The Ihorombe Rugby Academy project aims to promote the empowerment of girls with a programme of development education through rugby in the Ihorombe region of Madagascar.
The project’s main activities consist of educational rugby sessions, regular gender awareness raising sessions, organisation of socio-sporting events and training courses for young educators and community teachers in the Satrokala and Andiolava schools.

This project aims to contribute to three sustainable development goals:

• Achieving good health for all and promoting well-being for all, at all ages.
• Ensuring equal access to quality education for all and promoting lifelong learning opportunities. In particular, our programme contributes to the promotion of gender equality, a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and the contribution of culture to sustainable development through sports education.
• Contributing to gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls through the dissemination of educational programmes, offered in a mixed gender setting. The overall objectives are also in line with the dynamics of the UNESCO Kazan Action Plan and the African Union’s 2030 Agenda on Sport for Development.

The project aims to contribute to the following objectives:

• Fostering the empowerment of girls in the villages of Satrokala and Andiolava and promoting gender equality by using rugby as an educational tool.
• Reducing the rate of early pregnancies among girls benefiting from the project.
• Contributing to the integration of development education through sport into the curricula of partner schools and institutions.
• Strengthening teachers’ skills through a training course on the implementation and management of cycles of developmental education sessions through rugby.
• Proposing an educational path through the implementation of cycles of themed sessions to girls and boys between the ages of 6 and 18 who are beneficiaries.
• Promoting social cohesion and coexistence by bringing together the direct and indirect beneficiaries of the villages of Satrokala and Andiolava around common values proposed during the socio-sporting events organised at the end of each cycle of sessions.

Satrokala (Madagascar), March 30, 2025 – Tozzi Green Madagascar, in collaboration with the NGO Terres en Mêlées, organized a special day dedicated to rugby and reforestation. As part of the “Rugby & Reboisement” initiative, 60 young athletes from the Rugby Academy Ihorombe gathered in Satrokala to plant 3,650 trees in a single day, making a tangible contribution to the environmental preservation of the Ihorombe Plateau.

The event successfully blended environmental education, sports, and civic engagement. Participants took part in training sessions on biodiversity and the ecological value of trees, followed by rugby-based activities focused on teamwork and shared values. The day concluded with the collective planting of native tree species. Each participant also received two fruit trees to plant at home—a symbolic and practical gesture of environmental stewardship.

This initiative demonstrates how sport and sustainability can work together to inspire new generations and strengthen their connection to the natural world.