Alternatives
Young people are responsible and autonomous. They actively contribute to sustainable development, and to the promotion of innovative entrepreneurship, sensitive to gender and equity, and concerned about the protection of the planet.
Historical
Created in 2020 during the period of COVID-19 by young people engaged and convinced of the
importance of supporting their peers, especially underserved and vulnerable young people in remote
towns and villages. ALTERNATIVES uses the “Human Centered Design” (HCD) approach or
commonly referred to as “user-centered design.” This approach consists of creating a framework
that integrates a set of practices to understand the users – their needs – their constraints – their
behaviors in order to develop a deep empathy, generate several ideas to help solve the problems of a
community and shifting paradigm.
Goals
Each of our interventions is based on paradigm shifting techniques, in particular the promotion of
the equitable participation of young people, aware of the place of humans in the era of the
Anthropocene, in shaping themselves the changes that they, wish to promote communities’
resilience, to propose innovative solutions, to enable their empowerment and to inspire political
change for sustainable development concerned with the protection of the planet.
As an organization, we believe it is imperative to empower young people, women and marginalized people in social and economic plans, especially in the wake of deleterious effects of climate change which disproportionately affects them. ALTERNATIVES is the home for changemakers who dream of making their ideas for social justice and equality come true.
Our programs
All our programs will be aimed at youth development and all actions are non-profit social types.
01
ESPOIR 2.0
The “ESPOIR 2.0” program consists of engaging young female sex workers who wish to become
financially independent and resilient through the creation of decent jobs. The program strengthens
ALTERNATIVES’ initiatives in the promotion and development of young women’s sexual and
reproductive health and rights, as well as an alternative to HIV. It integrates training on feminist
leadership, SRHR, the creation of sustainable micro-enterprises, the establishment of a “village
saving and loans association” to support the implementation of projects at local level.
ESPOIR BOOTCAMP :
The “ESPOIR BOOTCAMP” is a workshop that aims to capitalise the results of interventions through the ESPOIR 2.0 program in eight (8) major hubs for sex working in Madagascar. The project has encouraged the involvement of many partners from the public and private sector and was part of the celebration of the Global Entrepreneurship Week and the 16 days of activism to fight
against Gender Based Violence.
02
Leading Change
The Leading Change program aims to build the capacity of vulnerable girls and boys aged 18-24 to
develop policies and programs that respond to the needs and realities of Malagasy youth and
adolescent girls. The program provides participants with a platform for the exchange of best
practices, interaction and discussion with resource persons, access to resources and contacts that are
often inaccessible on the ground, the program is spread over a period of 3 months and provides
skills in leadership and personal development, micro-project creation and professional insertion,
Sexual and Reproductive Health, fight against stigma and discrimination, digital communication,
and advocacy.
03
UPROOT
In partnership with The Pact, ALTERNATIVES was able to score the country performance to
advocate for improvement on area with underperformance towards a better laws and policies, health
outcomes partnership, and meaningful participation of Adolescents and Youth in leadership and
policy forum, the Integration across several networks working around SRHR at national level has
also enabled ALTERNATIVES to engage stakeholders in policy advocacy on access to self-testing
for young people and the age of consent for access to HIV testing.
04
URBAN YOUTH CORPS
The “URBAN YOUTH CORPS” program reflects to the model of foreign volunteer program where
young people from the capital city are given the opportunity to gain professional experience through
volunteering. The program aims to optimise the skills and knowledge of young volunteers in the
service of the vulnerable population, particularly in solving social problems.
05
ADOVACY LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE (ALI)
The Advocacy Leadership Institute aims first at contributing to improve the capacities of civil
society organisations (CSO) to conduct a monitoring of human rights application, and create space
for CSOs cooperation in advocacy efforts, in understanding human rights protection mechanism and
the development of a “Shadow report” which is a very important tool for all human rights
organizations in each country as it is a unique tool through which NGOs can present opinions of
civil society on government action and present them to the UN Committees, in this way NGOs
“shadow” the State report by providing an analysis and critique of the State report during the
universal periodic review. Secondly, the program provides local CSOs with skills and at the same
time facilitate advocacy efforts by concluding a partnership framework with local authorities.
Fields of action
ADVOCACY
Improving legal environment by fostering the better participation of adolescents and marginalized youths to every spheres of life.
SRHR
Promoting best practices around FP and life skills and developing knowledge to combat STI and HIV transmission, also understanding sexual binaries and boxes.
LEADERSHIP
Nurturing a culture of social paradigms shifting through personal development for marginalised youth and fighting stigma and discrimination.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Initiating entrepreneurial cultures and effective standard model to enabling business setting-up for marginalized young people.
