The 15th day of the Hebrew month of Shvat, or Tu B’ishvat, is the day that marks the beginning of a “new year” for trees. This is the time when the earliest-blooming trees in the Land of Israel, perhaps most famously the beautiful almond tree, emerge from their winter sleep. Tree planting has always been a Jewish tradition. The bible states that "And you shall come to the Land, and you shall plant all kinds of edible trees..." (Leviticus, 19:23). Almost all the forests in modern Israel … Read more
Twinning
A “New Story” Collaboration: Centre des Hommes (Togo) & La Bolina (Spain) Success stories of the Twinning Project
With the goals of promoting dialogue about local development and migration while supporting ecologically balanced social entrepreneurship, the twins Centre des Hommes (Togo) & La Bolina (Spain) turned their ideas of a New Story into reality. Together with the additional support from a GEN Ambassador, the two communities produced an educational video series and launched a website for Centre des Hommes. The Community members shared their experiences, exchanged resources, and reflected on … Read more
Collaboration: KITA (Ghana) and LOES (Denmark) Success stories of the Twinning Project
The Kumasi Institute of Tropical Agriculture (KITA) in Ghana has partnered with LOES, the Danish Ecovillage Network. From this partnership, GEN Ghana Network was created and started to connect ecovillages and eco projects across the country. 40 young men and women became Ecovillage Ambassadors to promote eco-strategies around Ghana. Both KITA and LOES designed and held an Ecovillage Design Education course for 50 students, as well as an Eco-strategies training, which reached 80 organizations and … Read more
Collaboration: Comunidad de Paz (Colombia) and Tamera (Portugal) Success stories of the Twinning Project
The Comunidad de Paz (Peace Community) of San José de Apartadó has twinned with Tamera, an intentional ecovillage in Portugal. Their cooperation started over the conflicts in Colombia, where the community's farmers had been resisting war and land grabbing, all the while facing threats and killings. Tamera gave support as an advocate, creating bridges with key international organizations. Comunidad de Paz got more protected and respected thanks to the visibility and the acknowledgment they … Read more
Collaboration: Intl. Peace Initiatives and Ecologia Youth Trust Success stories of the Twinning Project
International Peace Initiatives (IPI) in Kenya and Ecologia Youth Trust (EYT) from the UK have been collaborating for years. IPI's focus is on empowering women, young girls, and orphaned children who are in some way affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. This twinning collaboration has given EYT the chance to expand their scope of charitable action to a new continent and to make good use of the alliance between GEN Europe and GEN Africa. EYT has created more opportunities for IPI, whether by giving … Read more
Collaboration: RIE (Spain/Portugal) + REDES (Senegal) Past success stories of the Twinning Project
RIE (Iberian Ecovillage Network) and REDES (Network for Emergence and Development of Ecovillages in the Sahel) were twins. Some of RIE’s members have traveled to different communities in the Sahel and supported mainly with capacity building and digging 12 wells, which is a huge increase in the quality of life for a lot of families. The people of RIE can now point out where the Sahel is and which problems they are facing there. This raises their awareness of countries on other continents facing … Read more
Collaboration: Guede Chantier (Senegal) + Damanhur (Italy) Success stories of the Twinning Project
Senegal & Italy: Guede Chantier is the Senegalese ecovillage who twinned with the Italian ecovillage Damanhur, and their collaboration brought beautiful results for several communities in Senegal as well for community members of Damanhur. Thanks to the fundraising done in Damanhur and the willingness and cooperation within REDES, 1400 fruit trees were planted, and more than 100 women from 15 villages were trained in food transformation. This has brought a tangible positive change in the … Read more
