Our mission is ambitious:
To equip young people with the skills they need to be courageous leaders and change agents in their communities
Camp Fihavanana is an 8 day summer camp that equips young people in Madagascar with the skills they need to be courageous leaders in their own communities. Through sport practices, group challenges, art, discussion, and reflection, campers dive deep into discovering their identity and leadership styles away from the constructs of traditional education and school. In a rare space where teens can truly be themselves, Camp Fihavanana encourages students to have fun, forge lifelong friendships, and return home better prepared to be courageous leaders in their home, school, and community.
Camp Fihavanana programming includes:
Self-exploration and understanding your leadership style
Learning and playing sports to better understand the connection between sports, self, and activism
Celebrating your Malagasy and individual identities
Building and strengthening unique friendships
Understanding Malagasy history and culture
Setting goals for yourself and your community
Meeting experts in transformative community development
Hiking and exploring teamwork by overcoming challenges
Fun and Games
Fihavanana
It’s at the heart of everything we do,
so let’s dig a little deeper
Fihavanana is a Malagasy word embodying the truest sense of friendship, community and togetherness. It’s the belief that we are better and stronger together than we are alone, regardless of our differences. When we practice Fihavanana, we value each other, and we take care of each other, our communities, and the earth.
Through Fihavanana, we celebrate each and every person’s unique identity and diverse stories. Fihavanana is unity in diversity, where we are able to work together to achieve collective goals, bringing our own strengths to the table.
It’s no coincidence that Camp Fihavanana is named after such a massive and idealistic concept. In every activity we do, we aim to be vulnerable, share our experiences, learn from one another, and build incredible new things - all together as a team. Keeping Fihavanana at the forefront of our camp activities ensures that what we create together is strong - whether those things are relationships, goals, or plans to better the earth. Alone we can do so little, but together we can do so much.
Our Approach
Facilitation, not teaching
In Malagasy schools, students are typically taught to memorize content for exams in school, rather than how to creatively and critically think about problems to find solutions. At Camp Fihavanana, we flip that dynamic and create simulations for youth to practice problem solving in real time with their peers. Our staff builds an environment of co-powerment, prioritizing the knowledge and experiences of the campers. We invite them to overcome challenges, practice self reflection, and dive deep into conversations that transform their individual and worldly perspectives.
Playing, not winning
We coach three sports, soccer, basketball, and lacrosse. While soccer and basketball are familiar to most youth in Madagascar, lacrosse is completely new. Camp Fihavanana is an all levels sports program that invites youth to practice the vulnerability of trying new things. During our practices and games we focus on skill building and positive team culture. We prioritize learning and having fun over winning every time to empower campers to learn new skills without shame and the fear of messing up.
Storytelling, not lectures
We make a big effort to recruit Malagasy staff and speakers who are dedicated to hearing the stories of each one of our campers and sharing their own. Telling our stories deepens our connection to our roots, which gives us access to power. Hearing the stories from those who have changed their own lives, their communities, and their country, gives our campers an opportunity to dream big for themselves.
Celebration, not comparison
We model and facilitate affirmation to disrupt the toxic assumption that we must be better than our peers to be considered successful. Teaching youth the skill of affirming their peers gives them access to new forms of gratitude and teamwork. Through the skill and experience of affirmation and celebration, youth realize the power of Fihavanana is far greater than the power of comparison. They learn that together they can accomplish so much more than they could on their own.
Courage, not dominance
We have a unique definition of power that is rooted in understanding one’s identity and experience rather than power that is derived from dominance over others. True leadership requires courageous work to transform your own life and the lives of others, rather than work to gain prestige or authority over others.
Our Values
Fihavanana
Fihavanana describes the specific connection between people that transforms fear into hope, separateness into solidarity, and shame into celebration. Fihavanana compels us to take care of each other, the land, and our communities.
Courage
Courage is not fearlessness, but the willingness to lean into fear and discomfort. Courage requires vulnerability, story-telling, integrity, and practice. Courage is a commitment leading with integrity, rather than authority.
Liberation
Liberation is the act of feeling powerful because of a rooted connection to your experiences and your histories. It requires self-awareness, historical context, radical imagination, and independent thinking.
Action
Action moves us forward. Exercise and training prepare us for our next big step. We aim to be agile, both in our bodies and in our work, because movement starts Movements.
Play
We believe in the power of fun and imagination to heal our relationships with ourselves and each other. We create moments for youth to be silly, to dance, to laugh, and to connect. Through play, youth access their truest selves, and get free from shame and stereotypes so they can step into their individuality and embrace their authenticity.