Madagascar School Project
The Madagascar School Project was founded in 2007 when Kathy Lucking, a Canadian elementary school teacher, volunteered in Madagascar and discovered that most families couldn’t afford to send their children to what are often distant schools. Kathy gathered a community of friends and colleagues, and bega raising money to build a local school. In October of 2008, 65 children aged four to six years old began their studies in Lova Soa, a two-classroom school in the highlands of central Madagascar. In January 2010 they opened a second school, Sekoly Tenaquip, which now has a population of over 800 students studying from Junior Kindergarten up to high school graduation, and the project has expanded to include a wide range of services for several highland villages.
The challenge
MSP came to us wanting to update the visual appeal of their website and maximize its fundraising potential. They needed to show their donors that they are an evolving as an organization, and they felt as though their website didn't quite portray the breadth of their work in Madagascar. In addition, the site had to serve as an organizational archive and information source for those outside MSP, such as students learning about the country online.
The solution
After an in-depth conversation with MSP and a review of their programming and online content, Northern Village staff determined that the group's work falls into five main categories, which could also be used to organize website content: education, health, agriculture, energy and economy. We streamlined copy and brought in higher quality images to tell the story of the MSP and the context in which they work. We also integrated a wish list for donors to make more concrete how donors can support MSP, and we built an online events registration feature to facilitate key fundraising events. A contemporary design was created by NV, using brand colours representative of the children's school uniforms. In addition, we made donation requests more prominent throughout the site, and we made it easier to follow MSP on social media.