Voahary Rakotovelomanantsoa (Madagascar)

Voahary Rakotovelomanantsoa
(Winner, Top Woman in WASH – 1st African Women in WASH Awards 

| Former Minister of Water, Sanitation & Hygiene | Former Governor, Anosy Region
Madagascar)

Born and raised in southern Madagascar, in the drought-prone lands around Taolagnaro (Fort-Dauphin) and Toliara, Voahary Rakotovelomanantsoa understood the importance of water from an early age. As a child, she would follow her father, who worked in public works, watching construction sites and the roads being traced, an early education in infrastructure that would shape her life's mission.

That childhood grew into one of the most remarkable careers in African water leadership. Voahary began as a rural water technician and rose step by step through the sector: program manager with an international cooperation organization, then General Director of Madagascar's National Authority of Water and Sanitation (ANDEA), and in 2020, Minister of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene.

Her tenure as Minister marked a turning point for Madagascar's WASH sector. She strengthened national sector coordination, validated the National WASH Policy, and mobilised hundreds of millions of dollars in investment through public financing, development partners, and innovative Public-Private Partnerships—including the pioneering "Co-invest – Build – Operate" model designed to share risk and expand service coverage. According to the 1st African Women in WASH Awards, national drinking water access increased from 43% to 47% under her leadership, and urban water supply improved to up to 18 hours per day.

Working with partners including UNICEF, her ministry delivered multi-use water systems providing drinking water for communities alongside water for agriculture and livestock—193 new borehole systems and five water networks built, and 50 boreholes renovated, benefiting 48,000 people in the hard-hit Grand Sud alone.

Later, as Governor of the Anosy Region, she confronted the climate crisis directly. Her leadership delivered sustainable solutions to more than 200,000 people through the integration of solar-powered desalination systems and multi-purpose water infrastructure in one of the most drought-affected corners of the continent.

Voahary is also an entrepreneur. She founded Cabinet MANO (Madagascar Access for New Opportunities), a consultancy in the water sector, and established a private company managing water service delegation and infrastructure. She is a member of Madagascar's Association of Private Water Distribution Operators, the Association of Women Entrepreneurs of Analamanga (FEA), and the Women Entrepreneurs Group of Madagascar (GFEM)—and through these platforms she mentors the next generation of African women leaders. 

In February 2026, at the first African Women in WASH Awards in Yaoundé, Cameroon—co-organized by the African Water and Sanitation Association (AfWASA) and the Rural Water Supply Network (RWSN)—Voahary was crowned continental Winner of "Top Woman in WASH," in recognition of more than two decades of institutional reform, financial innovation, and climate resilience work. 

As she told the awards platform: "Water is not only infrastructure. It is dignity, stability, and opportunity. When we strengthen water systems, we strengthen the nation."

(Sources: 1st African Women in WASH Awards (AfWASA/RWSN, February 2026); The Water Diplomat; 2424.mg; Eco Austral; UNICEF Madagascar)