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Dances of Universal Peace in Vietnam and Indonesia

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We have wrapped up the journey to bring the Dances of Universal Peace to Vietnam and Indonesia for the first time!

Through singing and moving together with meaningful music and lyrics, participants were guided through many levels of emotions, and depths of consciousness together. Community healing happens as naturally as flowers bloom when everything is in sync.

This experience has probably been summed up as the name of this practice: Dances of Universal Peace. Peace, in an intimate way, is about connecting deeply with yourself, and in harmony with those around you.

The Dances in Vietnam

Within 2 weeks from Oct 29 to Nov 6, Three Workshops were held in Hanoi, Hue, and Ho Chi Minh City with the participation of nearly 100 young people from all over the country.

Ms. M – A participant in Hanoi shared that this was a magical and memorable experience for herself, like opening a new door to connect deeply with herself, seeing people around with tolerant eyes, and lots of love.

“Now I understand (not only in reasoning) what it is like to connect with myself and connect with everything through this song. I feel like I can love more”

T in HCM

After Arjun and Jessie left Vietnam, the team in Vietnam continues to maintain 2 practice hubs in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

The Dances in Indonesia

In Indonesia, we held three workshops in Jakarta that happened over the course of three days from 18th-20th November. The dances were shared with around 40 new people.

Like in Vietnam, the dances are also very well received in Indonesia. After the workshop sessions, participants shared that they really enjoyed the dances, and how it help them connect with themselves and each other.

This is something I really need in my life. In my daily life, I spent a lot of time in front of my computer to do my work and get my entertainment. Meeting people, dancing and singing together like this makes me really happy

R, Jakarta

I appreciate how [the dances] makes me feel more connected and engaged with myself, other fellow human beings and my surroundings.. totally keeping the practice”

E, Jakarta

Acknowledgements

We are deeply moved with how the dances have touched people’s lives during the workshop. This experience is only possible through the collaboration of different people involved. Our sincere gratitude goes to:

🍂 Arjun and Jessie for coming to Asia to share and spread this practice in the spirit of gift for the community here.

🍂The organizers in Vietnam: Kin, Phuong, Ly as well as the team of volunteers in Hanoi, Saigon, and Hue for drawing a beautiful experience.

🍂 Thank you to the organizers in Indonesia: Friends from Rasasastra Community and Semesta’s Gallery: Elghandiva, Andra; and the team at Anindhaloka: Agung, Welin, Eileen, Cokorda Dewi, and Ariel for co-creating these workshops and prepared a wonderful atmosphere for the sessions.

Up next: Thailand

We will be having our final workshop series in Thailand. It will start with a introduction workshop in Chiang Mai on December 8th and followed with the two-day camp at Gaia Ashram from 12-14th. If you’re in Thailand around this time, be sure to join us!

GENOA at the 1st Asian Ecoversities Gathering

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The 1st Asian Ecoversities Alliance Gathering has recently been held from Sep 13th -16th, 2022 at Wongsanit Ashram, Thailand with the participation of 35 people from different countries within Asia including India, Thailand, Myanmar, Philippines, Bhutan, Japan, Vietnam, and Singapore. From Global Ecovillage Network Oceania & Asia (GENOA) we were happy to have Thao Kin joining as the representative of the GENOA Office and Natalie Limwatana joining as the representative of the REGEN-Nations program. We also met with other members of the GENOA network in this gathering: Om Sunisa from Gaia Ashram, Hiroko from GEN Japan/As One Suzuka Community together with 3 young members of Gaia Youth (Kento, Toshiya and Mizuki), Kai Sawyer from Permaculture Dojo, Pop from Friends & Forest, Petra from Awaken Leadership Training and more.

Participants of the Gathering with Ajarn Sulak Sivarasak (pic: Nora)

The Ecoversities Alliance is a community of learning practitioners from around the world committed to re-imagining higher education to cultivate human and ecological flourishing in response to the critical challenges of our times. The network has grown in different parts of the world and is now building its presence in Asia. Their last planetary gathering took place in Egypt in March 2022 (read more here).

Visiting a local temple (pic: Nora)

In their first Asian gathering, a good portion of the time was spent building connections and sharing aspirations among participants from different educational organizations. We also had an opportunity to understand deeper about the Ecoversities Alliance, the work of members and the different ways to be engaged. 

