Featured Charity Blog

As part of the Freddie For A Day Affiliated Charities initiative, we are proud to launch a new blog section where featured charities can share their experiences and highlight the incredible work that they are carrying out. The first charity to take part is Azafady, an award-winning British registered charity (number 1079121) partnered with an independent Malagasy NGO. Founded in 1994, they work on a wide range of projects both within the town of Fort Dauphin and with numerous rural communities across the Anosy region. The Mercury Phoenix Trust has been supporting Azafady since 2006.

The Safidy project one year on

Posted on Mar 26, 2013

February marked one year since Project Safidy began and an opportunity for everyone involved to reflect on the project; our achievements so far, the lessons we’ve learnt and what we want to do in the future. The project was scheduled to end this month but thanks to the support of the Mercury Phoenix Trust we’ve been granted a four month extension, which we will use to further develop and expand the Anti-SIDA club. It was a busy month for the Safidy team, who were supporting...

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A busy start to the year for the Safidy project in Madagascar

Posted on Feb 27, 2013

A busy start to the year for the Safidy project in Madagascar

It has been a busy start to the new year with a month full of activity for the Azafady staff as well as Lycée< (high school) students and teachers from the Safidy project. We have also been continuing the ongoing process of evaluation, reflection and preparation as we enter the final stretch of the project. At the beginning of January all the Anti-SIDA (Anti-AIDS) club members gathered for a General Assembly to discuss the activities of the club over the coming months as well as making...

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Aspirations for 2013 from the young people of the Safidy project

Posted on Jan 22, 2013

Aspirations for 2013 from the young people of the Safidy project

Happy new year from all of us here in Fort Dauphin! After our fantastic World AIDS Day celebrations December brought with it a period of exams for the students at the school followed by a well-earned break for all! The ending of one year and the start of the next of course provides a good opportunity for reflection, resolution and aspiration so we asked the young people from the Safidy project to think back over the last year as well as looking forward to 2013.

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Azafady celebrates World AIDS Day in Fort Dauphin

Posted on Dec 7, 2012

Azafady celebrates World AIDS Day in Fort Dauphin

November has been another packed month here in Fort Dauphin and definitely one of the most significant of the project so far. The focus for the Safidy team and the peer educators was on starting the distribution of their freshly-printed sexual health resources and preparations for a full day of activities for World AIDS Day last Saturday, 1st December   It has been several months since the young people received their comprehensive peer education training, so it was important to get the...

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Project Safidy – October’s blog

Posted on Nov 8, 2012

Project Safidy – October’s blog

October marked the start of a new academic year at Fort Dauphin’s lycée, and a fresh opportunity for the peer educators to build those relationships needed to pass on the key Safidy messages and be positive role models. With older students graduating and younger students now joining the school, plans are being made to recruit more members to the Anti-SIDA club. While the students have been getting back in the swing of things at school, the Safidy team has been completing the production...

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Safidy peer educators create information resources for fellow students

Posted on Oct 11, 2012

Throughout September we have been working with a group of ten Safidy peer educators to produce a variety of information resources that can be distributed throughout the high school to share positive sexual health messages with the students. For many of the young people this was an opportunity to try designing, marketing, film-making and photography for the first time and they certainly got stuck in! The challenge that the Safidy team and the peer educators face is to communicate health...

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Project Safidy Blog – July 2012

Posted on Aug 14, 2012

July has been a month of reflection for the Safidy team, who have had the opportunity to take stock of the activities and achievements to date whilst shaping the approach for the second half of the project. The Safidy team collaborated with the Lycée Anti-SIDA club to hold a picnic for all the student members and teachers to celebrate the project’s first five months. The staff and young people shared a day of fun, food and wildlife together at Nahampoana nature reserve, just 7km...

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Putting training into practice

Posted on Jul 12, 2012

Putting training into practice

June has seen the Safidy Team supporting the team of newly-trained peer educators to kick-start their awareness raising activities in the school… “The students have really embraced the opportunity to put their training into practice and it was great to see them being so confident talking to their peers about sexual health and distributing condoms. The first of their activities was a dictation competition, which attracted 56 applicants, who could choose whether to compete in...

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Welcoming the first peer educators!

Posted on Jun 11, 2012

Welcoming the first peer educators!

May has been another busy yet positive month for all of us on the Safidy team as we continue to establish the sexual health project within the school and beyond. We would love to share a few highlights with you… Peer educator training - We are proud to announce that 20 students from the Lycee have officially completed their initial Safidy peer educator training course! These new peer educators took part in four sessions this month – Gender and Relationships, Reproductive...

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Train The Trainers – Step 1!

Posted on May 7, 2012

As we slowly reach the end of the Madagascan rainy season, and a rather wet and stormy April, we find that spirits have remained high here at Azafady and that despite the weather it has been a busy but enjoyable month for the Safidy Project! At the beginning of April we conducted the first part of our peer educator training programme for members of the Anti-SIDA (AIDS prevention) club at the Lycee (Public High School). The two day programme was led by Pierri, Haja, Lea and James from the...

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