SEED believes that human empowerment is central to the development of people and their societies. Human empowerment to us is about understanding our own capacity and human agency. Because there is nothing inherent about realities such as poverty, oppression and injustice, we must be critical about the social conditions in which we live in. We promote a critical way of life, one that questions one’s role in society and encourages life-long learning.
Although critical, SEED is hopeful because we believe in the capacity of people. Human potential to us is the hope that remains when looking at the world’s troubles. We have seen human potential in the streets of Zambia, where women leaders work tirelessly to provide a home for orphans. We have seen women who have dedicated their lives to others, and have been resillient in the face of AIDS, poverty and discrimination. We have met men who, in their late teens, know much more about the world than some with the broadest educations will ever know. We know men who’ve had to flee their homes in face of war and made lives as refugees, later on enrolling in Canadian universities and despite opportunities for a comfortable life have found their meaning not in comfort but in returning to areas of conflict and working for peace.
We believe in human potential and in the possibility for social change. This transformation not as one that has an end goal, but in the need for always challenging the status quo, as social progress should always be progress. Although we are aware that poverty and injustice are not natural conditions, SEED is also critical of what has become understood as development. Economic development is not a priority to SEED, as we believe that this is a consequence of human development but not an end goal. SEED strives not to drive development, but to provide culturally sensitive tools to contribute to the empowerment of people.
In hopes to promote the empowerment of people, we have come to understand education as a tool that is central to human empowerment. We believe education is central to empowerment because:
- it is a tool that allows for a critical understanding of the world. It provides tools, such as literacy, that allows us to better engage in our surroundings.
- for those living in poverty, it is a means to combat disease and for a way to discover a world that they might not have the chance to see.
- for those living in the developed world, it can shed light on the global impact of consumptive behaviours, and question its growth oriented paradigm.
- it uravels the potential in the individual, allowing for people to come alive.
- it allows for the development of new cognitive processes, in addition to the possession of useful knowledge. It allows for the world to be broken down, for structures to become questionable and for the world to be seen through different eyes. It provides for an understanding of other cultures and perspectives, for the communication of ideas and cultures.
- it provides a social network. It allows children to recive social education as values and customs are passed on through what they learn. It also gives room for counselling. In schools, children are able to grieve and overcome suffering that accompanies the loss of their parents. Schools are also feeding and community centres. They give an insight into family life of children and allow for a clsoe monitoring of children’s health. Schools provide much more than an education, they become the second home of those in need.
Because we recognize education as a tool for empowerment we fund the scholarships of students in Zambia and Kenya. These are scholarships as opposed to sponsorships as they only target education. By focusing on education we try not to create dependency. We see education as a sustainable investment as it is investing in people, and once received the lessons learned through schooling will without a question contribute to the shaping of the children we work with.
SEED aims to be sensitive about understanding its role as an organization. It recognizes its capacity to assist its overseas partners financially, but it is not ambitious to impose conditions. It is in its partner areas to learn, to facilitate services, and to ask constant and critical questions about the ducation provided and its efficacy. In Canada, SEED works to have a role in social change. We invest in education overseas and hope to mobilize students in Canada to also become empowered.
