GEN-EUROPE. Report on activities

GEN-EUROPE Report on activities 2003-2004

EDUCATION MEETINGS AT FINDHORN FORUM COURSE AT THE GA JD VISIT TO SENEGAL SUPPORT FOR EXCHANGE VISITS SUPPORT TO NATIONAL NETWORK MEETINGS SUPPORT TO ECOYOFF, SENEGAL PROMOTION OF MEMBERS COURSES GENERAL ASSEMBLY INA TOUR OF 5 US EVs 14 NEW MEMBERS 14 EMAIL DISCUSSION GROUPS BURSARIES EDUCATION NETWORKING SUPPORT TO POLISH SEMINAR GEN-EUROPE 2003-2004 CALL OF THE CONDOR, PERU EV AWARD VIA CAMPESINO, BRAZIL ADVOCACY/ REPRESENTATION PERMACULTURE MAGAZINE INFORMATION DISSEMINATION INTERACTIVE WEB-SITE CONFERENCE IN LATVIA ICSA EUROPEAN SOCIAL FORUM ECO-SITES DVDs 2 GEN-EUROPE NEWSLETTERS 8 PARTNER PUBLICATIONS 14 ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN OTHER JOURNALS

1. INFORMATION DISSEMINATION Permaculture Magazine Eight European partner magazines GEN-Europe newsletters Published articles Web-site Mailing Lists Flyers GEN press book

PERMACULTURE MAGAZINE: Solutions for Sustainable Living Readership of 40,000 (25,000 in UK, 12,000 in US, 3,000 elsewhere in Europe and internationally) GEN-Europe has 2 news pages, one announcements page and one advertisements page full length stories from ZEGG (2), Permalot, Crystal Waters and Ross Jackson (GEN Senegal story in next issue) Short news stories from all over the world. From the GEN- Europe region, stories on GEN Senegal, Christiania, Damanhur (2), the European Social Forum in Paris, Findhorn, Tamera (2), the Finnish National EV Network, Twin Villages film, 2003 GEN-Europe General Assembly at CAT, Polish French exchange visit, Torri-Croatia exchange visits, the European Eco-sites programme, Lakabe, Egypt, UK, Günesköy ecovillage in Turkey, ecovillages in Nigeria and Ghana, The Hollies (Ireland) and a German ecovillage footprint study Free GEN advertising and announcements in every issue

EIGHT PARTNER FOREIGN LANGUAGE JOURNALS (COMBINED READERSHIP - OVER 150,000) TURKEY SPAIN FRANCE DENMARK RUSSIA POLAND ITALY GERMANY BUGDAY REHABITAR PASSERELLE ECO LOS NEWS POTOK WEGETARIANSKI SWIAT ZIELONY BRIGADY AAM TERRA NUOVA KURSKONTAKTE (To each of these we give around 500 per annum for publication and translation)

LUCILLA BORIO PUBLISHED ARTICLES - Ecovillages and Intentional Communities in Italy, Spain and Portugal - Encyclopedia of Communities - La Rete Europea degli Ecovillagi cambia sede (EV Network HQ moves) AAM-Terra Nuova Magazine - Lavorare in Rete per un Futuro Sostenibile (Working together for a sustainable Future), AAM-Terra Nuova Magazine - Rete Internazionale Ecovillagi (International Ecovillage Network), Agengranda newspaper - Las Ecoaldeas Votan por la Paz, ReHabitar Magazine - Ecoaldeas y el Foro Social Europeo, ReHabitar Mag.

