[music] [Introducing USAID Hay Tao – one of USAID Madagascar’s new environment programs] [ TITLE: Daniel Whyner, USAID Madagascar, Environment and Climate Change Office Director ] So we’re really excited to finally award our Hay Tao activity. It’s a five year, 23 million dollar activity to support conservation and community development in Madagascar. [ QUESTION: What will USAID Hay Tao do? ] We plan to, through Hay Tao, support a number of important initiatives to support community-based conservation. [ QUESTION: How will you do that? ] Improving the database for biodiversity monitoring at the national, regional and protected area level. Ultimately what we’d like to see with that database is the information we need to attract international financing for conservation in Madagascar for the first time. In addition, we want to build the training capacity for community-based conservation work, both management and governance of natural resources at the community level. We’ll be developing programs to train community natural resources managers, but also partners in government and other non-government actors that work with communities to improve that kind of training. [ QUESTION: How will USAID Hay Tao help local communities? ] Also Hay Tao will be working very closely with national level platforms for civil society that are trying to bring a local voice to the national stage in terms of community-based conservation. [ QUESTION: How will USAID Hay Tao do that? ] One example I can give you would be the MAHARI Network that works with locally-managed marine areas all around the coast of the country. We want to help support platforms like MAHARI to do a better job of representing communities at the national level. In addition, the program will also work on some of the policy environment related to conservation in the country and how to improve community ability to benefit from conservation, in terms of their own development [ END TITLE – USAID Logo ]