GEN-Europe quarterly report,July-September 2001

Index:

A) RECENT ACTIVITIES:
- Premises and equipment
- Work
- New nodes
- EU grant
- Meetings and Conferences
- Travel
- Staff
- Internet and website report
- Newsletter
- Sales of material
- Education
- Legal status, bank situation
- Fund-raising

B) FUTURE ACTIVITIES:
- Network Meetings
- Council / Board meetings
- Conferences


Recent activities

Premises and equipment
The summer was long and extremely intense, and it ended as you know with the largest forest fire in 50 years, which destroyed 150 hectares of Mediterranean forest all around us. Nobody was injured but the landscape now looks terrible and will get worse with the first autumn rains (which have not started yet, on October 30).
Our equipment is still the same, nothing new to mention.

Work:
July was focused on preparation and conduction of the General assembly in Poland. The settings was very interesting, in the former train station at Stacja Wolimierz, south-west Poland (near the border with Czech Republic). the day before our departure, quite magically, we received the envelope containing the EU grant contract from the Commission.

The Grant of Euros 72.000 was assigned by the EU Commission, General Directorate for Environment on June 20, 2001. The exact title is: "Activity funding grant for the period1/7/2001 - 30/6/2002". The EU fund will cover 50% of cost of the following activities and is matched with Euros 52.000 from Gaia Villages and an estimated Euros 20.000 from GEN-Europe (income from sale, financial contribution, bank interests and membership fees).

The grant was assigned to cover the following topics:
1. Costs of personnel assigned to the activities of the organisation, Euros35.000
2. Travel and subsistence costs of personnel participating in the activities of the organisation, Euros25.000
3. Equipment costs (depreciation only), Euros350
4. Durable equipment and stationary costs, Euros10.400
5. Printing, publications, translations, interpretation, Euros32.800
6. Sub-contracting and/or transfer of funds to partners, Euros32.850
7. Other costs (rent, heating, software), Euros8.000

Detail of activities:
1. will cover office salaries
2. includes the General assembly in Poland, Council meetings, national network meetings, co-ordination meetings
3. as said, depreciation only
4. includes stationery, phone, postage
5. it will cover newsletter, translation a new photo exhibit, a new GEN-Europe flyer, interpretation at meetings, slide shows
6. it includes printing costs for photo exhibit, web-mastering and hosting, production of a new Cd-rom
7. Office related costs

Some of the tasks have been assigned as follows:
- Agnieszka: photo exhibit, Cdrom, web-mastering
- Lucilla: graphic design with Cesc Martinez (a professional designer who will work in Torri in January/February), flyers, newsletter (with Kasimir), general administration (with accountant Antonello Marasco).
- Co-ordination of meetings will be done in partnership.

The first three months of accounting are presently being prepared by Antonello.

Important note: in FY 2001/2002 GEN-Europe will carry out other activities not covered by the EU grant such as:
- Educational activites, Euros 5000,
- Ecovillage Tourism co-ordination, Euros3500,
- Fundraising, Euros 6000
- Living and Learning Centres / South Development, Euros 11000,
- Other publications, Euros 8000.
Agnieszka's fundraising work is covered by these funds and is not part of the grant. The non-EU programs will be covered by Gaia Villages funds and by GEN-Europe buffer funds from previous year.

New nodes:
In the Middle East: we allocated and paid Euros 5000,- to Mete Hacaloglu to help him set up the sub-regional node. The work was give to a young talented woman, Berna Yilmaz, and a specific report will be presented to the Board meeting in Australia.
In Senegal: we supported the travel of a representative of the Senegal Ministry of Environment, Mr. Souleye Ndiaye, to attend the Colufifa meeting held in Denmark, in the hope this would reinforce the co-operation with the Senegal Government also for Living and Learning Centres and the emerging Ecovillage Network. A report from Marian Zeitlin (Eco Yoff) is expected for the Board meeting.

Meetings and conferences:
Report on 2001 network meeting of German intentional communities network "Come Together". Attending for GEN-Europe and reporting: Kasimir Reichmuth:
The 2001 meeting took place from 8 - 15th of July in Abentheuer in South West Germany. The inviting community was Goloka Dhama, a Hare Krishna settlement. For one week about 60-70 people gathered in workgroups every morning, in plenary sessions every noon, for slide-shows and presentations (i.e. GEN-Europe) in afternoons, and singing together in the evenings. Meals were prepared by Krishna devotees, meeting participants took only part in helping, serving and cutting.

