Sustainable Development and Beyond
Thousands of ecovillages in 114 countries showcase solutions to all of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and employ dozens of climate change reduction strategies, all integrated together. GEN documents and shares this collective knowledge to increase the impact of government programmes across sectors.
Transforming Existing Villages
The Ecovillage Development Programme (EDP) works with governments to transform traditional villages into regenerative resilient communities. The process guides communities to identify opportunities for positive change in their social, cultural, ecological, and economic practices, and to develop a custom palette of solutions, drawing from GEN’s worldwide network and from local and regional experts. GEN and its local partners then facilitate a process to manifest the demand-driven changes.
Cross-Sector Integration
In addition to the EDP, we have also collaborated with Ministries of Education on school curricula and projects, worked with local governments on crisis response and recovery, and integrated climate adaptation and mitigation throughout our work.
Our programmes span these areas and more:
Economic development
Working with communities to identify and develop regenerative social enterprises
Climate change
Ecovillages integrate climate resilience into their design and practice dozens of low-cost adaptation and mitigation strategies
Women and youth
Including women and youth in community decision-making processes
Participatory design
Introducing communities, civil society organisations, and government officials to participatory integral design processes to guide development plans
Crisis response
Integrating response, recovery, and regeneration across sectors
Appropriate technology
Building capacity in technology such as rocket stoves, biogas, solar energy, and more, integrating solutions across sectors
School gardens and nutrition
Healthy food and healthy communities start with kids
Ecotourism
Building ecotourism programs that create lasting social, cultural, ecological, and economic benefits
Take the next step!
Ecovillage Basics
What are ecovillages, and how does GEN use the wisdom from ecovillages to catalyze global change? Read more in our annual report.
Get started with us
Book a 30-minute introductory call to learn more about how we can work together.
Learn about the EDP
Watch a short video about the Ecovillage Development Programme, our flagship initiative for transitioning existing villages into greater resilience.
Examples of our work
Explore the possibilities
Browse case studies of our work to understand how our consultants could support your plans.
Our packages range from an initial assessment for £200 up to our comprehensive integral design consultation for £5,000.
Our consultants are based all over the world and have a wide variety of expertise spanning the four Areas of Regeneration.
See our consultancy services in every Area of Regeneration – social, cultural, ecological, economic, and integral design.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about GEN Consultancy
For general information about GEN, please see our GEN FAQs.
Can GEN Consultancy help me?
If you’d like to bring ecovillage elements or themes into your project - whatever it is - or to increase your project’s social, cultural, ecological, or economic resilience, we can certainly help!
What help can I get?
Please read more about our services and see examples of our work for specific information.
Who will I work with?
After your initial call with our Consultancy team, we will determine the best consultant for your project based on your location and needs. Please see a list of our current consultants here.
How much does it cost?
Please see our list of services for a general idea of our pricing. Our team will develop a customized package and quote for your circumstances.
Why do I have to pay for an initial consultation?
GEN is a nonprofit with limited funding available. Offering a donation in exchange for the initial call covers the staff time needed to prepare and talk with you, without reducing funding for our other activities. This donation is then discounted from your consultancy fee should you decide to go ahead with purchasing consultancy services.
Why does GEN charge for its services?
While GEN delivers consultancy as part of our work to spread ecovillage concepts, it also brings an important income for GEN to allow us to do our other work, and this is why we charge for our services. However, we tailor everything we do to individual cases and we can also sometimes work together on project funding, so please get in touch anyway if the fees seem out of reach.
Why GEN – why should I select GEN Consultancy and your services?
Our consultants have specialized skills and knowledge within integral design frameworks, and years of experience living in and building ecovillage communities, so you can be ensured that each piece of advice is given with the synergy of social, cultural, ecological, and economic systems in mind. Each has extensive experience in facilitating workshops for diverse audiences from politicians to village residents, and in bringing diverse audiences together. Working with GEN supports a good cause as part of the consulting income covers our nonprofit activities and supports grassroots efforts led by the Regional networks. As you invest in your project, you invest in the future of ecovillages worldwide!
Ready to start?
Book a 30-minute introductory call to learn more about how we can work together.
