INTERVIEW: Pokanel, a humanitarian NGO in Madagascar!
Today, we’re featuring an interview with Nathalie Tanguy, president of Pokanel, a humanitarian organization in Madagascar. We support this organization and invite you to learn more about it.
My name is Nathalie Tanguy, and I am the president of the NGO Pokanel, which was founded 10 years ago to develop educational projects and health initiatives in Madagascar.
To fund our initiatives, we organize unique and festive cultural events in the heart of Paris (mystery tours exploring Paris, blind tests, virtual world tours, etc.) that are open to the public, as well as team-building and incentive programs designed specifically for businesses.
Pokanel’s concept, “Enjoy to help,” is to exchange good cheer in France for hope in Madagascar… and to do so, to organize events that are engaging and unique enough to inspire people to participate.
Unlike more “traditional” methods of funding humanitarian projects, we never rely on monetary donations or membership fees to fund our projects; instead, we rely exclusively on revenue generated through our events.
Because all of us on the Pokanel team have roots and strong family ties to Madagascar. Furthermore, even though our efforts are minuscule compared to the needs, doing nothing is inconceivable to us. Every drop of water finds its purpose in bringing relief to those who benefit from it...
We want to achieve very concrete results on the ground and focus on what we consider to be the essentials: education, on the one hand, and health, on the other.
In both of these areas, we provide funding for medical equipment for health clinics, particularly to combat the spread of HIV and hepatitis.
Our activities are wide-ranging, from supplying essential medications to health clinics, to purchasing equipment, ECG machines, sterilization ovens, as well as computer equipment to help manage pharmacy inventory, and even prevention campaigns against tooth decay—such as teaching schoolchildren how to brush their teeth and distributing toothpaste and toothbrush kits, for example.
In terms of public health, in addition to providing soap and teaching hygiene practices, we also drill wells to give the population easy and free access to water. This is part of our efforts to combat cholera in particular, which spreads easily—often due to poor hygiene—and can have devastating consequences for children.
In the area of education, we renovate school buildings, but above all, we provide scholarships to enable children who otherwise wouldn’t be able to attend school due to a lack of funds to receive an education. We truly believe in these children’s ability to seize opportunities, and every year we are amazed by the excellent results they achieve.
In addition to our ongoing initiatives, we have just provided 5,000 schoolchildren with the 10,000 pens collected during the “Pique un BIC” campaign; our next goal is to provide each of them with a dental hygiene kit. To do this, we’re organizing a Murder Party in Paris on the evening of December 13, where different teams will compete to conduct a police investigation and be the first to unmask the murderer. Each €20 entry fee will help provide 50 children with toothbrushes!
For the past two years, my favorite product at Nuhanciam has been the Exfoliation Gentle—both in its effectiveness and its scent!
We have many needs in Madagascar, but in France, we need only two types of items: antibiotics, anti-inflammatory drugs, and pain relievers—the kinds you have in your medicine cabinets that you no longer use once you’ve finished a course of treatment and that haven’t expired.
The second thing is that you come and have fun at our events, since they fund all of our activities in Madagascar.
First of all, on behalf of the entire Pokanel team, I’d like to wish everyone a wonderful end to 2014 and a very happy holiday season!
And if you’d like to get involved and do your part to help build all our little projects, just come and share—share culture, art, and laughter; meet new people; and foster connections… We’ll know exactly how to turn that desire into a brighter future for schoolchildren and into care for the sick in the Malagasy highlands. It’s that simple!
Pokanel's contact information:
109 Rue du Bac, 75007 Paris
06 61 79 58 49
www.pokanel.org
contact@pokanel.org
Could you please introduce yourself and tell us about the organization?
My name is Nathalie Tanguy, and I am the president of the NGO Pokanel, which was founded 10 years ago to develop educational projects and health initiatives in Madagascar.
To fund our initiatives, we organize unique and festive cultural events in the heart of Paris (mystery tours exploring Paris, blind tests, virtual world tours, etc.) that are open to the public, as well as team-building and incentive programs designed specifically for businesses.
Pokanel’s concept, “Enjoy to help,” is to exchange good cheer in France for hope in Madagascar… and to do so, to organize events that are engaging and unique enough to inspire people to participate.
Unlike more “traditional” methods of funding humanitarian projects, we never rely on monetary donations or membership fees to fund our projects; instead, we rely exclusively on revenue generated through our events.
Why Madagascar?
Because all of us on the Pokanel team have roots and strong family ties to Madagascar. Furthermore, even though our efforts are minuscule compared to the needs, doing nothing is inconceivable to us. Every drop of water finds its purpose in bringing relief to those who benefit from it...
What are your activities on the ground?
We want to achieve very concrete results on the ground and focus on what we consider to be the essentials: education, on the one hand, and health, on the other.
In both of these areas, we provide funding for medical equipment for health clinics, particularly to combat the spread of HIV and hepatitis.
Our activities are wide-ranging, from supplying essential medications to health clinics, to purchasing equipment, ECG machines, sterilization ovens, as well as computer equipment to help manage pharmacy inventory, and even prevention campaigns against tooth decay—such as teaching schoolchildren how to brush their teeth and distributing toothpaste and toothbrush kits, for example.
In terms of public health, in addition to providing soap and teaching hygiene practices, we also drill wells to give the population easy and free access to water. This is part of our efforts to combat cholera in particular, which spreads easily—often due to poor hygiene—and can have devastating consequences for children.
In the area of education, we renovate school buildings, but above all, we provide scholarships to enable children who otherwise wouldn’t be able to attend school due to a lack of funds to receive an education. We truly believe in these children’s ability to seize opportunities, and every year we are amazed by the excellent results they achieve.
What's new with you?
In addition to our ongoing initiatives, we have just provided 5,000 schoolchildren with the 10,000 pens collected during the “Pique un BIC” campaign; our next goal is to provide each of them with a dental hygiene kit. To do this, we’re organizing a Murder Party in Paris on the evening of December 13, where different teams will compete to conduct a police investigation and be the first to unmask the murderer. Each €20 entry fee will help provide 50 children with toothbrushes!
What is your favorite NUHANCIAM skincare product?
For the past two years, my favorite product at Nuhanciam has been the Exfoliation Gentle—both in its effectiveness and its scent!
How can we help you?
We have many needs in Madagascar, but in France, we need only two types of items: antibiotics, anti-inflammatory drugs, and pain relievers—the kinds you have in your medicine cabinets that you no longer use once you’ve finished a course of treatment and that haven’t expired.
The second thing is that you come and have fun at our events, since they fund all of our activities in Madagascar.
Any final thoughts?
First of all, on behalf of the entire Pokanel team, I’d like to wish everyone a wonderful end to 2014 and a very happy holiday season!
And if you’d like to get involved and do your part to help build all our little projects, just come and share—share culture, art, and laughter; meet new people; and foster connections… We’ll know exactly how to turn that desire into a brighter future for schoolchildren and into care for the sick in the Malagasy highlands. It’s that simple!
Pokanel's contact information:
109 Rue du Bac, 75007 Paris
06 61 79 58 49
www.pokanel.org
contact@pokanel.org
