SEED
A movement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people fighting for climate justice.
SEED is a branch of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, and is Australia's first Indigenous Youth Climate Network. Through training, workshops, summits and campaigns they provide support to Indigenous young people who actively lead change in their communities on the issue of climate change and sustainability.
2016 Pitch
Funds raised: $21,811
SEED pitched and raised $21,811 in September 2016 to fund their first-ever schools program in Victoria. This enabled them to provide workshops for 200 Indigenous students in 10 high schools.
The impact...
The idea of SEED first sprouted when presenter Amelia Telford realised that young Aboriginal people were under-represented in conversations around climate change and the environment. Considering that these communities are the most vulnerable and severely impacted by climate change – she knew this had to change. She had a plan to engage young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and came to The Funding Network for support. The plan was simple; to educate and empower these young people to take action towards protecting their land, culture and communities from the causes and impacts of climate change, at a grassroots level.
The generous donors at TFN Sydney responded with pledges that far-exceeded her expectations and allowed Amelia to train 15 young people to go into schools and educate 220 young Aboriginal students, as well as 180 Indigenous and non-Indigenous students outside of Victoria. The campaign behind this pilot program also indirectly reached 96,000 people online and on social media.
Jess is a 19 year old young Aboriginal woman from Victoria has been volunteering with SEED since April 2015, and is now the Victorian State Coordinator. When talking about her engagement with SEED, she said:
"One of the highlights of being involved in this program has been the training weekend down in Anglesea earlier this year, where I was able to gain skills and knowledge about how to run the in-school presentation and how to support high school students to take action in their communities. I think that SEED having their own high school program has, and will continue, to make such a difference in the lives of high school students. Being part of SEED and the school’s program has changed my life."
Thanks to the success of these in-school programs, SEED now plans to increase their engagement with high schools nationally throughout 2018, particularly in New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania and, of course, Victoria.
Supporting Sustainable Development Goals:
