Hugh Doulton is the Technical Director of Dahari; he has lived on Anjouan for nearly seven years. His responsibilities include the strategic development of the NGO, fundraising, and the management of international partnerships. In this article, he reflects on the importance of these international relations and details the collaboration between Dahari and its partners—specifically in Mayotte, Madagascar, and Réunion.  

"At Dahari, we place great importance on developing our international collaborations and partnerships. We believe that a blend of knowledge, skills, and experience—from both the Comoros and abroad—will foster the growth of our NGO and help us achieve our objectives. More broadly, we observe a lack of organizations engaged in development and conservation in the Comoros; we hope to reduce both our own isolation and that of the country by assisting other institutions in establishing themselves here."

Developing and fostering these connections is one of my key roles as Technical Director of Dahari. Even before Dahari was officially established in February 2013, I began traveling between the islands of the Western Indian Ocean—and even further afield—to represent the organization at various meetings and to build or strengthen collaborations on its behalf.

I have given presentations on Dahari at conferences and workshops in Mayotte, Réunion, South Africa, and the United States. I have gained insights into Dahari’s development through meetings with similar NGOs in Madagascar and East Africa. I have distributed the organization’s brochure to hundreds of potential partners and donors. And everywhere I have gone, I have encountered a genuine interest in our activities in the Comoros.

But what concrete results do we have from these investments?

From the sister "Big Island" Madagascar We are developing an integrated coastal management project in Bimbini in partnership with the British NGO Blue Ventures; we have received financial support from the Swiss Embassy for a market-gardening project; and several local institutions are represented on our advisory committee. Further collaborations are in the pipeline following my recent visit this month, and we hope to be able to share some good news soon.

In la Réunion We have developed a strong collaboration with the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD), a key partner for Dahari. We serve as the Comoros representative for a regional project on livestock improvement called ARChE_Net, and we hope to soon secure funding—in partnership with CIRAD—from the General Council of Réunion for a project focused on enhancing the NGO’s agricultural interventions across all areas. We also receive support from the Réunion Satellite Station, which provides us with satellite imagery and expertise to assist with fieldwork, spatial planning, and monitoring and evaluation.

Not to mention the United Kingdom...where the foundations for Dahari were laid ten years ago through the development of a research project by five English students. We continue to benefit from the close support of our long-standing key partners—the Bristol Zoological Society and the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust—in the areas of conservation and institutional development, providing both technical and financial assistance. More recently, we have secured support from researchers at the University of Oxford and the University of Kent for our ecological research and the NGO’s institutional development; we hope to further strengthen these ties in the years to come.

“We are proud to have the support of these internationally recognized institutions, which serve as a guarantee for Dahari, and we hope to soon confirm further partnerships that are currently in development. Thanks to the key international partnerships of the ECDD Project—Bristol Zoological Society, Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, and Agronomes et Vétérinaires Sans Frontières—we have been able to introduce proven innovations in rural development and natural resource management to the Comoros, which are now being replicated by our local partners. We intend to maintain this momentum with these new, committed partners.”