Based in Madagascar
Nominated by The Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime
“She gives a fascinating look at the underbelly of Madagascar – a place most people just see as a beautiful tropical isle. She lays bare the dark side of the country at considerable risk to herself.”
-Martin Adler Prize Jury
“Journalists, activists and civil society organisations face a very difficult landscape in Madagascar. People speaking out on contentious issues such as corruption and environmental crime have faced imprisonment and intimidation. Riana is a fearless investigative journalist and an activist for press freedom in her country and shows these ideals in practice by leading by example. She never hesitates to dig in to politically contentious and complex stories, whether these are about environmental crime, drug trafficking and criminal violence, corruption or extortion issues.
For example, while she has worked with GI-TOC, she has reported on cannabis markets in Betroka, southern Madagascar. Her work shed light on the criminal groups involved in trafficking cannabis grown in the remote rural areas around Betroka, the historical links with groups involved in cattle raiding and banditry who have now shifted into controlling the cannabis market, the levels of corruption around this market, rural violence and state legitimacy. Her reporting has offered an insight into this contentious and previously little-understood criminal economy.”
-Iris Oustinoff-Leroux, Network Coordination Officer, The Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime
Read some of Riana’s work:
- What’s the link between cannabis and endangered tortoises? The rise of corrupt, organised gangs in Madagascar, Daily Maverick
- Drugs markets in the islands of the western Indian Ocean — Madagascar’s violent illicit cannabis industry, Daily Maverick
- Changing Tides: The evolving illicit drug trade in the western Indian Ocean, Global Initiative
Biography
Riana Raymonde Randrianarisoa is an independent investigative journalist based in Madagascar with 21 years’ experience in investigative and cross-border journalism. She is a founding member and current secretary general of the Madagascar Network of Investigative Journalists. As a researcher, Riana has worked with several international organisations, including Transparency International, the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and the Institute for Security Studies. Her work has been published widely in national and international newspapers, including Mongabay, The Economist, Madagascar Tribune and The Ecologist.