Why I Stay Committed to Environmental and Climate Work
Cynthia Hillary Randrianandrasana (ELP 2025) | Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Officer Northern Highlands Landscape, WWF Madagascar, Madagascar
October 7, 2025
Cynthia Hillary Randrianandrasana (ELP 2025) | Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Officer Northern Highlands Landscape, WWF Madagascar, Madagascar
October 7, 2025
When I wrote my storytelling tryout for the Beahrs Environmental Leadership Program at UC Berkeley, I reflected on something we often hear: Madagascar is an island rich in natural resources, one of the richest in the world in terms of biodiversity. And yet, it remains one of the poorest countries on the planet. Some say it's already a lost cause. Even I haven’t always been optimistic.
But those three weeks of training at Berkeley were a turning point. They gave me the space to step back, to question myself. And I remembered what I’ve consistently seen in the field: communities want change. Engaged local authorities. Motivated youth. Active village associations. A quiet, but strong desire to build a better future.
What’s missing isn’t motivation, it’s coordination. Too many initiatives operate in isolation, even though our goals are the same: to ensure the well-being of local populations, to protect forests, to secure water resources, and to use natural assets in a sustainable and equitable way.
That belief is what keeps me going. As a Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Professional, I play the role of a compass. I observe, analyze, and identify what’s working and what needs adjustment. It’s a role that gives me a broad view, one that helps anticipate challenges and support informed, strategic decisions.
My commitment deepened during the Beahrs ELP. There, I was exposed to practical and impactful approaches: how technical assistance with blended finance and capital market solutions can generate tangible benefits and accelerate growth, environmental economics for policymaking, sustainable water supply systems, environmental justice, and human-centered design. We explored impact evaluation, project management, and collaborative leadership. And during the field visits, I saw how data is used in decision-making, how infrastructure is designed with the future in mind, and how communities are truly engaged in the process.
These experiences made a lasting impression on me.
Back in Madagascar particularly in the northern highlands, in the heart of the vanilla-growing region the contrast is striking. We're currently at a strategic point: revising our action plan. This training came at the perfect time and gave me the perspective I needed to identify new levers for action. As one of our professors at Berkeley said during a group project: “You have such a huge problem, but a tiny solution.” And that’s exactly it. I want to help expand that "tiny solution" so it can create greater impact.
I could have chosen a different career path. With a double academic background in geography and agroecology, I had other options. But I stayed in conservation, climate, and sustainable resource management because what little we have left is often poorly managed. Because climate change is making everything harder. And above all, because I believe in the local actors, the everyday heroes who quietly protect our forests, water, and soil.
I truly believe that the most sustainable solutions must come from the ground up. Approaches like Integrated Landscape Management (ILM) or community-led conservation are not just trends, they are effective when implemented with intention and rigor.
As a MEL professional, I also advocate for the strategic use of data and knowledge. Too often, research is underused or simply inaccessible. I remember as a student wanting to access key scientific articles, but being blocked by paywalls or not knowing where to find them. I had to make do with what little I had access to. But research should not gather dust, it should inform public policies, guide decision-makers, and strengthen communities’ capacity for action.
After more than ten years in this field, this immersion at Berkeley has given me a new breath of energy. I’m excited to return home and share these best practices with my colleagues, my network, and the communities I work with. I have so many ideas. Because I don’t believe Madagascar is a lost cause. I believe in the power of collective action, in co-created solutions, and in vision grounded. I want to build bridges between strategy and action, between research and practice. And more than anything, I want to be part of that change.
To conclude, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to WWF Madagascar for its continuous support, and to the donors, the Beahrs Environmental Leadership Program team, the Dean and staff of the Rausser College of Natural Resources at UC Berkeley, for their moral and financial support, which enabled me to take part in this prestigious 2025 program.
The blog image was published on Flickr. Original image by Frank Vassen. The copyright holder has published this content under the following license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/