Founded by ethologist and anthropologist Dr. Jane Goodall, Roots & Shoots is a global environmental education and community action program built around a simple idea: turning environmental awareness into action. That vision is now taking root at the SZTE Botanical Garden with the opening of a new regional center for the program. The center’s first initiative will be an educational program for primary school children, reflecting SZTE Botanical Garden Director Anikó Németh’s strong focus on engaging the youngest generation. At the Garden’s Africa Day, András Kádár, Secretary-General of the Jane Goodall Institute in Hungary, introduced Roots & Shoots and outlined plans for the new center in Szeged.
Dr. Jane Goodall first captured the world’s attention with her groundbreaking research on chimpanzee behavior. In 1991, she expanded her lifelong commitment to conservation and advocacy by launching the Roots & Shoots program, designed to inspire young people to take action in their own communities. More than three decades later, the program has grown into a global movement – and the SZTE Botanical Garden is now set to become home to Hungary’s fourth regional Roots & Shoots center.
That spirit of action and hope was at the heart of the Botanical Garden’s annual Africa Day, where András Kádár, Secretary-General of the Jane Goodall Institute in Hungary, introduced the Roots & Shoots program to the audience. “Our work is about giving hope to nature, animals, and people,” he explained. Today, Kádár and his colleagues continue the work of Dr. Jane Goodall, who passed away last year at the age of 91, guided by one of her enduring messages: each of us can do something to make the world a better place.
Africa Day at the SZTE Botanical Garden. Photo: Karina Bartha
Goodall’s fascination with nature emerged from an early age through hours spent exploring the garden of her family home and setting off on her first expeditions with friends. She was also an avid reader, and Tarzan became one of her favorite books, inspiring her dream of one day living among wild animals and helping to protect them. Her mother encouraged her to study hard, seize every opportunity, and never give up hope – advice that would stay with her as she pursued that dream.
After completing courses in typing and shorthand and training as a secretary, Goodall traveled to Kenya at the age of 20 at the invitation of a friend. There she met paleoanthropologist Dr. Louis Leakey, whose research focused on early human evolution. Leakey believed that present-day primates could provide valuable clues to how our early ancestors lived, including the tool-making ancestor he called “handy man.” With this in mind, he invited Goodall to undertake a study of chimpanzee behavior in Tanzania’s Gombe National Park, hoping it would offer further insight into our evolutionary past.
At Gombe, Goodall first faced the challenge of gaining the chimpanzees’ trust. It took six months before she was able to observe them at close range. What followed was a discovery that fundamentally changed our understanding of primates – and ourselves. As András Kádár explained, “It became clear that we were not so different after all. Chimpanzees also make and use tools.” The impact of Goodall’s work, however, extended well beyond her own discoveries. Her pioneering research helped pave the way for two other women researchers, Dian Fossey and Biruté Galdikas, to embark on their own groundbreaking fieldwork.
Goodall’s years in the rainforest transformed not only her scientific understanding, but also her view of the natural world. She came to see it as an interconnected system, with people, animals, and plants all depending on one another. This understanding would later become central to the Roots & Shoots program, built on local action and the belief that every small act of kindness matters.
“Local communities have to be part of this,” Kádár emphasized. “People need to understand that taking action where they live – for their environment, for nature, for animals, and for one another – ultimately benefits them as well.”
When Goodall launched the Roots & Shoots program in Tanzania in 1991, it began with just 12 students. More than three decades later, it reaches over 1.3 million young people across 75 countries.
Roots & Shoots workbook. Photo: Karina Bartha
That belief in the power of local action is also reflected in the broad reach of the Roots & Shoots program. Although primarily aimed at young people, it is open to everyone: companies can establish their own groups, while Roots & Shoots initiatives also operate in retirement homes and prisons. Whatever the setting, participants can draw on free mentoring and presentations to help turn their ideas into action.
At Africa Day, András Kádár showed just how simple that first step can be. He introduced a workbook that helps children plan projects of their own, such as creating a sunny spot for lizards, putting up a bird feeder, building a hedgehog shelter or butterfly feeding station, or organizing a nature discovery walk. The message is simple: meaningful change does not have to begin with something big.