It was meaningful and inspirational to join this gathering. Ecoversities are trying to achieve what I was dreaming and figuring out as a solution for the global social issues. The participants are not only speaking for their aim but also conducting actual projects by themselves. In the gathering, people  shared their knowledge and experiences  so that they can cooperate together for the future. The gathering is like a conference but this is more than that for sure. We became very close with each other since we know we can be as one and the goal we are seeking for is similar. Imagine, if people around the world are close like family, if they are working together for the same goal, the future will be here and now. 

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Toshi

Japan
GEN-Japan Gaia Youth Sharing (Pic: Kin)
Lazyman Coffee Sharing (pic: Nora)
Financial Sustainability Sharing (pic: Nora)

During the 4-day gathering, we had the opportunity to share about the work of ecovillages in different sessions including;  As One Community and GEN Japan’s Gaia Youth program, creating communities with OmSunisa from Gaia Ashram in Thailand,  financial sustainability discussion hosted by Natalie from REGEN-Nations. We also shared videos, information, and materials about the various projects and in GENOA & NextGENOA.

I joined knowing little about Ecoversities, and after spending 4 days together I found inspiration and support both on a personal, project and movement level. The alliance is looking to connect together those of us working on any form of wisdom sharing, especially those outside mainstream academic institutions. We know we need to design place based, people oriented solutions to replace the standardised and global systems we have now. We choose to have a million different solutions and recognise there may be overlap and we are smaller projects. So I see the Ecoversities alliance is a way to bring education projects together under our common dream of accessible education that supports a just and regenerative way of living. 

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Natalie

Thailand

Further resources and get involved

Ecoversities Alliance offers a lot of exchange activities and cross-learning for its members. You can check out some of their publications below:

If you are keen to set up your own ecoversities or be part of the alliance, please check the information below and on their website https://ecoversities.org/ 

The result of my participation in the gathering was very meaningful. Many and varied attempts impressed me, and at the same time, I could objectively see the unique characteristics of ecovillage projects. It is sure that eco-village-based learning can show the youth that innovative attempts are feasible with practical ways of living. I think it is great that several different initiatives joined together from GENOA. This time, I joined with three graduates (Toshi Kento, Mizuki) from GEN Japan Gaia Youth program, held at As One Community aiming to encourage the youth of urban areas to awaken towards the creation of regenerative societies. It was my pleasure that they learned freely in a relaxed atmosphere while directly experiencing the efforts of a diverse group of people. The opportunity to interact directly with their Asian peers gave me a sense of great potential for the next steps.　

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Hiroko

Japan

Farewell blessing (pic: Nora)
GENOA members at the gathering (pic: Kin)

Making friends was a big part of the Ecoversities gathering for me, and it was comforting and exciting to know we came together to connect from heart to heart at the beautiful Wongsanit Ashram. We shared games to bring us closer which were both creative and traditional. We reimagined the future through remembering wisdom that was passed down from generations ago. It was eye opening to experience traditional rituals and feel so beautifully rooted deep down at the present moment. Knowing the heart of our ancestors is education. Seeking to find out what flower blooms in front of me is education. Holding our hands together and feeling one another’s energy is education. The Ecoversities Alliance gathering helped me realise my hope to keep learning from the many streams of adventures that the universe has to offer.

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Kento

Japan

Attending the gathering was a big challenge for me because I didn’t have much overseas experience. I wanted to make friends who could connect by heart, even though we are from different cultures.

When we introduced the Gaia Youth Program in the middle of the program, I was convinced that we are all wishing for the same world and we can connect with our hearts. I was also very happy to meet people from the same generation who are working globally to create a new society. It was very stimulating.

I am now more interested in seeing the world on a global scale. I would like to cooperate with my friends I met this time and take more actions to create a better society.

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Mizuki

Japan

About the Author

Thao Kin, Networking Coordinator at GENOA

Thao Ngo, often called by her friends and colleagues as Kin, is a learner and educator from Vietnam. Kin is passionate about ecology and is on a long exciting quest of her life learning from and caring for Mother Earth. Kin has been a member of NextGENOA since 2016 and joined the GENOA Office team in mid-2020. In addition to her active role in GENOA and NextGENOA, Kin works with non-governmental organizations in Vietnam in organizing and facilitating training on ecological education and eco-lifestyle. Kin believes in the power of reconnection and re-enchanting the world. She is practicing as a Deep Ecology facilitator and trainer. 

