Senegal is the first country to utilize ecovillage strategies for sustainable development with a Government Agency for Ecovillages, dedicated to transitioning 14.000 traditional villages to ecovillages! The government was inspired by the work done within the grassroots network of GEN-Senegal, a network of 45 ecovillages.
In February, 2013, Jane Rasbash of the Gaia Education Board, Kosha Joubert, President of GEN-International and Advisory Board GEN-Africa, and Ousmane Pame, President of GEN-Africa, travelled to Senegal to witness and support the progress of the movement - and to plan a Global Ecovillage Summit in Senegal in 2014.

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This year, for the second time, GEN collaborated with the Earth Day Network to host our first Ecovillage Day – Earth Day. Sustainable communities, ecovillages and interested individuals from around the globe joined. They invited their neighbours and the broader public to an Open Ecovillage Day in their communities to see, taste and experience aspects of resilience first hand. With communities participating from all around the planet it was a beautiful and diverse expression of collective change towards a more sustainable future.

"A huge thank you to all people making Ecovillage Day 2013 such a special one!"

 

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At the end of 2011, Africans from many different countries and backgrounds attended The Ecovillage Conference: Empowering Communities for Sustainable Development in Northern Africa.
It was held at SEKEM, a model farm site for sustainable businesses, located near Cairo, Egypt.
The Conference was put together by GEN and sponsored by the German Foreign Ministry.

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Looking at our world today, it is unclear whether humanity is waking up in time to collectively change our pathways into the future. We see growing tensions in Central Asian countries; economic crises leaving people in Europe and USA without securities they have long taken for granted; continuing tensions in the Middle East and exploitation of resources in Africa. We see nature’s species dwindling and climate change intensifying.

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A central permaculture principle is to turn a problem into a solution ... US urban planner and energy activist TH Culhane has done just this, turning organic waste into a valuable raw material. His work shows one bucket of organic kitchen waste can produce enough gas for two hours of cooking (as well as producing liquid fertilizer as a by-product).

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In a quiet corner of one of the newest co-housing developments of the Findhorn Ecovillage in Scotland, the GEN International office is opening its doors for business, as the fresh Scottish spring brings new life to the land. It is a fitting location for the international headquarters of the ecovillage movement, as Findhorn is one of the nine seed group members of the Global Ecovillage Network.

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20 years after its founding, the ZEGG community in Belzig, Germany, has become a ‘blessing’ for the district, said politician Wolfgang Blasig at the inauguration ceremony for ZEGG´s new, ecological heating system.
The community of 100 people of all age groups has come a long way since establishing themselves in a former East German secret police training camp.

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Chiangmai, Thailand. There are a number of our young people who are still unemployed after years of education. These youth are feeling failed by society and worthless. Besides those who are jobless, there are also young people who can’t find happiness and meaning in their work and lifestyle in the big city.

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"Tuwa - The Laughing Fish" is an eco-homestead, living and learning center and green bed and breakfast inn nestled right in the middle of the vast rice fields of a small farming town in the Philippines. 

What makes it unique is that it was created by two Ecovillage Design Education (EDE) alumni all in a short span of two years.

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Half of the world´s population is under 20 years old. It is the young people of the planet - their resilience and positive power for a change - who are the vital future decision makers and responsibility holders.
NextGen, the youth movement of GEN, has created educational and action tools to empower the youth of the villages - and to make them aware of alternatives to the current destructive power of globalization.
In Thailand, Japan, Ladakh, Bangladesh and Australia, NextGEN has connected with networks and established activities to support young people in their visions and concerns as well as their power to make a change. At the same time NextGEN is building bridges between the youth generations, the traditional value holders, and the spirit of the existing villages.

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