Ethiopia
SEGNI in Oromiffa stands for something vital in the life of the rural communities: SEED. Almost all farming communities in Ethiopia select their seeds and preserve them with special care. Seed also signifies intergenerational connection and continuity.
In Ethiopia, a youth club program was created by the NGO Melca Ethiopia. This clubs are called SEGNI, but in this case it translates to Social Empowerment through Group and Nature Interaction. Through an intergenerational learning process, SEGNI Clubs link their student members with culture and nature through elders. It raises in the youth a sense of responsibility and empowerment for the conservation of their cultural and natural resources.
In the rural village of Telecho, 60 km West of Addis, fourteen students age 14-16 formed a SEGNI Club.
They develop many activities such as a tree nursery site and plantation of indigenous trees. As part of their life commitment, Telecho School SEGNI Club members have the opportunity to become a generation that integrates the past and the present in the restoration of their environments and betterment of their livelihoods.
A crucial role of Telecho School SEGNI club is to disseminate their learning experiences to the wider community in and out of the school. With this in mind, they undertook a Participatory Video (PV) training and made a film during the 10 days of a Participatory 3D Modelling (P3DM) process that took place in the community center near their school.
This film reflects a mobilization call for all communities to recognize their problems but also their strengths and embrace the opportunities to work together to develop their own rehabilitation solutions. And, as the SEGNI Telecho School members captured in this film, there is a lot to be said but also a lot to be done... And in Telecho they have certainly started.