This article is produced with the contributions of Natalie, Hiroko, Toshi, Mizuki and Kento.

GENOA Annual General Meeting 2022

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On March 11th, the GENOA Council and Office Team came together to hold our Annual General Meeting (AGM). In this meeting, the office team reported and celebrated the activities and achievements we had in 2021to the GENOA council. We also proposed, discussed, and consolidated our plan for this year of 2022.

You can read the meeting notes, see the presentation slides and watch the video recording below which includes the highlights of our activities, financial report, and also future plans.

For this year of 2022, our office team is planning to turn inwards to clarify our purpose as a network and organization, and also find and install structures in place that match our values and context to be able to fulfill our purpose of existence as a network and organization. We will also be looking for funding and support for our activities in the coming year in the latter half of the year.

The process of turning inwards and clarifying our purpose will be done through an internal project called Metamorph Project in which we will dive in and engage with the different stakeholders of the network to clarify our purpose, understand what has worked and what are the things we are lacking in our current structures and how we work. The outcomes of this project will be brought into discussion with the council and members of the network to be discussed and implemented. You can find more info about it by looking at the project proposal below.

GENOA Metamorph – Project Proposal

Please let us know if you have any comments or suggestions about this project. During this project, we will be engaging in conversations with some of you as stakeholders of the network. If you are keen to share your perspective, experience, and hopes about GENOA please let us know by writing to us at genoa@ecovillage.org and we will make sure to include you in the conversation. If you are keen to join in this process with us by volunteering, offering coaching, or consultancy, please kindly write to the same email address. 

Thank you so much for your continued support. We are excited to embark on this journey inwards and look forward to engaging with you, dearest stakeholders, to co-create in this evolutionary process of the GENOA Network.

Please note that as we engage in this project, the office team will lower the volume of our activities (such as community calls).

Conscious Food Systems Alliance calls for Local Hubs

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The Conscious Food System Alliance (CoFSA) is currently looking for partners who can help create a global network of local hubs that offer conscious food learning programs and retreats to key actors in the food system, with the aim of facilitating an equitable exchange of knowledge and experience. If you’re interested, please complete the form linked here.

What is CoFSA: 

Conscious Food System Alliance – CoFSA was convened by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and it’s a movement of food and agriculture practitioners and consciousness experts united around a common goal: to leverage the power of inner transformation to support systemic change in food and agriculture systems. For more information, please visit the CoFSA webpage. 

CoFSA Vision: 

The vision of the Alliance is to pioneer the application of leading approaches such as mindfulness, compassion, somatic transformation, systems leadership, indigenous and feminine wisdom into food and agriculture systems to help us reconnect with ourselves, each other, and nature, and to build the inner foundations – mindsets, values, and skills – needed for systemic change.

CoFSA is looking for partners who’s organisation…

  • – Emphasise an interweaving of human and more-than-human communities through food
  • – Take a holistic approach to social, cultural, ecological, economic and individual engagement with food systems
  • – Engage with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – with a particular emphasis on , with an emphasis on addressing global poverty (1), hunger (2), health and wellbeing (3), and partnership building (17)
  • – Engage with the skills and core principles of the Inner Development Goals (IDGs), namely: Being, Thinking, Relating, Collaborating & Acting
  • – Can offer learning programmes or retreats on conscious food systems in local and global contexts
  • – Willing to actively participate and contribute to the development of the network.

If this resonates with you and your organisation’s values, we invite you to join the network, please complete the form linked here as soon as possible (preferably before 10 February 2022). 

cover picture credit: Wild0ne

Stand for Unity: what is going on in Auroville?

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Written by Auroville residents

Currently, Auroville, an intentional township in South India, is facing an extremely difficult struggle within its community. Some of our forests, watersheds, and homes are being destroyed or subjected to threat due to a contentious interpretation of the town’s development plan. 

On December 4th, the Auroville Town Development Council started bulldozing trees, despite Auroville residents trying to protect the area (See the Timeline of the events to understand better).

Since then, bulldozers have demolished the Youth Center and its surrounding forest has been cut through. Many of our residents involved in peaceful protest against this violent destruction were intimidated with threats of jail and deportation. Auroville Outreach Media, which has served as the community’s link to the press since 1996, was asked to refrain from issuing any statements.