PUBLISHED ARTICLES (Continued) JONATHAN DAWSON - Wholesome Living: Ecovillages, Resurgence Magazine, UK - Regrowing local economies Resurgence Magazine, UK - Einheit in Vielfalt (Unity in Diversity), Kurskontakte Mag. - L economie locale au service des gens (Local economy in the service of people), Passerelle Eco magazine - Right Livelihood: Making the Economy Work for us, Communities Magazine US) INSA FREESE - GEN-Europe I Afrika (GEN-Europe and Africa), LOS News

PUBLISHED ARTICLES (Continued) INA MEYER-STOLL - Eine Andere Welt ist Möglich (Another World is Possible), Ökologie magazine JEAN-MICHEL POCHAT JEAN-MICHEL POCHAT - Ecovillages and Intentional Communities in France, Encyclopedia of Communities

FLYERS Living and Learning centres flyer Contribution to Findhorn s New Frontiers for Sustainability flyer ( 300)

2. NETWORKING Support for national network meetings Support for exchange visits Website and hosting of email lists International networking General Assembly New members

SUPPORT FOR NATIONAL NETWORK MEETINGS Russian network meeting ( 750) Two Polish network meetings ( 200 each) East Europe EV meeting ( 300) German meeting of sustainable communities ( 300) Italian network meeting ( 500) - upcoming Israeli network meeting ( 300) - upcoming Francophone EV meeting ( 300) - upcoming Council members participated in the Danish, German, Italian, Polish, Russian and Senegalese network meetings

RUSSIAN ECOVILLAGE NETWORK MEETING, KITEZH

EASTERN EUROPEAN ECOVILLAGE WORKSHOP ON EDUCATION, GYURUFU, HUNGARY

SUPPORT FOR EXCHANGE VISITS Polish youth visit to ZEGG ( 400) Israeli/Palestinian peace camp at Bagnaia, Italy ( 500) Max Jensen to EYFA winter gathering ( 146) Torri - Croatia link ( 2,000) Visit from Liora Adler, IAC member ( 450) Michael Livni from Kibbutz Lotan to Tamera (up-coming) Jonathan and Ina visit Ufa Fabrik, Berlin

TORRI-CROATIA EXCHANGE GNAG (Green Network of Alternative Groups) is involved in environmental education, selfempowerment and peacework for youth in the former Yugoslavia. GNAG leaders came to Torri Superiore in December 2003 to learn about EV design and management. The Balkan Ecovillage Network project was conceived during their visit to Torri

TORRI/CROATIA LINK-UP IN ITALY

ISRAELI/PALESTINIAN PEACE CAMP, BAGNAIA EV

WEB-SITE www.gen-europe.org Between 100,000-130,000 hits/month Transferring the site to open source (php) Picture gallery (php) for public and internal use electronic newsletter (pdf) Oct 03, Jan 04 new Events- and Ecovillage directory Other updates like front page, and pages on Education, Events, Ecotourism and the members

EMAIL LISTS 14 email discussion groups hosted EV Training (2) Education Youth Ang. Africa Franc. Africa Eastern Europe Staff Forum Polish Turkish German Youth Council

GEN IS GEN IS team from Europe, ENA and GENOA Focalising on international website and database Debugging database Developing new modules: News, Matchmaking and CSA

GEN international website gen.ecovillage.org New pages for Living and Learning, Ecotourism and more Preparation of structure of GEN pages Preparation of UN pages

INTERNATIONAL NETWORKING Support to Senegalese network ( 5,200) Participation in GEN Board meeting and Call of the Condor, Peru Ina tour of EVs in US Liora Adler (GEN International Advisory Council) visit to ZEGG

SUPPORT TO SENEGALESE NETWORK During Jonathan s visit, he, Ismael and Marian met with two government ministers, three UN agency representatives and representative of three donor agencies. Funding proposals were invited Strategy drawn up for developing and replicating West African EV model

CALL OF THE CONDOR/ GEN BOARD MEETING GEN Board met in Peru; discussions focus on the transition to the new post-gaia Trust scenario Call of the Condor pulls together 500 members of the ecovillage and bioregional clans

NEW MEMBERS A. FULL MEMBERS Russian national ecovillage network Tchamla Kingdom, Bulgaria Zajezka - Pospolitost Pre Harmonicky Zivot (Czech Republic) Gunes Koy, Turkey

