ABOUT SEILO

Impacting Lives through Opportunities (ILO) is a Social Enterprise (SE) founded in January 2020. Our organization was officially registered (and active) on June 26th, 2020 which is celebrated as the Independence Day of Madagascar. The word “Ilo” is a symbol of strength, vitality, and honor in the Malagasy language. SEILO exists to give these three symbols of hope to many lives.

 

SEILO was founded by an environmental scientist with project management training and experience. She has been traveling to different regions of Madagascar, mostly in rural and coastal areas. She was exposed to the unfortunate lives of the majority of Malagasy (mostly coastal and rural communities) but also the magnificence of Madagascar’s biodiversity and ecosystems. She is concerned about poverty because she knows how it feels to grow up in poverty herself.

 

We do not need to be a scientist or sociologist to recognize that the population in the Big Island encounters multi-dimensional poverty and Madagascar’s natural resources suffer from multi-source degradation. “Despite having considerable natural resources, Madagascar has among the highest poverty rates in the world” The World Bank Group. "I have never witnessed such extreme inequality of wealth, income and opportunity" Sariaka.

 

That is where SEILO’s founder passion came from: the passion for making a difference in increasing the quality of life of vulnerable people in her home country that she called “My Madagascar” and promoting the importance of environmental values and practices within communities.

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Empower vulnerable Malagasy communities, newcomers in Canada, and our volunteers who are temporary residents, permanent residents, citizens in Canada, and Madagascar through environmental and social projects.

 

Promote the sustainable use of natural resources (terrestrial, coastal, and marine resources) including a deeper awareness of environmental consciousness in Madagascar, Canada and beyond.