Ecovillage Design Training of Trainers 2008

Economic Design - Week 2

Ocotober 25th, 2008

Facilitated by Jonathan Dawson

Shifting the Global Economy Towards Sustainability

The urgent need is to make the shift from the current situation, where ecology is a sub-set of economy, to one in which economy is a sub-set of ecology.

An exploration of:

i) How the current economic system has evolved
ii) What impacts it has on people, communities and the Earth and
iii) How we can make it more just, equitable, resilient and sustainable

Ecological footprints
Exploration of the various factors driving the global economy
Exploration of the consequences of the current workings of the global economy
An exploration of despair, anger and hope in the face of current realities
Visioning of a more just, equitable, resilient and sustainable global economy
Transitional paths towards a new global economy

Module 2: Right Livelihood

An exploration of the values underlying our economic activities and decisions; of the ways in which individual and community quality-of-life can be unhooked from material consumption; and of how values-based choices can help us move towards more satisfying and sustainable lifestyles.

Voluntary simplicity and sustainable abundance
Sustainable contraction
Alternative well-being indicators
Exposure to community members who have chosen to downsize and simplify their lives
Exploration of participants skills and values and of possible paths to increasing right livelihood

Nurturing Local Economies: Social Enterprise

" What is critically important is for a community to start putting all the pieces together in one place. Then, and only then, can you begin to enjoy the synergies that occur when local ownership is linked with local production, local investing, local purchasing and local employment. "Even if the first steps are small and controversial, they are worth taking" Michael Shuman

An exploration of the emergence of social enterprises as agents for the delivery of social and environmental benefits. An examination of the types of enterprises that are especially well-suited to the community-level economy, and of how the participants could become involved in helping to create or support social enterprises in their own communities.

Introduction to the theory and practice of social enterprises
Exposure to social entrepreneurs at Findhorn
Visualisation exercise to align participants with roles they could potentially play in helping to create or to support a social enterprise within their own community
Social auditing

Nurturing Local Economies: Community Banks and Currencies

" If people living in an area cannot trade among themselves without using money issued by outsiders, their local economy will always be at the mercy of events elsewhere. ~The first step for any community aiming to become more self-reliant is therefore to establish its own currency system" - Richard Douthwaite

An exploration of the key role of money in determining the health of global and local economies and of how we can make it our servant rather than our master.

Exploration of how money works and the various impacts of the current monetary system
Exploration of how money systems (global and local) could be reformed to encourage greater equity and sustainability
Theory and practice of community and alternative currencies
Exposure to Findhorn's community currency and bank
Examples of thriving community economies from around the world

Legal and Financial

" While these questions may seem technical, their answers reflect your community‚s basic values....Does this legal entity inherently support your community‚s vision, mission and values? Does it support your ownership, financing and decision-making structure" - Diana Leafe Christian

A review of the various legal, ownership and financial options available both for ecovillages and social enterprises within them.

Overview of financial and legal issues to be taken into consideration when launching and managing social enterprises and ecovillages
Feasibility studies
Business plans
Different forms of capital, their uses and how to raise them
Creating abundance visualisation

Dreams into Reality

" Do not be afraid to build castles in the air.
That is where they belong.
But once the dreams are in place,
Your job is to build the foundations under them." - Henry David Thoreau

Group work in which the participants, with assistance from faculty, pull together the various threads explored and the different tools they have acquired during the week, to develop specific projects they will undertake when back in their home communities. Participants may choose to work on individual projects or to cluster around project 'champions' who have more advanced plans for specific initiatives, helping them to turn their dreams into reality. The groups will be encouraged to engage in this process on multiple levels, including meditation and visualisation, follow-up visits to support people and facilities that have provided information and inspiration through the week, drawing and painting their visions, etc.

Dreams into Reality Continued and Final Group Presentation

Participants will complete their Dreams into Reality visioning exercises and report back to the full group. Regional and theme-based support groups may form. Participants are invited to commit themselves to initiatives back in their home places.

Review of the month and completion.

Jonathan Dawson is the President of the Global Ecovillage Network (GEN) and the Executive-Secretary of GEN-Europe. He is a socio-economist, with over 20 years experience working in the field of community economic development in Africa and South Asia. During this time, we has worked for the United Nations and may governmental and non-governmental aid agencies.

For the last six years, Jonathan has been living at the Findhorn ecovillage in northern Scotland. During this time, he has been active in helping to establish the community's alternative currency (the Eko) as well as teaching Applied Sustainability and Sustainable Economics up to undergraduate level.

Jonathan is a widely published author, with publications on local economic development and various dimensions of ecovillage living. Many of these articles can be found at http://gen.ecovillage.org/iservices/publications/articles.php

Jonathan is author of the book Ecovillages: New Dimensions of Sustainability that has just been published by Green Books in the UK.

The EDE is being introduced to the world at this time to complement, correspond with, and assist in setting a standard for the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development 2005-2014.

Training fees
For the whole programme
£1595 payable by participants with low income
£1835 payable by participants with medium income
£2125 payable by participants with high income
£455/£515/£605 per module according to income

Fees include tuition, accommodation, vegetarian meals and field trips.

Please complete the Application Form and Enrolment Questionnaire

Enquiries by e-mail: bookings@findhorn.org

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*If you cannot afford the full fee, please check out our bursary guidelines.

* If you can afford to pay more than the full fee for this programme, your donation will be gratefully received and used to help those who cannot afford the whole fee.

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