On December 10th, a case was filed with the Indian National Green Tribunal, and a Stay Order was placed on any tree felling and development work. Now our community apprehensively awaits the verdict of this case. 

What is the development about?

The development plan proposed by Auroville town planning authorities includes a perfectly circular “Crown Way” of 16.7 meters. As this road cuts through many ecologically sensitive areas and precious water catchments, residents in the concerned spaces worked with our Town Development Council for months to come up with alternative solutions that would meet the mobility and infrastructure needs while respecting the sensitive environment. These alternative proposals were ignored by the Auroville Town Development Council and bulldozing of the areas began, accompanied by violent handling of protesting Auroville residents.

The established community decision-making processes are being undermined by Auroville’s internal working groups, which goes against the Auroville Foundation Act (1988),  a parliamentary act that recognises the Residents Assembly’s role in decision-making. The development plan is being reinforced through violent authoritarian measures despite the legal base for participatory decision-making.

While the issue is multi-layered and complex, the bottom line is : 
– The protesting residents want to develop Auroville in a sustainable way that respects the natural environment and honours the intensive reforestation work done by so many residents over the past 50 years; see the inspiring effort of Aurovillians to restore a desertified bioregion into a lush forest here.
– The residents want to build Auroville in such a way that our community decision-making processes are upheld, and that residents of Auroville have a voice in the growth of their community.

How to help?

  • We ask that you sign and circulate this Petition within your community and beyond: please sign and ask friends to sign.
  • To learn more about Auroville’s afforestation work see Ever Slow Green: an award-winning documentary film that tells the story of a 50-years-young tropical forest that evolved in Auroville.
  • > Trailer
  • > Full film
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What is Auroville?

Auroville is an intentional township in Tamil Nadu, India. It was founded in 1968 by Mirra Alfassa (known as “the Mother”) dreamt to be the place for Human Unity.

From Climate Ambition to Rethinking Climate Vulnerability

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A Post COP26 Reflection as GENOA delegate. Written by Sarah Queblatin, GEN Regional Representative & Ambassador.

As I write this, almost 3 million Filipinos who were directly affected are waking up to the devastating aftermath of Supertyphoon Odette which intensified from Category 1 to Category 5 in 24 hours ripping through islands in the central and southern part of the Philippines. Given my time zone difference, I realized it is still December 16, the same day that Supertyphoon Washi / Sendong triggered a deadly flash flood in Cagayan de Oro City, nine years ago in 2011 which was my first experience in responding to disasters. I am in Findhorn Ecovillage in the north of Scotland after the COP26 in Glasgow and I look back to why the ecovillage model has been central to my approach to transforming the narrative of DRR (or Disaster Risk Reduction) into that of Designing for Resilience and Regeneration). You can listen to my podcast on this as interviewed by Morag Gamble.

Responding to the flash floods after typhoon Washi through psycho social support assistance was my first introduction to humanitarian recovery. Today, a decade later, I am now with my own organization, Green Releaf Initiative, a partner of the Global Ecovillage Network, working with the same approach integrated in permaculture gardens in disaster recovery and an innovation lab on ecosystem restoration underway.

Joining the Ecovillage Movement and GEN

After typhoon Washi, I was burning out from ensuring we meet large numbers of participants over delivering quality in the sessions we needed to design to adapt to the realities firsthand. I asked myself, “how might we heal broken systems without the same factors that caused them in the first place?” Then the response that emerged was to come from wholeness where a whole systems approach through regenerative design started unfolding for me. It brought me back to my interest to study ecovillage and permaculture design in my 20s. So I was naturally drawn to join a healing ecovillage in the Philippines in 2012. A year later, Supertyphoon Haiyankilled over 7,000 people and displaced thousands of Filipinos. I volunteered to help in one of the affected villages together with permaculture and ecovillage designers. 

A year later, I joined the Global Ecovillage Network Oceania and Asia then was invited to work for the UN Working Group of GEN International which evolved into a role as Advocacy Coordinator from 2015-2017. This role enabled me to help GEN in its representation and work with the United Nations where it has a consultative status in the UN ECOSOC and a civil society observer for the Conference of Parties (COP) for the Climate Change conferences. I was able to represent GEN from the 21st – 24th and now the 26th COP. Working with former GEN Executive Director Kosha Joubert, GEN UN Representative Rob Wheeler, and representatives from each region, we engaged with government leaders, civil society groups, and other movements relevant to the cause of regeneration that GEN modeled in lighthouse projects and communities from its network of 6,000 members around the world. 

