The GEN Democratic Republic of Congo network (GEN DRC) just delivered its annual Ecovillage Design Education (EDE) course in Mingadi, approximately 1 hour outside Kinshasa. With the support of Vodacom, this two-week course provided training for 44 participants from 4 villages and was one of the first steps towards developing an ecovillage demonstration centre for the DRC. This event was the culmination of a very busy six months for GEN DRC and their lead organisation, Luc Lutala and his … Read more
Consultancy
Our Annual Report 2018 is here! How the Global Ecovillage Network is responding to the state of Climate Emergency
We are proud to release the Global Ecovillage Network Annual Report 2018. Our staff, partners, and members are diverse, creative, and driven by passion and commitment. We strive to ensure our projects and programmes are engaging, impactful, and contextually relevant. When we reflect back on our accomplishments of 2018, we hope to ignite these qualities in our readers as well. Our annual report provides metrics, as we measure and track our progress and set new targets for the coming year. It … Read more
COP24 Katowice and the Ecovillage Development Programme in Africa
Last December, the Global Ecovillage Network (GEN) delegation of 10 people attended the UN Climate Change Conference, COP24 in Poland. GEN hosted an official side event entitled Essential Climate Solutions: Community-Led Development, Renewable Energy and Cultural Heritage together with INTO and the Nordic Folkecenter. GEN also hosted a press conference where focus was placed on the climate change solutions provided by ecovillages and similar projects from around the globe. Several delegates … Read more
Sustainable Infrastructure Foundation (SIF) is our new partner! Changing the way infrastructure is developed by leveraging innovation in today’s digital age
We are pleased to announce our partnership with the Sustainable Infrastructure Foundation (SIF) to facilitate Ecovillages data analysis and impacts assessment, and create a replicable standard for future initiatives. Sustainable Infrastructure Foundation (SIF), a non-profit Swiss foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland is mandated to manage the development of SOURCE. SOURCE is a joint global initiative from Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) to address the global infrastructure gap … Read more
Reflections from COP23 Great Interest in Ecovillage Climate Solutions at COP23
The two most promising and exciting things about COP23 for me was the keen interest among so many delegates first in ecovillage development and second in taking the 1.5 degree goal from the Paris Agreement on limiting global warming quite seriously and then on increasing government ambition to be able to do this. For example I heard again and again about various efforts being made to move towards 100% renewable energy; to sequester carbon in plants and soils; and to reach carbon neutrality … Read more
We Are the Re-Generation
This is the time when we are reinventing ourselves as humanity. Our capacity to destroy ourselves and most other species on the planet, simply by continuing ‘business as usual’, is right up in our faces. The wakeup call is ringing loud and clear. We are called to re-own our capacity to be guardians and healers of life and thus truly come home to the planet and ourselves. In GEN, we believe that every community has the right to protect and the capacity to restore their environments. We believe … Read more
SIRCle Social Innovation for Resilient Communities
The Social Innovation for Resilient Communities (SIRCle) project uses adult education to address one of the most pressing needs of our time - how to marry our love for the planet with our capacity to make a living. An Erasmus+ funded strategic partnership, it involved a diversity of social enterprises, NGOs, cooperatives and academic institutions from Austria (Plenum/Pioneers of Change), Belgium (AEIDL and Still Consulting), Romania (Asociatia Romania in Transizie), Scotland (GEN and the … Read more
SCIPP Sustainable Communities Incubator Partnership Programme
SCIPP is a 2 year EU Erasmus+ funded strategic partnership between several GEN networks. The aim of the project was to develop and scale up an Ecovillage Incubator made up of a workshops, a written guide, mentoring and an online platform with resources,nks, examples and tools for both projects and trainers engaged with supporting communities to grow . Thus, CLIPS was born - the Community Learning Incubator Programme for Sustainability. Read more about CLIPS, browse resources and engage in the … Read more
Ecovillage Movement in China An update on the Sunshine Ecovillage Network
The partnership and friendship between GEN and the Sunshine Ecovillage Network (SEN), in China has been growing in the past year, since the first Ecovillage Forum organised by SEN took place in October 2015, drawing around 500 interested participants. Ecovillage Design Education courses have previously been run in China, led by Pracha Hatanuwatr and Jane Rasbash, and many young Chinese have participated in ecovillage training elsewhere. Chinese representatives have been reaching out to GENOA – … Read more
Europe (GEN Europe): Holistic Water Management and Water Retention Landscapes
Solution provided by Tamera, Portugal Humus and topsoil can absorb a large amount of water and release it slowly. In this way floods and droughts are prevented. But erosion has widely degraded both humus and topsoil in the landscape. In order to restore the water cycle, we need to enable rainwater to be absorbed by the earth even without the topsoil layer. Water Retention Landscapes are systems for the restoration of the full water cycle by retaining the water in the areas where the rain … Read more