NEW MEMBERS B. SUPPORTIVE MEMBERS Keimblatt Ökodorf, Austria Kokrobitey ecovillage, Ghana Richard Esterely, Hawaii Ursula Sanders, Austria Bram de Jonge, Netherlands Tammr Henna Ecovillage, Egypt Assoc. ADVIT Europe Without Borders, Moldova Dedetepe Eco-farm, Turkey Rodova Osada Ecovillage, Czech Republic Living Spaces Ecovillage, Hungary

3. EDUCATION Findhorn education meetings Support to EcoYoff Bursaries Promotion of members courses Forum workshop at GA

FINDHORN EDUCATION MEETINGS, MAY 2004 Meeting 1: Gaia University/increasing standardisation and exploring accreditation of ecovillage training programmes Attended by 23 people (including participants from 13 ecovillages across Europe, Australia, Africa, India and North and South America) GEN-Europe contributed to the travel costs of participants from GEN-Senegal, Galgafarm, Tamera, Torri Superiore, Zegg, 7 Linden (all GEN-Europe full members)

ECOVILLAGE EDUCATORS MEETING, FINDHORN

FINDHORN EDUCATION MEETINGS, MAY 2004 Meeting 2: Living Routes faculty meeting 20 people from from Brazil, India, Mexico, Senegal, Scotland, and the U.S. Financial support with travel expenses for participants from Senegal and 7 Linden (Living Routes runs accredited educational programmes for US undergraduates in ecovillages in Australia, Brazil, India, Scotland, Senegal and the US)

LIVING ROUTES EDUCATION MEETING, FINDHORN

SUPPORT TO ECOYOFF 5,200 in support for GEN Senegal s educational and network development programmes

THE WORK OF GEN-SEN The GEN-SEN network now comprises 20 ecovillage members. Twenty more candidate ecovillages have applied for membership. The network undertakes trainings for ecovillagers in permaculture gardening, reforestation, ecotourism, etc. Over 200 foreign undergraduate students have passed through the Living and Learning centre programmes A strategy is now being put into place for disseminating the model developed in Senegal to other West African countries

BURSARIES Max Jensen - sustainability conference in Denmark, also exchange visits in DK ( 500) Support for compost toilet workshop in Poland ( 300) Deniz Dincel (Bugday, Turkey) - Findhorn s ecovillage training programme ( 500)

DENIZ DINCEL AND FRIENDS AT FINDHORN S ECOVILLAGE TRAINING PROGRAMMES

PROMOTION OF MEMBERS COURSES Free advertising and announcements in Permaculture Magazine Website/database: free advertising of ecovillage related courses, events and conferences, which will be published on all GEN websites http://gen.ecovillage.org/iservices

FORUM WORKSHOP AT THE 2004 GENERAL ASSEMBLY, ZEGG

ADVOCACY/ REPRESENTATION Eco-sites (Jean-Michel Pochat) Geza Varga and Heikki Attila to conference in Latvia Communartseminar ( 300) Ismael Diallo to CIFAL, Ougadougou European Social Forum, Paris International Community Studies Association Geza Varga to Via Campesina ( 700) World Urban Forum, Barcelona (upcoming) EV award Translation of DVD Sustainable Communities ( 400) Translation of Russian EVs DVD ( 250)

ECO-SITE: ENERGY FOLKKECENTER, DENMARK

CIFAL MEETING, OUGADOUGOU Ismael Diallo, President of GEN Senegal, represents GEN and UN training seminar in Burkina Faso

EUROPEAN SOCIAL FORUM, PARIS Eight GEN representatives attended the ESF A GEN stand Seminaire Une autre monde est possible A workshop on Ecovillages A workshop the Economy of Ecovillages

VIA CAMPESINA, BRAZIL VC General Assembly. 520 participants from over 200 organisations - VS has more than 100 million members (family farmers). VC promotes food security at the level of the farm, the community, the region and the country. Geza Varga is a member of the Sustanaible Family Farm- Based Articulture Committee. He represented GEN-Europe at this meeting.