Coming from one of the most climate vulnerable nations and regions in the world where climate emergencies have been taking place with growing intensity over the years, being able to share our voice and work has been a privilege and opportunity. With GEN’s Ecovillage Development Program, we explored how communities can model low carbon lifestyles that restore social and ecological ecosystems that can meet the Paris agreement goals and the SDGs through participatory design. 

Below are some of the events that I participated in at the COP26 in Glasgow as a GENOA delegate.

GENOA Participation

As part of the GEN delegation, representing Oceania and Asia, I helped share our GEN partnership for ecovillage development in an indigenous community affected by Super Typhoon Haima/ Lawin in the Philippines from 2017-2020 through Green Releaf’s Regenerative Transitions program. Our story served as a case study in our interactive presentation for the Capacity Building Hub on “Using Participatory Approaches to Design Robust, Community-Led Climate Action” together with Anna Kovasna and Taisa Mattos. You can watch the presentation here.

GEN partnered with Gaia Education at the COP26 Gender Day for the exhibit “Women, Power and Entrepreneurship in the Climate Change Age“. The day-long exhibition was curated by Gaia Education, Artists Project Earth (APE), Global Ecovillage Network and LUSH UK – in partnership with women from the Federation of Tribal Women of Orissa, THREAD, Bangladesh Association for Sustainable Development, L’Arcolaio Cooperativa Sociale, Saterê Mawê Craftswomen Association and many other communities. You can read more about it here. 

As GENOA representative to the UNDP Conscious Food Systems Alliance (CoFSA), I helped co-facilitate a Climate Emotions session together with other CoFSA members, One Resilient Earth and the Institute for Advanced Sustainable Studies. You can read my story here. 

It was also meaningful to be able to share about my reflections and learnings from working with climate vulnerable indigenous and displaced communities through an interview by the Pocket Project through its CEO, GEN International’s former Executive Director Kosha Joubert as part of its Trauma Informed Climate Leadership events at the COP26. You can access the recording here along with other speakers from the network including May East of Gaia Education, Sonita Mbah, and Sabine Lichtenfels. 

To generate support for scaling our prototype for REGEN-Nations Whole Systems Co-Learning Journey and Regenerative Design Lab for GENOA, I participated in relevant side events that could provide updated information and possible ways to channel resources to the project. 

After the COP26, I was invited by the Philippine Misereor Partnership, the conveners of the Rights of Nature movement in the country to share about my insights for their session on “What Now After the COP26?” Preparing for this talk helped me put into words what I recommend as ways we go forward beyond COP26. You can watch the video here. 

As we face the aftermath of supertyphoon Rai / Odette in the Philippines leaving almost a million people displaced and almost 400 dead, I think about a deeper meaning of climate vulnerability and how it can differ from climate ambition. Now on my 5th COP, I reflected deeper on the role of regenerative leadership after realizing over time that there already exists so many solutions but how we make these solutions work depend greatly on our inner condition of the leader and the worldview s/he has that influences the design of a system. For me, a reframe on “climate vulnerability” is to truly lead with empathy and authenticity in our leadership versus the shadow of the term “climate ambition”. The latter has the danger of falling into lofty goals that may lose integrity when words can’t be fulfilled into actions given that many agreements and statements are made during climate conferences yet the real actions and delivery are slow or may not be completed at all. Many climate vulnerable nations like mine and the region have witnessed these failures of agreements and commitments over time and we need to show up fully in ways that could bring regenerative leadership in our design for resilience and regeneration. We hope one of the ways we can offer this to the region is through the leadership component of REGEN-Nations coming up with its 2nd cycle in 2022. Click here to learn more and to sign up. You can also support the program’s fundraising efforts by donating or sharing this campaign. 

About the Author

Sarah Queblatin. GEN Regional Representative & Ambassador, The Philippines

Sarah is a regenerative design strategist weaving collective experiences in peacebuilding, traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) conservation, environmental education, and humanitarian assistance for 15 years. She designs inclusive ecosystems of collaboration through innovation labs and learning journeys to transform the narrative of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) into Design for Resilience and Regeneration. She is trained in Ecovillage Design and Ecosystem Restoration Design and holds a merit diploma and advanced certificate in Permaculture Design. Prior to founding Green Releaf Initiative in the Philippines, Sarah has worked with GEN as a representative to the UN Climate Conferences, served as a global trustee, regional council member, and currently, as a wisdom keeper for GENOA. Sarah also helped incubate GEN’s EmerGENcies Program and GENOA’s REGEN Nations. With a background in ecopsychology and transformative artmaking, she applies a trauma-informed understanding of resilience in her work with climate and conflict vulnerable communities in Asia and the Pacific region.

GIFTS from the Heart: A year-end Celebration of Regeneration

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Typhoons were sweeping through The Philippines, and Myanmar continues to experience military crackdown, as we were celebrating “GIFTS from the HEART” last Saturday, 18 Dec, 2021.

How can we celebrate when there are all these disasters happening, manmade and ecological?

But celebrate, we must.

It may seem counterintuitive, but it is precisely with the full awareness that what we cherish and find meaningful can be gone any moment; in spite of that, we choose to live our best, as evident in all the incessant rescue efforts that continue to spring up after every hit — efforts that calls for agile leadership skills in times of complexity, experience in community-building and tools for collaborations — all of which is why we feel so called to share REGEN-Nations, a 6-month whole systems regenerative design programme with speakers and facilitators who are practitioners on the ground, sharing insights and knowledge from their lived experiences. 

During the celebration, we received news that Sarah Queblatin, one of the co-creators of REGEN-Nations, could not join us as intended because of coordinating rescue efforts in The Philippines. We took some moments to call in these forces of nature that is undeniable and present, into our circle, and harnessed a collective blessing to those facing it head-on, trusting that what we are doing here in this same moment, of celebrating regenerative ways of living, is part of the equation of a balancing force to hold the world together with our open hearts. Rescue and recovery are all essential aspects of our ecosystems, so are resting and nourishing our hearts in community.

Towards the end of the gathering, Karla Delgardo from Kai Farms joined us briefly, sharing why she was unable to join in earlier, with some first-hand stories of the situation in The Philippines where she lives. Although we are not physically there, hearing stories from the ground directly from members of the GENOA network brings what we might otherwise read from the news media so much closer to home – to our individual hearts and collective pulse – and to feel the interconnection of how we are all in this together.

Our small team at REGEN-Nations really wants to bring these leadership skills to more people, where we can be held in community as we continue to build capacity for co-creating a more regenerative and therefore more resilient world. What is unique about this multi-dimensional programme is also that it is based in our region, a culturally and ecologically diverse region that is also very climate-vulnerable.

For this programme to run, we need your help. You can check out our learning platform for more information about this programme, and donate on Indiegogo to enjoy the perks we are so eager to share with you too!

And of course, please do share with your friends and those who might resonate with co-creating a more beautiful world that our hearts know is possible. 

Let us plant these seeds for a new Earth together.

p/s: these are the seeds that we collectively planted for the New Earth in 2022 at the end of Gifts from the Heart gathering.

The Green Unconference 2021: Transition Journeys

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The year was 2015. The first TGU 2015 gathering was in Manila, Philippines. A simple and soulful act by friends, with Karla and Amena wishing to weave their world for healing and wellness. The seed was sown for TGU 2017 and TGU 2019. A biennial gathering, a celebration of all things green, nurturing life with compassion, courage, consciousness, and collaborations. 

The Green Unconference 2019

Now in this time of the pandemic, we are being called on to transition to a way of life that supports our collective health & wellbeing.  

In this time of climate crisis, we are being called on to transition to living in a way our planet can thrive.  

The Green Unconference 2021 is a gathering of intergenerational earth carers, wisdom keepers, healers, activists, regenerators, regen-preneurs, creatives, reimagining and making change happen to birth the new healed humanity and transition our earth to a beautiful world we all know in our hearts is possible. 

This year’s theme is Transition Journeys, and we are partnering with groups who are already transitioning and inspiring others to transition. 

Official partners are

GENOA -Global Ecovillage Network Oceania & Asia 

Kai Farms

Kids for Kids 

Lokal Lab Siargao

MAD Travel

Our timing and themes coincide with the COP26 Climate Conference October 31-November 12, 2021

We are collaborating with many people and groups all over the Philippines, India, Australia, and beyond. 

Our line-up includes online as well as face-to-face events where they are possible. We are also curating transition travel journeys next year when possible. These journeys will allow immersion in projects and interaction with people and communities that are supporting regeneration at the grassroots. 

TGU is a call for friendship, to regenerate our relationships and live from a place of unified loving awareness in service to the wellness of all life. 

We welcome you to journey with us for the kind of joyful, radical collaboration these times call for. 
We are supporting and energizing a culture of gifting. Registration is free. We welcome participants to gift what their heart desires. Funds raised will go towards supporting the regenerative community projects of partners.

Celebrating the Partnership with Hans Handmade

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During these times GENOA recognises the immense need for community and radically interconnected solutions for our collective future, helping to heal our planet from the ground up. We are dedicated to actively forging partnerships for building resilient communities and organisations for climate care by scaling collective impact towards a healthy planet and people care. Our focus on partnerships is to create a shared well-being economy based on social and economic justice in service to ecology. 

Through these partnerships, we are able to engage with kindred spirit organizations and stakeholders who are aligned with the ecovillage movement, who aim to achieve the UN SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) and/or apply ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) framework for better reporting and disclosure of their impacts and externalities. 

As we activate pathways for partnerships, with a grateful joyful heart we are celebrating our friendship and partnership with Navjot Kaur, the founder of Hans Handmade. 

Navi and Hans Handmade have pledged to share a part of their profits with GENOA projects, paying it forward to communities on the ground that are healing and helping for regeneration.

Hans Handmade pieces are made from carefully selected, ethically sourced materials to create the highest quality fashion that you can wear for years. 

Navjot Kaur Hans is the creator and designer of Hans Handmade. She is a mother, and entrepreneur with a passion for sustainable fashion that supports communities. 

Having been born and raised in the Philippines with roots in India, it seemed natural for her to start a brand that combined those two together. Each bag is designed by Navi in India, then produced in a small weavers workshop in Manila, Philippines. 

“Since I was a child, I’ve always loved fashion. Back then, I spent on trends and what we would now call ‘fast fashion’”, Navi explains. “I studied in a boarding school in India, and every year I would come home with a suitcase packed with last season’s trends. When no longer on trend, they would be forgotten and I would buy new things to replace them. As I’ve gotten older and become a mother, I’ve become a more conscious buyer. I appreciate the value and tranquility of living minimally. I prefer to purchase ethically made, long-lasting pieces, to know where my fashion is coming from, and who made it. This is the ethos of Hans Handmade.” 

As a mother, Navi’s compassionate heart feels the deep desire to give back to our Mother Earth acknowledging her love and generosity to nurture us with all her abundance and beauty. 

We are inviting all other enlightenment organisations, institutions, and enterprises that would like to nurture a connection to our mother earth to partner with us and create the beautiful healed healthy earth we all know is possible. 

Let’s partner up and make a difference!

For partnerships please contact amena.bal@ecovillage.org, ngothao.kin@ecovillage.org

Ecovillage Transition in GENOA

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This article is a short summary of the GENOA community call written by Roky Biswas and Thao Kin

On 21st September 2021, GENOA conducted its monthly community call for restoration and transformation of the earth as a global ecovillage. The topic of this month is Ecovillage Transition – transforming existing communities into regenerative communities. At the beginning of the sharing and discussion Amena Bal – GENOA Network steward & Fundraising Coordinator – led the whole group into a meditative spiritual prayer. After that, Thao Kin – GENOA Networking coordinator – described the purpose of this call where she emphasized that a lot of the work in the Oceania & Asia region are with existing communities; supporting and working with how the communities can be more regenerative.  Anna Kovasna from GEN International took us through a tour of the Ecovillage Impact Assessment which is now officially launched, every community and project with a profile on GEN website can now take this impact assessment either as individual or collective.

The focus of this call was to learn from the practices of Ecovillage Transition around the region. We welcomed Thalea Tane – Aotearoa New Zealand, Hiroko Katayama – GEN Japan, Hai Chao Wang – Sunshine Ecovillage Network, China, Karen Wang – Sunshine Ecovillage Network, GEN China, Tanya Mottl – Narara Ecovillage, GEN Australia – five-speaker from four different countries have shared their experience about the regenerative activities in their communities.

