At the core of GEN lies our commitment to catalyse the power of communities for regenerative future.
We do this, on the one hand, by showcasing and celebrating existing ecovillages as demonstrations sites of replicable and transferable social innovations. We are committed to connecting ecovillages across the world to highlight the best practices in social, ecological, economic and cultural aspects of community.
On the other hand, we focus on developing and implementing new ecovillages, through our five ecovillage implementation programmes. GEN’s ecovillage programmes are at the heart of our activities, representing the core of our mission.
One of the United Nation’s Millennium Sustainable Development Goals (SDG11) aims to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable by 2030. Within GEN, we believe that every village needs to become an ecovillage and every city a green city if we want to see this change become a reality.
How can GEN effectively play its part in achieving this goal? How can the ecovillage approach be dramatically scaled up without losing its core values of being a locally owned, participatory processes?
GEN’s five closely related ecovillage implementation programme areas, if combined and galvanised by practical solutions, educational tools, consultancy expertise and funding, may provide an answer. Thus, GEN is developing consolidated support systems for:
Ecovillage Incubation: supporting the creation of new intentional ecovillages
Ecovillage Development/Transition: transitioning existing settlements to regenerative settlements/ecovillages
Greening Schools for Sustainable Communities: establishing green schools as hubs of inspiration for whole community transformation
EmerGENcies: rebuilding sustainable communities after disasters or with refugees
Urban Eco-neighbourhoods: establishing ecovillages within and around urban areas
