A Model for Sustainable Community Building in Scotland Based in Moray, North East Scotland, the Moray Ecovillage Development Project was the Moray LEADER-Funded transnational learning exchange project between three Showcase Scottish communities and two international ecovillages Kilden (Hurdal, Norway) & Schloss Tonndorf (Germany). It was delivered by the grant holder Global Ecovillage Network (GEN) and supported by delivery partners tsiMORAY. The project was built on a … Read more
Funded Project
ESC Opportunity with the Global Ecovillage Network in Findhorn, Scotland
In mid-November 2021 we will invite 2 ESC volunteers to the Global Ecovillage Network main office in the Findhorn ecovillage in the North of Scotland to participate in our one year long ESC programme. You will be joining GEN at a very exciting time in our evolution as an organisation and will be working closely with passionate and inspirational individuals committed to strengthening connectivity between sustainable communities worldwide. This year will allow you to gain a deeper understanding … Read more
A Year After Winning the Hildur Jackson Award Highlights from T.I. Ecovillage in India
In 2020, the Hildur Jackson Award jury welcomed a record number of 70 applications from across the globe. Celebrating their diversity and commitment to the network, we honoured the top 10 projects, communities, and ecovillages, giving special mention to the top 2, and selected one official 'winner' of the Award. We caught up with the winner, one year later to find out how their community has continued to shine, how it may have evolved, and how they've beneffited from being featured. First, a … Read more
Leading through Action A River of Life Story
Visolela Rosa Namises, a national leader, representative of GEN Africa and advocate for women’s rights has been initiating incredible work in Namibia. With the support of River of Life funds in 2020, Visolela was able to work with women from different communities to develop gardens for food security, nutrition and as a way to improve their livelihoods. She conducted 6 workshops and events in the past year, working in 6 villages and 3 schools, reaching over 850 people, including women, youth, … Read more
Tu B’Shvat Celebration on Kibbutz Gezer: The Jewish Holiday of the Trees
The 15th day of the Hebrew month of Shvat, or Tu B’ishvat, is the day that marks the beginning of a “new year” for trees. This is the time when the earliest-blooming trees in the Land of Israel, perhaps most famously the beautiful almond tree, emerge from their winter sleep. Tree planting has always been a Jewish tradition. The bible states that "And you shall come to the Land, and you shall plant all kinds of edible trees..." (Leviticus, 19:23). Almost all the forests in modern Israel … Read more
Creating healthy, resilient food systems A River of Life story
Linda Kabaira is a dedicated community worker, who runs projects with SCOPE in Zimbabwe and Zambia with young women and schools, focusing on creating home gardens as a tool for ecological regeneration. Linda received funds through the River of Life in 2016 and 2020. Working with young women, Linda focuses mostly on growing staple food crops and using permaculture techniques to build soil fertility, manage water and maximize harvests. During 2016 when she received River of Life funds, she … Read more
Emergence of the ‘River of Life’ in GEN Brief history
In April 2013, 25 African women joined a four week ‘By Women, For Women’ Ecovillage Design Education (EDE), held by Lua Bashala and Kosha Joubert at Umphakatsi Peace Ecovillage, Mpumalanga, South Africa. The women exchanged and learned about ecological, cultural, social and economic aspects of sustainable community living and designed small projects to increase the resilience of their neighbourhoods. On another level, a deep level of mutual trust was built amongst them as they shared stories … Read more
Training for Youth Leaders in Ecovillages An update from the NextGEN Europe project - Yes to Sustainability
Thoughts and Words by: Ciska van Stuijvenberg, Pascal Gelling, Stalla Mavr, and Fanni Sall In the middle of October on a forested mountainside in Euskal Herria, in the Spanish state, a group of young people met. They came together in the ecovillage Lakabe to follow a training to become Youth Leaders for EU funded Erasmus+ Youth Exchanges. This training was part of the Yes to Sustainability project, which is an international programme that aims to share knowledge amongst and bring together … Read more
Youth Social Innovation for Resilient Communities
Youth SIRCle, or Youth Social Innovation for Resilient Communities,is an EU-funded training and capacity building project for young social entrepreneurs in Scotland, Cameroon, Denmark and Ghana. It is a project largely run by young people for young people. Together we increase our skills in green social innovation and entrepreneurship, finding creative ways to follow our passion, make a living and care for our communities and planet at the same time. Our curriculum is based on work done in a … Read more
Climate Resilience and Community in Africa
This November the UN Climate Summit (COP23) will be held in Bonn, Germany, where the imperative will be how to massively scale-up and effectively implement the Paris Climate Agreement. The Global Ecovillage Network (GEN) strongly believes that sustainable communities are already making significant contributions to climate change mitigation and adaptation. … Read more
