A night of storytelling to share thoughts, knowledge and experiences related to climate change. The aim of the Talanoa Dialogue organised by the Global Ecovillage Network (GEN) and the Findhorn Foundation, held in coordination with the European Day of Sustainable Communities, was to build consensus and unfold the complexity of a global situation that requires absolute openness and cannot be avoided. As highlighted in a recent speech by the UN Secretary General António Guterres, when thinking … Read more
Events
New Ecovillage Development pilot in Europe seeks to reverse rural exodus A partnership between the Iberian Ecovillage Network and Spanish region of Navarra aims to regenerate depopulated rural communities
The Framework by Alfonso Flaquer Carreras, Ecovillage resident and GEN Elder One of the biggest problems facing governments in many European countries is rural exodus, with the majority of the world's population dreaming of life in cities. In opposition to this trend, certain ecovillages and communities, mostly established in degraded or abandoned rural areas, have reversed downward population trends in certain municipalities and their peculiar development style is reflected in increased … Read more
Deep Democracy in Communities Processwork and Worldwork workshop at Findhorn and beyond
Inspired by a recent workshop on Worldwork and Process Orientated Psychology led by Ana Rhodes Castro at the Findhorn Foundation, it seemed appropriate to look further into the relevancy and applicability of these processes to communities- including those in GEN. Worldwork was developed by Arnold Mitchell in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It has since been applied to groups, organisations and international events as a way of ensuring that everyone’s voice is heard in the creation of deeply … Read more
GEN Advocacy at the HLPF: Review and Next Steps
GEN spent the last two weeks in New York at the UN’s annual High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development, held under the theme “Transformation towards sustainable and resilient societies.” It focused on reviewing Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) on water (Goal 6), energy (Goal 7), cities (Goal 11), consumption (Goal 12), forests (Goal 15), and partnerships/means of implementation (Goal 17). GEN’s Delegation joined the Forum to share the ways in which ecovillages and … Read more
Reports from the CASA Conference 2017 Sharing reports from the 2017 ECCO Conference
Below are reports of the ECCO Conference held in 2017 in Brazil. Here you can download the various presentations and other relevant information on the conference.You can also read more about CASA’s activities in the 2017 Annual Report. ECCO2017 brought valuable and profound learnings to everyone involved and successfully accomplished its main objectives, particularly, supporting and strengthening the network of sustainable settlements in Brazil and connecting it with the global network. Below … Read more
Reports from GEN Africa Conference 2017 Sharing reports from the 2017 Conference
Below are reports of the GEN Africa Conference held in 2017 in Nigeria. Here you can download the various presentations, both technical and financial report and other relevant information on the conference. For an article about the conference, kindly go back to recent news and click on the link. Thank you. You can also read more about GEN Africa’s activities in the 2017 Annual Report. Ecovillage Development Programme_GEN GENAfricaConference2017_Technical Report The PAEDP is a growing … Read more
GEN Africa Annual Regional Conference Sharing Highlights from 2017 and Announcing the 2018 Conference
It is another exciting year with many developments at local, national and international levels in GEN Africa. Members are engaging with their national governments to implement the Ecovillage Development Program in their countries. In Nigeria GEN Africa is developing and implementing a curriculum grounded in sustainable approaches to empower Masters and PhD students in the Transformation of African Studies at the University of Ibadan. Programs of similar scale are happening in Senegal, DR Congo, … Read more
Report from Talanoa Dialogue #GENTalanoa: Addressing climate change through empowered communities pursuing their own pathways of development
Yvette Dzakpasu, GEN Advocacy Director, attended the Talanoa Dialogue on behalf of the GEN Advocacy Working Group, which also includes Executive Director Kosha Joubert and Main UN Representative Rob Wheeler. Yvette filed this report for the event: The Talanoa Dialogue took place in Bonn, Germany on 6 May 2018, bringing the traditional Fijian storytelling tool to the UN Climate Change policy process. As described by the UN, “the purpose of Talanoa is to share stories, build empathy and to … Read more
KITA Stories Innovative Solutions from Ghana become GEN's contribution to the Talanoa Dialogue
Sarah runs the Kumasi Institute of Tropical Agriculture (KITA) Green Market. She co-ordinates with the farmers in the area and ensures that they are growing by organic methods. Most of the farmers around have received training in sustainable farming from KITA. Sarah gets orders from the community and KITA buys produce such as lettuce, cucumber and green peppers from their farmers. Kwame is co-ordinating an upcycling project. The average Ghanaian drinks 4 sachets of water a day. The plastic … Read more
Ecovillage Design Education at Schloss Glarisegg Last chance to join!
The team of the Glarisegg EDE invites you to join their amazing 34 day exploration of how to be the change you want to see in the world - taking place from January 22 to February 25 2018 in the beautiful Schloss Glarisegg ecovillage in Switzerland. Sign up now to grab one of the last free spaces! This Ecovillage Design Education (EDE) course, certified by both Gaia Education and GEN, is named "Creating a Transformative Culture" highlighting a new way of being and acting that organically … Read more
