagascar. Following a call for proposals in March of this year, the innovative initiative submitted by the nonprofit Helvetas was selected. The combined financial contribution of the One Drop Foundation and the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation amounts to $1.5 million.

The 5-year Telomiova Project aims to improve climate resilience, protect natural resources, and ensure sustainable access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services for the most vulnerable populations in 15 communes in the Menabe region of Madagascar. The Telomiova Project will positively impact schools, health care facilities, and communities, and it will look to create long-term impact by ensuring sustainable infrastructure, implementing One Drop Foundation’s Social Art for Behaviour Change™ approach, and strengthening the adaptive capacities of local organizations with respect to climate change.

More specifically, the project will use One Drop’s A·B·C for Sustainability™ model, ensuring that sustainable infrastructure investments are accompanied by behaviour change with respect to WASH and the protection of natural resources. Additional focuses include reinforcing the population’s ability to adapt to climate change and disaster risks, and empowering women entrepreneurs to implement income-generating activities that create value for renewable natural resources, or that otherwise contribute to preserving the environment.

“Telomiova” is the name of a five-petalled flower that starts out an intense blue, transitioning to a lighter shade as it ages, and eventually turning white as it wilts. In the Malagasy language, telomiova means “yesterday-today-tomorrow.” One Drop also finds inspiration in the flower’s five petals—one for each stage of WASH-related behaviour change (1. Inaction, 2. Awareness, 3. Preparation, 4. Action, and 5. Consolidation).

“What a perfect way to celebrate World Water Day! The One Drop Foundation is honoured to join forces with the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation in kicking off our brand-new partnership with Helvetas. The Telomiova Project is innovative in how it combines a multidimensional approach to WASH services access, One Drop’s Social Art for Behaviour Change approach, and sustainable natural resource management in an effort to increase climate resilience for approximately 69,000 people, 54% of whom are women.”

-Jean-Louis Dufresne, CEO, One Drop Foundation

“ The Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation is pleased to be able to provide significant support to the Telomiova Project, which will improve the living conditions of tens of thousands of Madagascans, the majority of whom are women. We must express our sense of solidarity in the face of the disparity in the distribution of water resources which affects the most vulnerable populations. It is our collective duty to ensure that this inalienable right is respected, in order to erase the inequalities of destinies.”

-Olivier Wenden, Vice-President and CEO, Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation

“Only 25% of the people living in Madagascar’s impoverished Menabe region have access to clean water, and the health impacts of limited WASH services are a constant threat. The Telomiova Project will promote critical WASH behavior change and create new economic opportunities for these vulnerable populations, particularly women and youth. We are greatly looking forward to working alongside the One Drop Foundation and the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation to bring lasting change to Menabe’s communities.”

-Julia Randimbisoa, Madagascar Country Director, Helvetas

Click here to learn more about the Telomiova Project.

About the One Drop Foundation

The One Drop Foundation is an international organization created by Cirque du Soleil and Lune Rouge founder Guy Laliberté with the vision of a better world, where all have access to living conditions that allow empowerment and development. Our mission is to ensure sustainable access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene for some of the most vulnerable communities through innovative partnerships, creativity, and the power of art. Together with its partners, the One Drop Foundation deploys its unique Social Art for Behaviour Change™ approach designed to promote the adoption of healthy water, sanitation, and hygiene related behaviours and empower communities. For this to be possible, the One Drop Foundation creates novel fundraising initiatives supported by a visionary community of partners and donors. The One Drop Foundation is celebrating 13 years of turning water into action, with projects that will soon have improved the living conditions of over 2.1 million people around the world. To learn more about the One Drop Foundation, visit www.onedrop.org.

About the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation

Inspired by his own observations and in the light of the alarming scientific evidence, H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco made a personal commitment by launching, in 2006, his Foundation to act against the environmental dangers threatening our planet and making populations vulnerable. The Foundation focuses its efforts on three principal domains of action: climate change, biodiversity and water resources, and funds initiatives in the fields of research and studies, technological innovation, and socially aware practices. In order to take action for the protection of nature, the Foundation supports projects in three main geographical regions: the Mediterranean Basin, the Polar Regions, and the Least Developed Countries. To learn more, visit www.fpa2.org.

About Helvetas

Helvetas is an independent development organization based in Switzerland, with affiliated organizations in the United States and Germany. Helvetas was founded in 1955 and has long-standing experience implementing development projects in 30 developing and transition countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe. The Helvetas country program in Madagascar has been active since 1982, and works in the areas of water, sanitation and hygiene, agriculture and food security, education and skills development, and environmental protection. To learn more about Helvetas, visit www.helvetas.org.

Point of Contact

Marie-France Dos Santos, Senior Advisor, Corporate Communications and Brand Recognition, One Drop Foundation, marie-france.dossantos@onedrop.org