PLACE 4 social change

Ecopedagogia, la dimensione ecologica dell’educare

Alle radici del termine Ecopedagogia, vi è l’incontro di tre parole di origine greca: oikos, “casa” o “ambiente”, paidos, “bambino” e ago, “accompagnare, “condurre”. L’ecopedagogia indica un modo di accompagnare, crescere ed educare, consapevole del campo totale e relazionale in cui è inserita l’umanità. Ogni essere è legato all’altro da relazioni intrinseche che ne determinano la sua costituzione fondamentale; all’interno di questa trama di relazioni, esiste un diritto uguale per tutti di vivere e realizzare i propri fini. La scienza ecologica, espande ulteriormente i suoi orizzonti e con il filosofo norvegese Arne Naess nascono l'Ecologia profonda e l'Ecosofia. Il termine Ecopedagogia venne coniato per la prima volta nel 1992 da Paulo Freire, professore universitario e importante pedagogista brasiliano. Ma già dal 1700 e per tutto il 1900 numerosi pedagogisti avevano affrontato i temi della pedagogia alla luce di una visione del mondo unitaria, sistemica, olistica ed ecologica. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, filosofo e pedagogista svizzero del 1700, considerato il padre della pedagogia contemporanea, Friedrich Froebel pedagogista del Romanticismo tedesco, Rudolf Steiner padre dell’Antroposofia, Maria Montessori, con la sua educazione cosmica, parlarono del bambino e dell’essere umano attraverso un modo di pensare in termini di relazione e contesto, di rapporto di connessione con l’intero cosmo. Urie Bronfenbrennerpsicologo americano vivente, ha approfondito questo tema nell’ambito della Psicologia definendo la Bioecologia dello sviluppo umano, secondo la quale lo sviluppo della persona è determinato dai diversi sistemi ecologici in cui è immersa e parte attiva. Howard Gardner padre della teoria delle Intelligenze multiple, è andato a ricercare questo senso di appartenenza all’interno dell’essere umano, andando a individuare e descrivere le intelligenze naturalistica ed esistenziale. C’è qualcosa di innato nell’essere umano che fa sì che sin dalla nascita egli si senta parte di un Tutto. Se per i mistici la consapevolezza dell’unità del creato è patrimonio che affonda le sue radici in un antico passato, per la scienza è scoperta piuttosto recente. Questo legame e senso di appartenenza sono sensibilità estremamente evidenti nel bambino piccolo e che vanno poi riscoperte e riportate alla luce della coscienza dell’età adulta.

Fields of Bitterness (I): Land Reform in Burundi

Africa Report N°213 | 12 Feb 2014

The full report is available in French.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Burundi, whose population lives mainly in rural areas, is facing two land problems. The first is structural and due to poor land management, particularly in a context of high population growth, which generates violence and crime. The second is a legacy of the civil war that deprived hundreds of thousands of refugees and displaced people of their properties. Only renewed focus and fresh thinking can help prevent rural criminal violence. However, instead of meaningful reform, only a review of the land code has been implemented. The impact of the absence of a comprehensive change in land governance, especially on conflict resolution, will continue to fuel public resentment, especially for those who have been dispossessed of their properties or have limited access to land ownership. The sense of injustice and the pressing need for land will likely contribute to future conflicts unless the government adopts a new approach.

Burundi’s overcrowded rural population is a challenge to its land management system and is the source of deep socioeconomic resentment that in part fuelled the civil war. With one of the highest population densities on the continent (about 400 people per square kilometre) and 90 per cent of the population dependent on agriculture, Burundi needs to be a good example of land management. On the contrary, however, bad land governance is deeply rooted and old regulation mechanisms are obsolete, thus contributing to conflict, social tensions and a malnutrition rate close to 75 per cent. Fourteen years on, the ambitious land reform provided for in the Arusha agreement has been superficial at best and has not met expectations.

Several shortcomings explain this failure: the absence of tight control over state prerogatives, which generates abuses and increases land insecurity; lack of coordination between reform initiatives, which leads to a duplication of roles and reduces the efficiency of land institutions; lack of independence of the judiciary; inequalities in land access (especially for women); and disappearance of traditional conflict resolution mechanisms.

Resolving land conflicts will require much more than a simple change in the political balance of power between the Tutsi elite, which has dominated the political arena since independence, and the Hutu majority, in power since 2005. Burundi needs a global vision on land that will take into account socio-economic realities and break with bad governance practices of the past.

Preparations for the 2015 elections have started and land issues will be a divisive topic during the campaign. The government should, with the support of international partners, implement the following measures:

elaborate a new rural development strategy that fully integrates the land policy;

pass a law on inheritance to promote gender equality, to include all land users (particularly women and children) in land certification and to allow the advance registration of estates for the purposes of succession (ie, before the concerned person’s death);

launch a national campaign to promote peaceful land dispute resolution; and

develop mediation and conciliation within the courts, as well as establish sustainable local land management services.

This report, the first in a two-part series, examines why reform has failed to improve land governance since the 2000 Arusha agreement. It suggests a way forward to relaunch land reform initiatives in a comprehensive and coherent manner. A second report will analyse the complex land restitution policy for refugees and displaced persons.

Visualizing Data

Data isn't all columns of numbers and words, or pages and pages of charts, but also a fun tool to create results-based pieces of art. Fathom Information Design is a company that takes complex data for their clients, and expresses it for them using various software's. Some of the results are amazing, such as the All Streets (2008) project.

Working with Ben Fry, whose research focuses on combining statistics and data visualization, what All Streets does is combine information, such as all the roads and streets in the United States (240 million to be precise), and instead of presenting the findings as a huge list, present them as a map. 

A map which conveniently takes on the shape of the country, outlining ravines, canyons, parks and mountains, without any use of topography; just the lines of the roads themselves.

Data is an art form all on its own, but with a bit of visualization and some programming, the data results can be used as tools to create its very own piece of art.

As I explore Ethiopia this summer I have decided to create a space where I can share my glimpses into the lives of strangers, new friends, and the fascinating way of life I am coming to understand here. Inspired by Brandon’s Humans of New York.

Illustrated books are a great way to reach children. This is probably why Plain Ink decided to use this medium to promote multiculturalism, as well as help educate children in under developed countries.