The structure of the meeting is traditionally open to all kind of workgroups, provided they last from Monday to Friday. Topics are presented the first day and chosen by the interested people. This is an exciting moment of creation when individual ideas are tested as being relevant to the others or not.
The following topics were chosen: networking, mediation, healing.
The healing group focused on personal work throughout the five days of their meeting.
The mediation group discussed different methods of group crisis management and sharing the large experience from members of different communities.
The networking group used different holistic communication methods. It started with painting a large Mandala, followed by talking-stick rounds, then a workshop on laughing (with Roland Schutzbach, European Laughter Society) and meditations. This group consisted of different network reps, which presented themselves and had common themes to discuss. The constructive group-process led into two concrete projects, which were presented in plenary and brought to decision:
First: the presentation of different models of alternative economy that already exists or can easily be created.
Second: organising for summer 2003 a one-week meeting of cultural creatives, different networks, communities and organizations is planned.
I presented GEN-Europe with a speech followed by a slideshow. Main topics were the general structure of GEN, including changes in the international structure, a variety of GEN-E activities such as EU and private fundraising, "Twin Villages" and "Ecovillage Travels" programs. I presented also activities from EVNUK and the Danish network LØS, i.e. their well organized idea of asking the Danish government to support Danish Ecovillages according to Agenda 21. As a GEN representative I experienced a lot of good energy and ideas for our organisation. People were very interested in the concepts we developed and the work we do.
The meeting ended with a party on Saturday evening, a celebration partially mixed with residents of the Krishna community.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY IN POLAND:
I quote from Agnieszka´s report:
"(...) Wolimierz is a semi-abandoned village with an old train station in the process of being converted into a multifunctional community centre. This project started in 1990, when students from the nearby theatre school looked for a place where they could develop their art and stay together as a group. They found an abandoned train station and settled down in the area. Today, there are 25 families living around the station, most of them working with theatre or music.
The two weeks GEN-Europe team spent at the "Stacja" (Polish for "train station") were full of interesting encounters with the inhabitants and the Polish alternative movement. We witnessed the intense preparation for the GEN-Europe assembly and the "Interplanetary Ecovillage Festival" and practically have seen the place being transformed little by little into an international venue, not without a good doses of Polish inventiveness and improvisation, a great international team and … rain.

Despite the weather and worrying news of floods in southern Poland, GEN-Europe was able to hold three events in Wolimierz:
- Facilitation and Consensus Course with Beatrice Briggs from the ecovillage of Huehuecoyotl, Mexico; July 10-15
- GEN-Europe Assembly of Members, July 16-19
- The Interplanetary Ecovillage Festival, July 20-22
The course was part of GEN-Europe education programme, whereas the annual meeting and the festival were focused on networking and discussion the activities of GEN-Europe. About 50 participants from 15 European countries plus representatives from Senegal, USA, Brazil and Mexico came to the meeting.

In particular the consensus and facilitation course has turned out to be a good "warm up" exercise before the assembly. Bea Briggs skilfully led us through the basic pits and falls of facilitation and focused on consensus as a process of co-operative decision making, its values, challenges in implementation and role in social change. The 10 graduates from the course had an immediate opportunity to practice what they have learned during the GEN-Europe meeting by being part of the facilitation team headed by Beatrice. And what a great team it was! This experience, both external facilitation of the meeting (Bea Briggs) and working with a team glued together through a common interest, experience and involvement has turned out to be a solid fundament for a successful meeting. It will certainly have an influence on the way GEN-Europe future meetings will be organised.

The assembly of members was, in its origins, planned to support ecovillages and networks in Eastern Europe. Unfortunately out of 5 invited Russian participants only one could come. However with numerous participation from the Polish Dabrowka (30 year old Polish intentional community) and representatives from Slovakia, Czech Republic and Hungary we tried to make up for the absence of the Russians.

During the assembly all present members celebrated the EU grant with champagne and a small ritual to mark this threshold in the history of our association. This recognition is a great incentive to go on with our activities and keep on developing a common dream for the ecovillages and the Planet. As one of the participants said: "The dream is possible when the dream and the dreamer become just one".

