DEAUVILLE, France: The 2012 Women for Education prize was awarded today to EAST (Eau Agriculture et Santé en Milieu Tropical, ‘Water, Agriculture Health in Tropical Zones') for its work in Madagascar. The ceremony took place at the Women's Forum Global Meeting in the presence of Véronique Morali, President of the Women's Forum for the Economy and Society; Christine Albanel, Executive Vice President Events, Cultural and Institutional Partnerships and Philanthropy, Orange Group; Valérie Toranian, Director of ELLE magazine and President of the ELLE Foundation; and Caty Forget, Managing Director of Sanofi Espoir Foundation. On behalf of its Malagasy teams, Loïc Monjour, President of the EAST non-governmental organization, received the 30,000 € award, which is financed by Orange Foundation and Sanofi Espoir Foundation. The EAST project amply fulfills the objectives of the call for proposals that was launched last summer by the three Foundations ELLE, Orange and Sanofi Espoir: A program whose goal is to contribute to the education of women, and to the improvement of their access to health, via new information and communication technologies (NTIC). In the context of an overall program deployed in two neighborhoods of Madagascar's capital Antananarivo, EAST supports local Women's Associations for the Promotion of Hygiene and Health. The project selected for the award is aimed at complementing these associations' classic methods of education and sanitary prevention within local communities. The project strengthens the literacy skills of women as “health messengers" and trains them to use new information technology, in order to improve health behaviors of the local population in terms of hygiene, sanitary conditions, and individual and community health. Created in 2007 by ELLE magazine, the ELLE Foundation and the Women's Forum, the Women for Education initiative annually honors an international NGO working towards the economic emancipation of women in a developing country, and their access to education and health. From 2007 to 2010, awards were given to five projects in Afghanistan, India, Mexico, Ethiopia and Haiti. In 2011, Women for Education supported the launch of “Stand up for African Mothers", an international campaign by AMREF Flying Doctors to improve maternal health thanks to midwives' training.
