Gen Nxt is more than just a buzz word for 21 youth from the mining belt of Goa. The youth, 11 young ladies and 10 young men underwent a six-day orientation workshop titled ‘Gen Nxt’ in environmental conservation and sustainability thanks to the efforts of the Mineral Foundation of Goa (MFOG) and LEAD (Leadership in Environment and Development ) India, a New Delhi based NGO which builds leaders for change and sustainable development.
The youth aged between 18 and 25 were a mix of college students, research scholars and working professionals hailing from the mining villages of North and South Goa who were camping in the Bondla wildlife sanctuary between Dec 26 and 31 and getting an exposure to wildlife, environment and sustainability.
According to Parag Rangnekar, MFOG programme manager, the seeds for this present workshop were sown in the years 2003-04, when the MFOG had launched its first environment education programmes for school children from the mining belt. Even then, the environment camps used to be residential in nature and aimed at identifying young leaders.
This time, the Gen Nxt were exposed to the concept of self-introspection on the first two days of the six-day workshop. On day three of the workshop, Lead Fellow Prasanta Tripathy shared his experiences of working with rural communities, while the Candolim based health therapist Darryl D’souza spoke to the youth about good health and correct nutrition.
The youth travelled to Panjim on December 29 where they were introduced to the challenges of solid waste management by Colva based waste management expert, Clinton Vaz. The youth were taken on a tour of the recycling centre at St Inez, shown the vegetable waste composting unit inside the Panjim market and interacted with people living around the St Inez nullah.
Similarly, Architect Tallulah D’Silva explained the concepts of peri-urban areas and urban town planning to the youth with a tour of the Santa Cruz and Taleigao fields and marshlands.
On the same afternoon, the youth met with Panjim MLA Siddharth Kunkolienkar who they quizzed about the concept of Smart Cities. Later, in a meeting with the engineers of the Corporation of the City of Panjim (CCP), the youth got an idea about CCP’s interventions in the field of solid waste management.
On the penultimate morning, seated deep inside the Bondla forests, the 21 youth spoke their hearts out in an extremely intense cathartic session that lasted a whole five hours.
Bhawana Luthra, executive director, LEAD India told oHeraldo in Bondla, “The youth have come to term with their failures and have a higher sense of self confidence and self-awareness now.”
Going forward, Rangnekar said that the MFOG was keen to setup two physical hubs in colleges in North and South Goa where the Gen Nxt could meet and formulate action plans on the ground in the field of environmental conservation and sustainability. Rangnekar said, “The college hubs would be meeting places for the youth and their Goa based mentors who would guide and direct them on specific sustainability projects.”
Rangnekar was keen that the Gen Nxt converted their recently acquired training into action. “We are keen that these youth begin attending gram sabha meetings and take up projects like dry waste management which could make their villages greener and cleaner.”
