The Ministry of Research and Higher Education of Madagascar’s annual 2019 report indicates that young adults in Madagascar aged 20 to 29 years old constitute roughly 16% of the population, but only 2% are enrolled in one of the six main public universities in the country. With support from the Mastercard Foundation Faculty Seed Grant, Onja Razafindratsima, Assistant Professor of Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley, collaborated with students and faculty at the University of Antananarivo in Madagascar to organize a series of workshops that aim to increase the professional capacities of young Malagasy. The project title “Zara Hay” translates from Malagasy to mean “sharing knowledge.” Through the project’s workshops, Professor Razafindratsima promoted “science as a tool for development and reduction of unemployment in Madagascar.” Experts from several institutions and organizations in Madagascar and from UC Berkeley were selected to lead the workshops, including some Mastercard Foundation Scholars.
The workshop coordinators selected 26 Malagasy students and early-career scientists, including 19 women, from a variety of backgrounds to attend the workshops, which were held in 2023 and led by 12 facilitators in diverse fields ranging from Public Health to Ecology, Astrophysics to Sociolinguistics. Workshops covered topics such as: preparing a research proposal, scientific research management, storytelling, scientific poster presentation, science photography, and public outreach for making scientific research broadly accessible. Public outreach is increasingly important for combatting misinformation and helping people in Madagascar understand threats to their local ecosystems. Veronarindra Ramananjato is currently a fifth-year doctoral student in Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley who helped to lead workshops on grant proposals and poster presentations.
“One of the things that we saw the preceding year is that academic conferences are now more open to the public than they were before,” she says. “We were asked to present a poster in a more layman context, without jargon or very technical words, using simple language to describe what’s happening, what we did, and what we found during our research. This has closed the gap between being a scientist and the global audience in general. We incorporated that in our workshop on poster presentation—how to make it understandable for a non-scientific person. Even if it’s geared toward a more global public, it can also help scientists from other fields to understand. The simpler you make your poster and presentation, the more people will understand the importance of your work and want to become involved to help.”
During her workshop on grant proposals, Veronarindra addressed the main components of any proposal to accommodate the broad range of fields represented by the workshop participants: What is your research question? What are your objectives? What is your estimated budget? What are the expected outcomes? What potential impact could your work have on the public? “We tried to cover as many sections of a potential grant proposal as possible because they don’t all apply to every field,” she responded.
Hasinavalona Rakotoarisoa, also known as Hasina, was a mentee of Professor Razafindratisma and a participant in the workshops. She is now a visiting research
scholar at UC Berkeley in Professor Razafindratsima’s lab. For Hasina, the most memorable experience of the workshops was creating her first poster: “It taught me valuable skills for the 2023 Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC) conference. I learned to organize content in a way that would capture attention while still presenting my research clearly. For example, I used simple, clear headings, concise text, and visually engaging graphs to present my research on lemurs and secondary seed dispersal.” Hasina shared that during ATBC 2023 there were not only stakeholders or people in conservation ecology present; there were also many non-academic people talking to her during her poster presentation.
“They asked a lot of questions about it and were very interested in the issue of conservation and the lemurs. So it was very helpful for addressing a broader public. I told them that all of the biodiversity in the forest is connected; it’s not just about the lemurs or the plants. So even just protecting the plants is helpful for the lemurs and the biodiversity of the forest.”
This issue remains important as deforestation threatens the biodiversity of Madagascar’s forests.
Hasina also greatly appreciated the workshop on project management, since at that time she was a field coordinator leading a team of 12 people from diverse academic and professional backgrounds for her seed dispersal research in Ranomafana National Park. “Attending the project management workshop helped me to organize and handle the research project that I was working on more efficiently,” she underscored. “They helped me to better manage my field teams and track progress. For example, one of the methods I learned was to break the project up into smaller tasks and set clear deadlines. I also learned how to prioritize tasks and track progress using the tools they showed us like the checklist and project management software. I learned how important communication is to make sure everyone is on the same page, and after the session I put what I learned into practice. It really helped me to talk with all of those 12 people with better communication skills.” 
Professor Razafindratsima reported some of the successful outcomes of the workshop series. “In an evaluation analysis, 100% of the participants reported thatthey have increased their knowledge and developed skills through their participation in this workshop series. They have applied the skills they acquired in their projects, professional development, and field study,” she noted. For instance, one participant reported that the communication skills they gained were useful when they shared their research at international conferences in Madagascar and Cameroon. Another student successfully defended her thesis and mentioned that the communication tips she gained through this workshop were very helpful; they are also currently developing a research proposal. “I had the opportunity to share my research with children in Kianjavato. I was able to put into practice what I had learned during our session on capturing the audience through
storytelling,” said one participant. Another workshop student mentioned that
“Zara Hay has given another insight into the world of research, imparting essential knowledge that will help me achieve my future goals. The tools I have found here are a starting point, and I plan to conduct further research to enhance my skills.” Professor Razafindratsima and her collaborator at the University of Antananarivo, Dr. Andriniaina Rasoanaivo, are happy to continue developing the professional and research capacities of Madagascar’s youth with a second series of workshops if additional support becomes available.
Photos courtesy of Onja Razafindratsima and Veronarindra Ramananjato.
1st photo, top right: Portrait of Professor Onja Razafindratsima by photo of lemur in Ranomafana National Park.
2nd photo, left: Veronarindra Ramananjato leads a workshop.
3rd photo, right: Portrait of Hasinavalona Rakotoarisoa holding a snake in Madagascar.
4th photo, left: Group portrait of Zara Hay workshop students.
5th photo, bottom: Group photo of Zara Hay workshop participants with completion certificates.