Peacework in Ecovillages and Youthwork
REPORT from Yes To Sustainability PBA in Cloughjordan, Ireland – 3-11 October 2025
Surrounded by over 70 varieties of native Irish apple trees that were nourishing us during every break, 24 youth workers and young people representing 15 different organizations gathered in Cloughjordan Ecovillage, Ireland.
We came together to explore two main themes:
- Peace Education – learning and experimenting with methods and practices to support groups in exploring peace, inspired by the work of Otra Escuela.
- Network Building – creating new partnerships and collaborative projects for future peacework within and beyond the ecovillage movement.
PEACE EDUCATION
Adopting an experimental and participatory approach, we explored our internalized systems of oppression, rank and privilege, and the ways we represent and talk about peace and conflict.
Through methodologies drawn from the Theatre of the Oppressed, we reflected on our personal and collective narratives about peace and violence. Through a fishbowl we investigated what is the vision for an ecovillage movement active for peace (see pictures for the graphic recording of this session). In a forum, we shared our personal stories of peace and violence, diving into the interconnectedness of different levels: individual, community, system, and planet.
Together, we opened spaces for inquiry and reflection around key questions:
- What is the role of ecovillages and of youthwork in peacebuilding and conflict transformation?
- What is our role in sharing stories of hope?
- How can ecovillages expand their perspectives by collaborating and learning from other movements?
We also got the chance to connect with the local community of Cloughjordan, learning from over 25 years of imagining and living a culture of peace. Their story exemplifies how community cooperation can revitalize rural areas, keeping schools open, maintaining local infrastructure and repopulating a once-declining village through shared vision and collaboration.
PROJECT CREATION
Inspired by stories of hope, peace and resilience, we turned our reflections into tangible project ideas, to further nurture a culture of peace within the ecovillage movement and beyond.
Emerging ideas included supporting well-being and preventing burnout in youthwork and activism, through methods for regulating the social nervous system and ecosomatics. The need to share and amplify stories of hope and peace inspired to create a Youth Exchange on artivism and creative expression. Finally, the wish to share new methodologies and tools for peace education, and to learn from other movements, organizations and ecovillages across Europe, led to the dream of a cooperation partnership for peacework.
Lastly, we concluded the week with gratitude and appreciation for Simone, who, after years of service and passion for YesToSustainability, is stepping down from the coordination circle.
Our time in Cloughjordan invited us to face the complexity of peace as an ongoing process rather than a final destination. We felt the urgency of creating brave spaces where we can collectively imagine and embody a culture of peace rooted in dialogue. Recognising privileges, we were inspired to place them in service of others and of future generations. As we left Cloughjordan, we carried with us both questions and commitments: to keep learning, to keep nurturing peace through ecovillages, and to build communities capable of holding hope in complex times.
Organizations present:
GEN Europe
GEN Germany (Germany)
BEN (Sweden)
RIVE (Italy)
Ecovillage Georgia (Georgia)
Cultivate (Ireland)
Grain&Sens (France)
Catfarm (France)
Tepla Gora (Ukraine)
Zaježová (Slovakia)
NextGEN Europe
Lunaria (Italy)
Otra Escuela (Spain)
The Hives Project (Greece)
LIJAmedia (Slovenia)