Marrying the ecovillage map of regeneration with the local/indigenous wisdom 

Thalea Tane from Aotearoa/New Zealand, shared about her research and experience on ecovillage, she showed how to incorporate the concepts, tools, ideas from GEN to communities in Aotearoa. She said, “In our traditional communities, they already have this regenerative sense.” She is a tutor for sustainable living courses, builder of earth brick homes, facilitator of workshops, developer of people and communities.  The Universal Maori Principles – Mana, Tapu, Mauri, Kaitiakitanga –  are the same principles that the GEN cards have. When she uses the Ecovillage cards, it speaks volumes to her people as it resonates with the Maori principles. They have the belief system that we are the guardians of their landscape – the land, the rocks, the trees, the animals, etc. in their surrounding environment. One of the things that they have realized in Maori culture is that we need to re-indigenize ourselves and the community. People need to go back to the principles passed down by our ancestors and these principles are no different than the GEN principles. She has been incorporating the GEN playing cards for her community, this made the community feel that they are one with GEN.

Modeling a new world that we can live in

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Hiroko Katayama from As One Community shared that Japan has a capitalistic economy and people do not have much interest in environmental or ecovillage issues. In Japan, her community has been networking with different communities and ecovillages. GEN Japan works on networking to connect, raising awareness, education and supporting domestic initiatives around the country. They have also been trying to engage young people in the ecovillage activities and teaching the ecovillage concept. 

ScienZ Method

Communities like As One Suzuka are experimenting and creating a model to showcase a “new world” – showing how eco-communities are the gateway of the next civilization. They are interacting with mainstream society through trade, selling goods, education programs, workshops and other activities. The As One Community has developed the ScienZ Method for living together – learn more about ScienZ Method here.

Demonstrating and educating the ecovillage lifestyle 

Haichao Wang is the co-founder of Sunshine ecovillage in China. Together with Karen Wang, he shared a very motivating experience from his ecovillage concept and practice. In 2015, Sunshine Ecovillage ran the first international ecovillage forum in China. This is the first time the ecovillage network was introduced to China. Now there are already more than 100 aspiring ecovillages in China. People living in the cities are slowly realizing that they need green life. While city people would like to bring their city life back to villages, Haichao and his team bring the ecovillage concept to them to show that there are different ways of development. They wanted to demonstrate what eco-living really looks like by the life in their ecovillage. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the community created online programs for people to learn about ecovillages.

This ecovillage has about 20 ecovillage-related online courses and workshops on permaculture.  The community organized a eco-person gathering activity every new year (Jan 1st). In this gathering the community awarded one person who has outstanding contribution to the regeneration of China for the ecovillage transition. With the high rate of urbanization, the Chinese government is trying to promote rural revitalization. The Ecovillage team in China are building a model ecovillage (like Sunshine Ecovillage) for people to see and learn from. 

Envisioning with the aboriginal community

Tanya Mottl shared how GEN Australia has been engaging with the Jumbun Community to look at the way that the community wanted to come back to their traditional values and not depend on the government so much. They held a 3-day workshop which led to envisioning and strategizing with the local community. A key initiative they are undertaking is a truth-talking circle. The message that came out is strong and clear: we have the power to change this. GEN Australia  is also supporting Permayouth working with the local school in Jumbun. They have created the ecovillage design cards to be culturally appropriate to the community. The Jumbun Community shared that the ecovillage cards align with their community values. What they’d like to work on is to engage their youth in the regeneration of the community. 

The rich sharing from representatives around the network has sparked interest in all of us. It is important to realize that the process of Ecovillage Transition is very much context-dependent, we can utilize the sharing from our network, with the guidance of the Map of Regeneration and adapt it to our local context. As shared from the group discussion, building ecovillages is challenging in many countries and people who are living in urban areas would like to seek ways to live regeneratively where they are as well. This gives us the opportunity to explore how members of the ecovillage network can engage the urban sector and communicate eco-living to more people in different contexts.

For more information, you can watch the replay of this call on youtube here.

Below are some resources to dive deeper and explore other Ecovillage Transition work in the region:

We’d like to take this opportunity to introduce and invite you to take the Skills and Capacities Mapping, this will help us to understand and map the abundant skills and expertise of people within the GENOA network. With the results of the survey, GENOA will build future connections, projects, and consultancy services, which in turn will strengthen resilience for each member and also the network as a whole.

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Cover picture credit: GEN Japan