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​In the article below, Executive Director, Hussein Watta, describes how 'Trees for Life' project, an activity to plant trees through an artful arrangement for aerial and satellite viewing, can also have a long-term positive impact strengthening community knowledge and traditions.

It is hoped in reading Hussein's 'field notes' communities can find their own inspirations to fight climate change.
LESSONS LEARNED - Community reflections on Climate Art Impacts
Interview with Hussein Watta, Executive Director,  Rural Organization for Betterment of Agro-Pastoralists (ROBA), Ethiopia   (Aug 18, 2021)

Question: Are the art-making practices offered by this project relevant to your community's learning and/or well-being?
Yes, it is very relevant because planting trees by involving community through art work motivate communities better than the normal way of instructing. Children and youth are motivated to participate in the art and planting trees around their home.

How has the project changed your ideas around the use of the visual arts for climate impact or storytelling? 
Storytelling was one way of passing knowledge/culture from generation to generation traditionally. As those elders who tell stories are passing away and storytelling is not in the education curriculum, communities have no platform for storytelling and filling this generational knowledge gap.  Although we didn't start this project as planned ..... the community is very positive to share and record stories and kids are highly motivated to plant trees in some form of living art and this plus sharing our stories will positively contribute to the climate impact in the long run.

How is your community responding to the ideas that art can amplify climate learning or messaging? 
The community sees climate awareness creation through visual art as very effective and motivational. 

Can you tell us some more about who is involved in the delivery of the project? 
School board staff, teachers, directors and children of three regional schools are directly involved. In addition community leaders, elders (men and women) who know the culture and stories from the past to present are also involved. The storytelling and planting aspects of this project are very special.

What key skills are being learned? How will this help participants into the future? 
​The main skills learnt so far are preparing soil media and planting tree seeds and taking care of the tree saplings. These learnt skills will help those families who want to produce their own tree saplings and fight climate. Other important skills to be learnt are digital skills, and art work making. 

What are some of the creative and/or climate hurdles you have encountered during project delivery?  
The climate hurdles we encountered since the start of the project in the area are; a) February/March were potato planting season. During these months we experienced too much frost and no short rain. This was never seen in this area before. During these months the potato crop was completely destroyed. It also has created loss of income and a food shortage; b) The main rain, which was supposed to start in June, again, was delayed. It showed up, at the end of July, and it was, also, too much. Now we are facing flooding here, there, and everywhere. Yesterday (August 17) we lost seven lives to floods in Addis and a lot of property damage happened. 

People in the project area are now better informed about climate change as the result of this small project. We need trees.

What does the project mean to your community and/or wider work? 
This project is an effective way of communicating or transferring messages about climate change. By inviting and having school children and youth to wider communities involved, we are creating an impactful and very considerate educational tool through the arts for climate learning.

How will you celebrate the project work when it is completed?
We will celebrate this project by inaugurating the living art once we insure 100 % of sapling tree survival rate. We will invite other schools and local leaders to take part and will ask them to replicate this idea into their own areas.

How will the project involve into the future? 
The three schools are discussing how to develop visual art curriculum to support children and youth learning more fully. I only hope with some level of lobbying work -  local governments will start thinking to include art particularly into our primary school curriculum. (It is absent in the curriculum) I am also thinking to develop small projects to further support children who have a strong interest in art making.  

What legacies do you think will arise through this project?
Through the project we will be able to continue to supply basic art learning outputs and to those related to the digital equipment we have received.  ROBA will also advocate for digital art school learning in one of the schools we are implementing this project. Development work through digital and art learning is much more effective than traditional way of top down teaching.


About Hussein Watta
Hussein Watta has more than 20 years of experience with humanitarian aid relief, rehabilitation, and rural development projects in Africa with experience in Ethiopia, Namibia, Tanzania, Mozambique, and South Sudan. Hussein has been the Executive Director of ROBA for the last decade. He has participated in the final evaluations of both the World Vision (Ethiopia program) and Afar Area Development Program and South Wollo Emergency and Rehabilitation Program, ZOA Refugee Care (Ethiopia program). He is an Ethiopian born citizen with a Masters in Horticultural Studies and is fluent in Afan Oromo, Amharic, English and Swahili languages. 
 
About Rural Organization for the Betterment of Agropastoralists (ROBA) | Ethiopia
​ROBA was established as a non-profit in 1999 by Kofele elders and community stakeholders. The organization's mandate is to respond to the challenges and root causes of poverty, and expand services to rural communities in order to reduce inequalities and improve the lives of women, children and youth, particularly in the Oromia region of Ethiopia. Key organizational areas of specialised delivery include (1) poverty reduction through economic empowerment in agricultural and natural resource management, (2) creation of education and literacy programs (3) promotion of climate adaptation learning to (4) gender/women's rights, and (5) development of emergency response programs to natural and/or health disasters.  

ROBA's successes since its establishment have included building 24 education centres,  2 medical health clinics, creating a network of over 60 km of road systems to connect remote communities together, establishing 85 trade co-operatives, and supporting the establishment and operation of a network of specialized independent credit unions to serve the banking needs of agropastoralists.
RESOURCES

Rural Organization for the Betterment of Agropastoralists (ROBA) Ethiopia  
www.robaethiopia.org
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To learn more about agropastoralists the following article in the World Environmental Library gives an overview to this specialized farming system.  
Who’s behind the project?
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​Trees for Life project has been supported by the British Council’s Creative Commissions 2021 programme. This was a series of creative commissions exploring climate change through art, science and digital technology for presentation at COP26.
Trees for Life continues as an active artists-community collaboration and illustrates that land rehabilitation doesn’t need to be expensive. We understand the benefit of trees to the land and that people can assist in creating better soils and future-proofing sites from climate issues by planting trees. 
 
Trees for Life also highlights that sustainability is dependent on the motivation and generosity of citizens, communities, artists, and scientists working together to redefine the challenges of climate change and to foster the next generation with the idea that we can make an impact through climate art and other creative approaches.

Tree Circles and Trees for Life project are co-led by climate design and media artists, Sylvia Grace Borda (Canada) and J.Keith Donnelly (UK) together with partners Ethiopia (ROBA – Rural Organisation for the Betterment of Agro-Pastoralists ) in the UK (Dundee UNESCO City of Design, Dundee City Council, Scotland),  and Canada (Institute for Sustainable Horticulture, Kwantlen Polytechnic University) to creatively respond to global issues of climate change.  ​