Education Director
GEN Staff
Starting as a volunteer with GEN, Abbie is now Education Director, where she primarily supports the online learning platform and schools project.
Originally from a tiny island (Bermuda) and currently based in the Netherlands, Abbie considers herself a world citizen as she has lived in many places, including a range of ecovillages and intentional communities. After completing her Masters in Sustainable Development and working with community-focused NGOs, she pursued her passion for education, returning home to launch and run the international environmental education programme, Eco-Schools.
This sparked a further desire to learn hands-on skills which lead her to complete a Permaculture Design Certificate and then onward to adventures in ecovillages. She participated in workshops and conferences and contributed to natural building, gardening, and community engagement projects, some of which she remains involved.
Primary interests: Social (Lifelong Education, Diversity & Cohesion, Trust & Communication, Health & Healing); Culture (Nature Connection); Integral Design (Contextualised Design); Ecology (Seeds, Food & Soil, Green Building, Water Cycles); Economy (Sharing & Collaboration, Planetary Boundaries)
Events & Trainings held by Abbie Caldas
Power of Community Summit – Informal get-together and discussion
- Date: 9 February 2019
- Language:
- English
- Location: The Hague - Please contact the host for exact location, Netherlands
For any participants of the summit interested in sharing the experience with others in the area. This will be a very informal gathering to discuss the topics from the summit in a locally relevant context and brainstorm any potential applications. … Read more
Site content by Abbie Caldas
Blog posts
Twinning Regenerative Educators: Escola da Esperança, Tamera Ecovillage (Portugal) & Almar School, Piracanga Ecovillage (Brazil)
Over the course of 2022, both schools faced massive transformation. Escola da Esperanca in Tamera Ecovillage experienced change in their staff as multiple teachers involved with the project left the school. In their partnership with Inkiri School, now Almar School, in Piracanga Ecovillage, Anja was able to find commfort in understanding that the changes she was experiencing were happening globally, that she wasn’t alone. That the effects of Corona were long-standing. “I want to honor the … Read more
Twinning Regenerative Educators: Aldea Feliz (Colombia) & Kuthumba Ecovillage (South Africa)
Uba Qynza at Aldeafeliz Ecovillage in Colombia in South America and The Self Directed Learning Center at Kuthumba Ecovillage in South Africa partnered in the course of a year during the Twinning ReGENerative Education Project, in which beyond developing their connection as twins they shared their experiences in Sociocracy and deschooling, respectively and also participated working together in the cocreation of the project deliverables such as the Living Showcase and Toolkit and the Teacher … Read more
Twinning Regenerative Educators: Ecomundi School (Mexico) & Teachers Center at Auroville Ecovillage (India)
After exchanging ideas, dreams and many possibilities, the twins EcoMundi and the Teachers Center at Auroville Ecovillage came to some important points to share about Mexican and Indian culture and what they have in common. They came to take the idea to create a game. What steps were taken? · Florencia shared about her yoga class and shared photos from her sessions in connection with using them for the creation of the cards. · She … Read more
Twinning Regenerative Educators: Gaia School (Estonia) & Cloughjordan Ecovillage (Ireland)
School meets Ecovillage This article presents the Twinship between Gaia School in Estonia and Cloughjordan Ecovillage in Ireland as part of the “Twinning Regenerative Educators” project. One of the main learnings of this Twinship is how easy it is to use technology to deepen and enhance a meaningful learning experience for students. The project enabled children and youth to learn from and about ecovillages and to foster curiosity for more sustainable lifestyles and regenerative … Read more
Twinning Regenerative Educators: PermaYouth (Australia) & SCOPE (Malawi)
In this article, we present two organisations working with Permaculture in different educational settings. Starting in 2018, Permayouth is a global community of youth (organised by youth and for youth) focused on [pr]activism, regeneration, eco-humanitarianism, creativity, celebration & connection through permaculture. It serves 500 students of the age group of 11 to 17 in Australia, Asia, Africa and North America. Pre-covid, Permayouth organised youth camps in Crystal Waters … Read more
Twinning Regenerative Educators: Children’s Paradise Montessori (Philippines) & As One Community (Japan)
Children’s Paradise Montessori and As One Suzuka Community’s Gaia Youth Program invested in their relationship with one another, meeting weekly to share techniques and collaborate on individual projects. Through this routine, each school was able to grow significantly - in communication, multi-cultural awareness, and human development. Communication: Through the exploration of the two school’s communication methods and tools, Children’s Paradise Montessori and the Gaia Youth Program … Read more
Twinning Regenerative Educators: Regenerative Education and Adventures for Students (Iceland) & ReScope (Zambia)
ReSCOPE is an educational initiative based in Zambia that aims to reconnect school communities to nature, culture and their history for abundance and resilience. Regenerative Education & Adventures for Students is a youth organisation located in the south of Iceland, with the mission to inspire and empower young people to learn about regenerative practices and lifestyles. Both projects are working with school communities and youth to enable hands-on experiences in nature and to … Read more
Twinning Regenerative Educators: Ghana Permaculture Institute & O.U.R. Ecovillage (Canada)
Navigating the fine line between plan and outcome, The Ghana Permaculture Institude (G.P.I.) and O.U.R. Ecovillage were met with the challenges of navigating time differences between two very active individuals and projects so this twin was not able to meet as often as they would have liked. When connection was possible, the twins enjoyed sharing ideas on permaculture and future course collaborations. They shared resources and the powerful gift of storytelling - bringing together two different … Read more
Twinning Regenerative Educators: Johannes Kepler School (Ecuador) & Springhouse Community School (USA)
Johannes Kepler School and Springhouse Community School are formal schools, in the Global south and Global North, respectively, applying sustainability principles in their curriculums that have participated in a year long project called the Twinning ReGENerative Education with other educational projects from all around the world. “I’m very glad to be part of this project because we have been able to have an overview of the global development of education towards sustainability… We can … Read more
Hildur Jackson Award Finalists 2022
Once again, we are delighted to honour the very special memory of Hildur Jackson, and to celebrate her legacy by featuring incredible projects around the world, and infusing some resources into some of them. This year's most outstanding project is Kufunda Village in Zimbabwe! Kufunda was founded almost 20 years ago as a place of learning, where people could recover their sense of pride, diversity, and capacity in working with their knowledge to create a healthy and vibrant … Read more
