The Sustainability Institute and Lynedoch Eco-Village

Global Ecovillage Network logo with Earth and eco-friendly design.
  • Communities

About the Communities

  • Established
  • English
  • Ecological
  • Rural

Founding year

  • 1999

What we do

Founded in 1999, the Sustainability Institute is an intergenerational learning and living imaginarium that challenges existing paradigms by blending creativity, innovation and imagination to nurture regenerative ecological and social ways of being. The SI is a place where research, practice and community converge. We are located outside the South African university town of Stellenbosch. Surrounded by the breathtaking beauty of the Cape’s towering mountains and rooted in an agricultural community needing to break free from its’ racial past, the Sustainability Institute provides a space for people to explore an approach to creating a more equitable society that lives in a way that sustains rather than destroys the eco-system within which all society is embedded.
The Sustainability Institute forms part of the wider Lynedoch EcoVillage. The Eco-Village is an ecologically designed, socially mixed community built around a learning precinct. It is a mixed community of 30 families from diverse racial and social-economic groups built around a child-centered learning precinct, which is a financially and economically viable community requiring no external funding to sustain itself. It is also a working example of a livable ecologically designed urban system that challenges the notion that sustainable development and ecological building is too expensive. Various ecological design approaches have been integrated into the building of the Eco-Village. https://lynedochecovillage.wordpress.com/
Our history has been written up in this book (https://www.sustainabilityinstitute.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/SI-20YRS-Full-Doc-small-spreads.pdf).
For more information on the Sustainability Institute, visit www.sustainabilityinstitute.net

  • Purpose
  • Ecological
  • Languages
  • English
  • Community type
  • Ecovillage
  • Intentional Neighborhoods
  • Land-Based Communities
  • Activities
  • Ecological Restoration
  • Permaculture

Commemorative dates

  • January 1, 1999
  • Started living together

Video

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  • Open to new members
  • Open to visitors
Total
90

How to join

This will depend on whether houses are available for sale or rent. Best would be to enquire with in**@*********************te.net for more information. Some homestay opportunities are also available.

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Our Community Members

Location

  • South Africa

The Sustainability Institute and Lynedoch Eco-Village

Promoted Needs and Offers

  • Promoted
Need
  • Promoted
Need
  • Volunteering
2 weeks ago

Social Media Intern

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Social Media Intern for GEN International Hours: Up to 20/month, flexible around your schedule and availability Location: Remote, work with Eva Goldfarb Focus: Instagram + LinkedIn (TikTok if you’re into it!) Hi! I’m Eva, and I run social media for GEN International — the global network connecting ecovillages, intentional communities, and regenerative culture-builders across every continent. I’m looking for a co-conspirator to help me tell the stories of the people quietly building the future: off-grid villages in the Philippines, permaculture farms in Senegal, urban cohousing projects in Berlin, elders passing down land wisdom in the Andes. It’s a wildly rich, wildly underrepresented world, and I want more people to fall in love with it the way I have. What you’ll actually do: Dream up and create content for Instagram and LinkedIn (reels, carousels, stories, captions that don’t sound like a corporate newsletter) Dig into our global network and turn your findings into stories people want to share Pitch your own ideas. If there’s a series, a theme, a format, or a corner of the network that lights you up, that’s what I want you to focus on. What we’re looking for: A natural storyteller, someone who can spot the human thread in a project update or a photo from a faraway village Genuinely curious about ecovillages, sustainability, intentional community, regenerative living Self-motivated and communicative; this is a flexible, trust-based role Why this role: This isn’t a “post 3x a week and don’t ask questions” internship. You’ll have real creative freedom to work on what excites you, learn how a global grassroots network tells its story, and build a portfolio full of meaningful, purpose-driven content. Plus you’ll be talking to people living some of the most interesting, intentional lives on the planet. If storytelling for a better world sounds like your kind of fun, let’s talk.
  • Promoted
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An institution, business, network, or project that isn’t a residence (e.g. a learning center, farm, or network with no one living there full-time).

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