Global Ecovillage Network Conference

Welcome to the GEN-Europe Conference 2013!!

You are warmly invited to join us if you would like to have an updated and personal connection to what is happening throughout the European and Global networks of GEN at the moment. GEN-movements are breathing and unfolding the world over – and from all regions of Europe and all continents, practitioners will be coming to join and inspire us.

We will be focusing on the following:

Global scope of GEN

Meeting engaged GEN-networkers and learning about best practice examples from all over the planet, including GEN-Europe, GEN-Africa, GENOA (Asia and Oceania), CASA (South America), ENNA (North America) and the Middle East.

Celebrating Community - Lessons from our living history:

Hearing from founders and elders of our movement about successes, lessons learned and growing edges relating to GEN.

NextGEN – International perspectives from the next generation:

Allowing ourselves to be inspired by the enthusiasm and intelligence of youth and young adults that are building pathways to our future.

Political Influencing – Policies for civil society engagement:

Learning how top-down and bottom-up approaches can combine to support and implement ecovillage strategies for the transition of our societies to a more sustainable way of living. 

Villages in Transition to Resilience:

How traditional and indigenous village networks can use the ecovillage approach to become strong vehicles for the regeneration of social and natural environment.

Alternative Technologies:

Hands-on experience and the theoretical background to innovative technologies that make a real difference.

Workshops:

1. Beyond Consensus – Exploring Sociocracy and Holacracy 
2. The Art of Recycling – Creating Beauty from Waste
3. Empowered Fundraising – Allowing funds to flow into Sustainability
4. Sustainable Economies - alternatives to the prevalent growth model 

The conference will provide a multitude of opportunities to get to know the other participants and for informal exchange. Each participant will also be a member of a Home Group where they can touch base and deepen their experience each day.

The conference will be facilitated by Macaco Tamerice, Zoltan Hosszu, Robin Alfred and Kosha Joubert.

NextGEN Meeting

Parallel to annual GEN Conference meeting of young people involved in NextGEN will take place in Schweibenalp. The aim of the meeting is to enable young people to come together and create heart-to-heart connections which will improve cooperation in the future projects. NextGEN meeting will be longer as GEN Conference itself and will start already on Saturday the 6th of July in the evening. It will last until Sunday 14th of July. Read more here. If you are interested in the youth meeting please contact lara(at)gen-europe.org for further information.

Please find the conference schedule here. 

 

Our hosting partner community
Center of Unity Schweibenalp

We are a community of about 20 people. Creativity, compassion, open communication, sincere encounters and zest for life are important to us. What connects us all is our vision, living and working together.
The Business on Schweibenalp is affiliated to the “Association Center of Unity” as a seminar business and employs members of the community and external staff. We see ourselves as a model business that links the events and workshops held here, with the community and the Alpine Permaculture project as well as being a pioneer in holistic management. 

Our charming and renovated Guest House with its 100 beds was built in the early years of the Swiss mountain tourism and is surrounded by an area of about twenty hectares.

 

Prices

Conference Fee

Regular	500 €
Reduced	350 € ( for students, unemployed, people on low income )

We have a bursary fund for those who could otherwise not afford to attend, especially those from Eastern Europe. With a bursary, we can reduce your conference fee to 100-300 Euro if you are coming from Western Europe and to 50-300 Euro if from Eastern Europe. The bursaries are given away on a first-come-first-served basis. Please write to Ulrike to apply.

Food and Accommodation

	Regular Price	Reduced Price
Single Room	690 € / 810 CHF	-
Double Room	630 € / 750 CHF	-
Shared Room	510 € / 600 CHF	-
Dormitory and own tent	180 € / 210 CHF	150 € / 180 CHF

 

The reduced prices are for students, unemployed and people on low income.

Prices include accommodation during the conference (starting July 07 in the evening, departure July 13) and three organic, vegetarian meals a day. A free internet connection and computers are available in the guest houses. The prices do not include the conference fee.
 

Registrations

Please fill in the registration form and send it to info@schweibenalp.ch.

• registration form word
• registration form pdf

Grundtvig Grants

Those working in the field of adult education can apply for a Grundtvig ‘Visits and Exchanges’ grant. For this, you need to be a teacher or teacher trainer in the field of adult education. This possibility is open to employees, freelancers and volunteers alike.

 

To be eligible for the grants you need to be a National or Resident of a EU member state, Turkey, Norway, Iceland, Croatia or Liechtenstein. 

 

These grants cover travel and visa costs, food and accommodation as well as the conference fee.

 

Applications are to be written to the National Agency of your country of residence

 

THE DEADLINE FOR GRANT APPLICATIONS IS JANUARY 16, 2013 in some countries, in others there are later deadlines and grants are given on a fist-come-fist-served basis. We strongly recommend you apply as soon as possible, because last year in some countries the money was finished after just a few weeks. Click here to see a table of deadlines in all participating countries.

  

How to apply for a Grundtvig grant 

1. Fill in the online pre-registration form. Within a few days you will receive a confirmation of pre-registration from us that you will need for the application.
  
2. Download the application form: Go to http://ec.europa.eu/education/programmes/llp/national_en.html and find the site of your national agency. Search for Grundtvig. There are several Grundtvig actions. The one you are looking for is about individual mobility. In English, it is called ‘Visits and Exchanges’. Make sure you find the form for 2013. If you have any difficulty with this, phone or email your National Agency. Some countries have an online application tool that you need to fill in online.
  
3. Fill in the application form. It must be filled in electronically, no handwriting! Read all the information included in the form carefully, it explains where you find most of the information you need. Use the Application Form Support file for help. This will be sent to you with the pre-registration.
  
4. Sign the form yourself and get it signed by your organization (if applicable) and send it to your National Agency together with the pre-registration.