I am a firm believer in failing fast and failing forward - and in this regard I learned much from the PEAR Lab but Madagascar needs something better. This big red island in the indian ocean needs real capacity for sovereign self-determination of the rapidly escalating 21st century challenges faced globally and felt locally. This big red island needs a new type of NGO and this is just what I’ve been developing under the name Big Red Earth.

Big Red Earth is a novel NGO in two regards.



First - where most foreign development NGOs focus on directly creating projects within a given community, Big Red Earth has recognized the longstanding need to cultivate capacity within Madagascar itself, in terms of creating, managing, and driving sustainable development efforts. In this context, the NGO works exclusively with the University of Toliara and Madagascar’s other public institutions of higher education to foster leadership in applied research and development competencies in a handful of strategic areas (primarily education and agriculture).

Strengthening higher education across Africa is increasingly recognized as vital to development on the continent (see ADEA & RUFORUM).

Secondly - while focusing on the capacity of higher education in Africa has some precedent in the sustainable development field , the educational content that Big Red Earth brings to table is unique in many ways. We are the first in African development to be strategically integrating Carl Sagan and Neil deGrasse Tyson’s opus COSMOS into the higher education and high school curriculum.

While COSMOS may be merely fun evening edu-tainment for those of us in wealthy countries, it is my central argument that the “soaring revelations” presented in this series, in the form of the methods,history, and psychology of science, represent a critical missing link in Madagascar’s science education landscape. It has the power to critique the “sage on a stage” model of instruction, and provide a vision of science as a collective problem-solving venture key to the continued survival of our species.

I’ll be writing more on this in the future, but suffice it to say, my students (even those with deeply held religious convictions) are finding the content of COSMOS to not just uplifting in spirit, but truly revolutionary in terms of their understanding of the very nature of science itself.

A second example of our unique approach to educational content is reflected in our approach to teaching agricultural biotechnology. Biotech in Africa is a hot topic - and a heated controversy when it comes to the influence of outsiders (spoiler alert - my entanglement in these politics is why I have not been writing for the past 18 months). In this regard, Big Red Earth espouses a commitment to food sovereignty - or self determination of food policy among the Malagasy people, that few other NGOs can lay claim to.

Now - google “food sovereignty” and you will find a handful of global NGOs, none which, to my eyes, engage the ethics of emerging technologies with the respectful nuance we so value among the IEET community. Food sovereignty is little more than code for agro-pastoral fetishism and anti-technology propagandizing under the cloak of indigenous cultures. Yet I will still identify with the term because at its root, self-determination of agricultural policy is what I strive for in every curriculum development effort we engage in.

Practically, this means we are supporting curriculum advances in the science of biotechnology (and agroecology as well!), but as well, I am continuing to develop lessons that empower Malagasy youth to understand the global political debate around biotech, including the complex psychology of science that underpins this discourse (see meme from Biotech & Your Brain).

These are just two of a small constellation of unique content directions driving our competency-based approach to cultivating capacity for sustainable development within Madagascar’s higher education system. I hope you’ll join me as I continue to report on our progress as part of IEET’s Africa Futures Project!