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
Europe
Intentional Ecovillages and Their Role in Global Transformation – Join Sabine Lichtenfels and Macaco Tamerice in an open GEN Webinar
Intentional Ecovillages and Their Role in Global Transformation - with Sabine Lichtenfels and Macaco Tamerice Thursday, 20 April 18:00 BST (British Summer Time) - Find your timezone here Register here and get your link to join! Ecovillages have long been places of alternative living and solutions, but what is their potential and impact beyond the village itself? Hear Sabine and Macaco tell the stories of two of the oldest and most established ecovillages: Tamera in Portugal and Damanhur in … Read more
Editorial, Newsletter January 2017 GEN Newsletter January 2017, Editorial
Dear friends of ecovillages, The past year has seen global developments that could not have been foreseen even just one year ago. Who would have thought that the majority of people in Great Britain would have voted to leave the European Community, for example; or that Donald Trump would have a chance to become President of the United States? However, despite the depressing news, we are also witnessing strong movements gaining momentum globally. One of those is the ecovillage movement. With … Read more
Improving on the Core Structure of GEN Africa
Sonita Mbah, Executive Secretary of GEN Africa, reports. From it's inception in 2012 until today, GEN Africa has been growing from strength to strength, maximizing its potential in meeting the needs of grassroot communities, improving on the core structure, and showing capacity to manage and build on challenges. More than 50 participants from over 23 countries including Europe and Africa, met at Ghana Permaculture Institute in Techiman, Ghana, from December 1-6, 2016, to reflect, evaluate … Read more
GEN Europe – Challenges and Actions in 2016
Alfonso Flaquer, Communication Officer at GEN-Europe Office in Arterra, reports 2016 was a year both celebratory and challenging for GEN Europe on organisational and financial levels. After twenty years, our network is bubbling with myriads of initiatives every year, hundreds of projects pointing towards our main goal: that of a modern and mindful lifestyle based on sustainable and fair communitarian development that cares about all beings. In the following lines I describe some of 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
Resilience and Self-Reliance An Update on Regenerative Solutions for Active EmerGENcies Projects
As the call for global climate action strengthens following the COP22 in Marrakech, GEN’s work in climate change adaptation and mitigation through ecovillage development programs is guided by a design based on both prevention and response. One of the pillars of this framework is EmerGENcies, GEN’s emerging humanitarian program. The purpose is to respond to and try to prevent further deleterious effects of climate change (among other forms of crises), in vulnerable communities around the … Read more
Bringing new Solutions to the Table Conversations with the Commonwealth
Albert Bates, founding member of The Farm, Tennessee, was part of the GEN delegation at the Climate Summit in Marrakech, this November. He is also part of a group of sustainability experts brought together by the Secretary General of the British Commonwealth, Baroness Patricia Scotland. At the final day of the 22nd Conference of Parties to the UN Convention on Climate Change, Baroness Patricia Scotland rose to address the Joint High-level Segment gathered in plenary session: "Mr. … 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
Youth Led Societal Innovation for Resilience (ySI4R) AKA Bridgedale360
Also known as Bridgedale360, ySI4R was a 2 year EU funded programme with the aim of inspiring youth toward sustainable living and active citizenship - it was completed Jan 2017 and is awaiting the final report/verdict from the EU. GEN International was a one of 7 partner projects. The final outcome of the project has been the www.Bridgedale360.org online toolbox. Bridgedale360 is built upon the Gaia Education sustainability mandala with the 4 dimensions growing out into 16 modules, each … Read more
