09-08-2025
What drives Malagasy young women to migrate?
As more young Malagasy women leave home in search of opportunity, their stories often go unheard. One woman's journey offers a window into the motivations, sacrifices, and aspirations driving this quiet wave of female migration.
Between Libreville and Antananarivo, between advocacy and motherhood, Fanja Raholiarisoa embodies a generation of Malagasy women on the move, rooted in her heritage, yet reaching out to the world. A journalist by training, a communicator by conviction, she gives voice to children while keeping her own strong and free.
This is a portrait of a woman from Madagascar, who turns commitment into a way of life, in Gabon.
Fanja is not someone you can sum up in one line. She stands tall, rooted in her Malagasy history while reaching toward the African horizon. A woman who carries her loved ones, her profession, and her commitments like a warm stole draped over her shoulders during the first chills of exile.
Petite in stature but grand in impact: She is affectionately nicknamed «Fadnjinette» for her small frame, « Fandjissime » for her radiant energy and remarkable achievements, and « Fashionista » for her sense of style that honors African chic, even among the most elegantly dressed.
From journalist to communication strategist
It was in the heat of Malagasy newsrooms that Fanja found her voice. Married to a sports journalist, she lived through crisscrossed interviews, deadlines, and stretched schedules. But motherhood reshaped everything.
Reinventing, balancing, and choosing became necessary. Communication emerged as a logical extension. It was a less consuming job than motherhood, but equally demanding of commitment. She found her place in that field.
Today, it's her work that earns applause when a campaign strikes a chord, when a message resonates.
Migration and silent sacrifices
Although international migrants remain a small share of Madagascar's population (just 0.1 %), 43 % of them are women, reflecting a creeping feminization of migration.
Behind her mobility lie silent sacrifices. Far from the postcard image of expatriation, Fanja speaks of the ache of leaving behind her dream home in Madagascar, in 2021. Marital dilemmas, pre-departure negotiations, and her two children to listen to and prepare.
Initially reluctant, her husband eventually left everything to follow her — a rare, often misunderstood choice on a continent where women who sacrifice themselves are celebrated more than those who are followed.
'My husband agreed to drop everything on his end and follow me. A choice his family found unfavorable. His decision was very precious to me because I know many of my friends and colleagues whose families and husbands stayed behind to keep working,' Fanja says.
In Gabon, the role reversal stirred things up. In a patriarchal context, some felt entitled to judge: Why did your husband do that? But Fanja let go.
There were lonely nights. Late-night WhatsApp messages when her brother back home fell seriously ill. Distance can be brutal. You want to be there, but you can't. Yet, even during those moments, Fanja held on. She relied on digital tools, on vital connections, on family groups online, to fill the void.
But there were also moments of glory. She moved forward; she owned it. She has turned her migration into a life project, a learning field for her children. She talks about faith, prayer, catechism, and sees her new role as a source of inner stability.
Her spirituality is not a refuge but a driving force. When her actions for children are applauded, when she sees in black and white that her work has left a mark, it becomes a political gesture, a signature on Gabon's social fabric and the Madagascar she came from.
A map etched in her soul
For Fanja, Africa is not a collection of borders, but an intimate pulse symbolized by a carved necklace she wears: My heart is left in Africa, a moving memory that vibrates through each city visited, each wax accessory purchased as a fragment of identity.
There's Johannesburg and Cape Town, where Western modernity meets African roots, leaving a deep impression: 'Your heart is in Africa, but your soul is in Europe,' someone once told her. A statement that would soon become relevant to her goals of open African borders.
Nairobi, with its safaris and the elegance of Maasai traditions, reminds her of the nobility of ancient tales. In Dakar, almost forgotten when listing her journeys, she felt an invisible bond nourished by history; a shared memory between Malagasy and Senegalese people.
And then, Ghana, pulsating with youth and civic movements, where young women are pushing boundaries, mirroring what Fanja embodies.
Although no specific place in Madagascar profoundly pulls at her heart, it's in the way she speaks Malagasy with her children and the marble map of Madagascar in her office, that one perceives the depth of her attachment.
Transmission, heritage, and reconfiguration
Fanja is the product of luminous women.
Her mother, who passed away in 2019, was that social sun, radiating warmth and creating connections. She passed on this rare ability to bring people together, to build bonds. This light, Fanja draws it from her family roots as much as from the words of inspiring women.
Her readings are equally foundational: Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Mother Teresa, Victoire Rasoamanarivo... She distills, blends, and mixes their wisdom to extract a composite knowledge that she passes on to her children.
Raising children while migrating means weaving together multiple cultures, languages, and perspectives. It means wanting to preserve Malagasy in a Francophone world. It means rooting in faith while fostering autonomy. It means raising multifaceted children, rooted and curious, ready to embrace the world without losing themselves.
A pan-African sisterhood
Fanja is not alone on this journey. She draws inspiration, listens, and allows herself to be moved. One notable encounter: an influential woman, UNICEF Gabon Goodwill Ambassador, whom she supported in her nomination. An intense conversation, shared values. It's these invisible connections that nurture African sisterhood, transcending countries, statuses, and cultures.
She also remains struck by a persistent surprise: in Gabon, men are even more patriarchal than in Madagascar. Fanja observes, analyzes, and adapts. She navigates social codes without losing herself, guided by an unwavering moral compass: equality, justice, and autonomy. For herself, her children, and all women on the move.
And if African women designed the ideal city?
Fanja first envisions a city designed for children, where growing up is a right, not a privilege. But why not a city designed by —and for — African women? She thinks of Namibia, recently led by a female president. A symbol, a promise.
In this dreamed city, leadership roles would no longer be a female exception. Partnership would be about sharing and mutual support, not a power struggle. Emancipation would not be just a slogan but a daily reality for both women and men.
Her vision goes even further. It is continental, radical in its simplicity: 'Facilitate the regional movement of working women. Open borders like Europe. We are one.' What she demands is freedom of movement, the recognition of women as drivers of Africa's development. An ideal city, yes. But above all, a continent where women are free to act, dream, and build.
Fanja follows a Malagasy maxim as her guiding: Tsy ny namanao no ifaninananao fa ny tsara vitanao omaly, meaning, 'Your adversary is not the other, but what you have accomplished yesterday.' Her journey is that of a new generation of Malagasy migrants not in exile but on a mission, building elsewhere without ever uprooting.
Fanja's story is just one thread in a growing tapestry. While the vast majority of the Malagasy diaspora resides in Europe (especially France)—estimated at 100,000–140,000 people—there are significant intra-African movements, particularly to SADC countries (e.g., South Africa, Mozambique).
Across the region, young Malagasy women are on the move. Not fleeing, but building: careers, families, identities. Their reasons are many, but their momentum is clear.
To hear Fanja share her journey in her own words—her voice, her reflections, her hopes for the continent—listen to her featured episode on the podcast below:
This content is produced by African Women in Media (AWiM) as part of the Move Africa 2025 project, commissioned by the African Union Commission and supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) through the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. The views and opinions expressed are those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of BMZ, GIZ, or the African Union.
