The Oromo are Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group, making up more than a third of the country’s population and speaking a Cushitic language with tens of millions of speakers. Traditional Oromo society is organized through the Gadaa system, a form of governance based on age-sets with leaders elected for fixed eight-year terms.
The Oromo Gadaa system rotates political leadership through age-based grades every eight years and conducts its assemblies under a sycamore tree; it has been practiced continuously for roughly 600 years and was recognized by UNESCO in 2016 as intangible cultural heritage.