Local leadership
Local Leadership Is Where We Begin.
IRC Africa Inc.’s work in Ambovombe, Androy Region, is built with TERATANY, an independent, women-led Malagasy organization founded and led by Mamy Duata. Local leadership is not something we plan to transfer later. It is the foundation of the work from the beginning.
01 / Built from the community
Leadership Grounded in the Community
The local team leads the daily work. This includes managing Ny Trano Manga, supporting women and families, managing staff, working with public authorities, maintaining community relationships, and responding to situations that require local knowledge and judgment.
The team also carries out prevention and awareness activities and helps women and girls understand their rights, available protections, and possible next steps.
International partnership can provide resources, professional knowledge, and wider connections. It cannot replace the trust, language, cultural understanding, and accountability that grow from within the community.
02 / TERATANY
An Independent Malagasy Organization
TERATANY is an independent, women-led Malagasy organization with its own leadership, identity, and responsibilities. Rooted in Ambovombe, it works through direct knowledge of the language, culture, community, and local reality.
The Malagasy word TERATANY conveys the idea of being from and rooted in a place.
TERATANY manages local implementation and relationships. Its leadership is central to the present work and to the development of stronger local organizational capacity for the future.
03 / Mamy Duata
Founder and CEO of TERATANY
Mamy Duata leads TERATANY and the local team’s work in Ambovombe. She manages the day-to-day activities, works with public authorities and community stakeholders, and helps shape programs around the realities and needs of women and families in the region.
Under her leadership, the local team operates Ny Trano Manga, manages staff, supports women and children, responds to situations that require local knowledge and judgment, and carries out prevention, awareness, and education on the rights of women and girls.
When Mamy herself faced violence and hardship and needed protection and support, there was nowhere for her to turn. Today, she is the person other women turn to. That experience is also a driving force behind her leadership and her commitment to women and girls in the community.
04 / Stronger local capacity
Strengthen What Already Exists
Local leadership also needs strong systems. Support can help strengthen staff development, financial and administrative management, safeguarding, data and documentation, professional training, and the ability of more women to take on positions of responsibility.
- 01Local staff and management
- 02Professional development
- 03Financial, administrative, and data systems
- 04More women in positions of responsibility
TERATANY and IRC Africa Inc. have begun collaborating with TINOÑE and are exploring how that relationship can grow in response to local needs, organizational capacity, and shared priorities.
05 / One partnership, complementary roles
IRC Africa Inc. + TERATANY
TERATANY and IRC Africa Inc. are independent organizations with distinct and complementary responsibilities. TERATANY leads day-to-day management in the field. IRC Africa Inc. raises its own resources from individual donors, foundations, companies, and giving platforms, and is responsible for the oversight and reporting of the funds it raises and manages. Each contributes capabilities the other does not have.
IRC Africa Inc.
- International fundraising and resource development
- U.S. legal, governance, and financial accountability
- Strategic development and professional connections
- International partnerships and donor communication
TERATANY
- Running Ny Trano Manga day to day
- Direct work with women, girls and their families
- Employing and managing the local staff
- Relationships with the community, authorities and local partners
- Handling situations that require local knowledge and judgment
- Prevention and community outreach
- Teaching women and girls about their rights
The organizations remain independent while working toward one shared goal: protecting women today and expanding their choices for tomorrow.
06 / Financial resilience
Building Greater Independence Over Time
Philanthropic support remains essential, especially for protection and shelter services. At the same time, TERATANY aims to build greater long-term resilience by developing its systems, professional capacity, and, where appropriate, income from research, data collection, field support, training, or other professional services.
Independent income can complement donations. It does not replace the responsibility to raise philanthropic support for services that should never depend on a survivor’s ability to pay.
Local Leadership Starts Here.
The goal is to strengthen locally rooted leadership with the authority, systems, and professional capacity to make and carry out decisions in Ambovombe.