And what begins as a small step can sometimes grow into something much bigger. In Újlengyel, a village southeast of Budapest, members of a local Roots & Shoots group learned that a row of linden trees outside their school was due to be cut down. The children joined forces, protested outside the mayor’s office, and succeeded in saving the trees. A nature trail was later created in front of the school, and the group continues to share its latest projects with the school and the wider community. Their story offers a powerful example of what Kádár believes children can achieve when they act together.
András Kádár introduces the work of the Jane Goodall Institute. Photo: Karina Bartha
The success in Újlengyel is just one example of the growing reach of the Roots & Shoots program across Hungary. Today, 101 groups are active nationwide, mainly in libraries, schools, and kindergartens, with some even operating in nurseries. Each group is guided by an adult leader or older student, while training sessions and national and international gatherings provide opportunities for participants to connect, exchange ideas, and learn from one another.
This year also marks a major milestone for the Jane Goodall Institute Hungary: its 20th anniversary. Founded as the Rügyek és Gyökerek Egyesület (Roots & Shoots Association), it has grown into a nationwide network, with regional centers bringing local groups together and providing training and presentations. Across Hungary, the network currently has regional centers in Nagykanizsa, Farmos, and Debrecen, and a fourth is now opening at the SZTE Botanical Garden in Szeged. The next milestone could come from the University’s students, with hopes that they will establish Hungary’s first university-based Roots & Shoots group.
The partnership between the Jane Goodall Institute Hungary and the SZTE Botanical Garden began at Africa Day last year, when András Kádár first met Anikó Németh, Director of the SZTE Botanical Garden. Since then, their cooperation has taken them as far as Uganda, where they traveled together as part of a joint project at Lake Bunyonyi, near the Rwandan border. On Bwama Island, they visited a primary school that the Jane Goodall Institute Hungary has been supporting since 2021 in partnership with the Jane Goodall Institute in Uganda and with assistance from the Hungary Helps Agency. The local partnership was essential from the outset. “We didn’t know the local community, so we turned to the Institute in Uganda,” Kádár explained.
The project addresses some of the school community’s most practical challenges. Among the practical steps taken, school boats were introduced and docks built so children could reach the island safely, while one of the school buildings was renovated and equipped with solar panels to provide electricity. Alongside these improvements, the project also brings the Roots & Shoots program directly to the school community. Of the school’s 432 pupils, 98 have joined the program through the Ugandan Institute, taking part in gardening, visiting an animal shelter, and caring for animals in the local community.
The approach is simple but powerful: identify a problem close to home, discuss it with an adult leader, find a solution together, and celebrate the result. The work on Bwama Island puts that principle into practice: meaningful change begins locally, and it often starts small.
Visitors at Africa Day at the SZTE Botanical Garden. Photo: Karina Bartha
Back in Szeged, plans for the new regional center are already moving forward. Within the next two months, a wooden workshop space will be built at the SZTE Botanical Garden to host training sessions, environmental awareness activities, and clubs. The University of Szeged will provide professional guidance, while the Jane Goodall Institute will help develop and deliver the programs. As András Kádár emphasized, the initiative will bring together the knowledge of earlier generations, professional expertise, enthusiasm, and hope – a spirit captured in Dr. Jane Goodall’s words: “Together we can, together we will, together we must change the world.”
The new regional center will begin with a closely focused program designed to grow over time. Its first initiative will bring together 15 lower-primary school children at the SZTE Botanical Garden every three weeks. Initially, participants will be invited through teachers who have developed strong professional ties with the Garden over the past 20 years. The aim is to build a close-knit group that can grow with the program, before gradually opening it to older primary and secondary school students. “At first, it will be a closed but effective group,” said Anikó Németh, Director of the SZTE Botanical Garden. “We hope that the children who grow up with us here will later choose to continue their studies at our university and take part in research aimed at understanding and protecting nature and the environment.”
Source: SZTEinfo
Photo: Karina Bartha