Both during the course and the assembly the activities at the site were frantic. Music and theatre groups were rehearsing, new people were arriving, the infrastructure was constantly being improved and prayers sent to the weather gods.
During the festival the remaining ecovillagers have organised a spontaneous meeting with the festival guests. (...) Wiktor, the director of "Puppets Clinic" of the three theatres in Stacja Wolimierz organises festivals each year, always with an ecological theme running through. Last year the festival was dedicated to the Polish Alternative Village Network (about 2000 came) and this year to GEN-Europe. Probably due to the weather, only about 300 people turned out. Using the occasion, "Puppets Clinic" improvised a protest action to protect a mountain that a Swedish company wants to use as material to build highways. This type of event offers an alternative forum, something that hasn't disappeared in Poland despite of "legalisation" of the underground movement. And there is an enormous power behind it: A technical equipment in value of about 40.000 USD was gathered and put at Wolimierz´s disposition by friends and famous musicians; The office was turned into a professional music studio; Music CDs were burned overnight and sold the next day; A radio station was installed on the roof and transmitted the music in a radius of 100 km, etc., etc. All that with symbolic governmental support (Euroregion) of 400,- USD.

It is difficult to measure the effects of such a gathering either through membership numbers or people that showed their interest; and it is even more difficult to find out what impact it might have on our future. Here and now I can say that we have strengthened the bonds among us, we have worked with the energy of the group and the place and got more experience that has made the organisation grow. We are only at the beginnings of this great journey and, dear passengers, the next station is…"

The Polish film director Michal Tarkowski is producing a documentary on the assembly, with interviews, music and parts of the meeting; it will hopefully be ready and available for distribution for the end of the year.

The official minutes are available on our website at:

www.gen-europe.org/archives/meetings/assemblys/

COUNCIL MEETING IN TORRI
The last GEN-Europe Council meeting was held in Torri Superiore on September 29-October 3. It will be reported in the last trimester as the minutes are still under discussion.

Travel
Lucilla represented GEN-Europe at Festambiente in August:

The 13th edition of the National Legambiente Festival "Festambiente" was held in Rispescia, Grosseto (Italy) from August 3 to 19. As a result of the meeting I had with Angelo Gentili, the main organiser, in Paestum during the Alliance International convention, for the first time the ecovillage movement was invited to participate with its own stand and a public presentation.
The RIVE / GEN stand was set up and managed by AAM Terra Nuova, with the support of the Bagnaia Community and Torri Superiore Cultural Association. Massimo and I took part on Aug. 16, 17 and 18. In spite of the limited space available, we found a way to set up the GEN-Europe photo exhibition, to organise an information desk, hand out the Italian version of the GEN International flier and the brand new RIVE brochure, specially prepared for the occasion. Interesting contacts and exchange of materials were made with the SUM (Stati Uniti del Mondo) organisation (a network of anti-global peace workers), with the Baha´i representatives, with Greenpeace. Another positive aspect was that we approached many people outside the ecovillage movement who showed a great interest in ecovillages.
The presentation was chaired a professional journalist, Paola Costa, and lead by myself (on GEN and GEN-Europe), Checco Gagnin (from Bagnaia, on RIVE), and Massimo Candela (from Torri, on ecovillages and Permaculture). Apart from the somehow meagre public, there was a good level of attention and at the end the local television channel Tele Tirreno (broadcast from Genoa to Rome) gave me a 5 minutes live interview for their news program.

Staff
When Agnieszka came to Torri at the end of August for a co-ordination meeting, we worked on a strategy for staff to cover Cristina's maternity leave, my travel to Australia, Kasimir's travel to Germany + holidays, and Christmas break. Eduard Gonzales (GEN-Europe member and long time friend) will volunteer at the office in November and December to help Cristina while I am away; Cesc Martinez (a professional graphic designer) will work in January and February on graphic style and new publications. Cristina will get back to work on March 1. The office will be closed for Christmas Dec. 24-January 6.

Internet and website report:
Email traffic:
Lucilla (lucilla@gen-europe.org): in 703, out 585, Mailing lists traffic: Elders List 170, Council list 127, other lists (Rive, Forum, Phoenix, Collaborative, Board Finance) 92.
Cristina (info@gen-europe.org): in 563, out 252 plus national mailing lists (Portugal 9, Ekilat - Turkey 24, France 40, Eco-solidale - Italy 6)
Kasimir (kasimir@gen-europe.org), in 319, out 221.

Developments on the GEN-Europe website: by Agnieszka Komoch
In August the staff held a meeting about the GEN-Europe website. As a result, Agnieszka made a new navigation model for the website and presented it to the rest of the staff. She also dialogued with Rolf about the necessity of giving GEN-Europe full use of our domain (www.gen-europe.org) and placing the web-pages in a separate folder, so we avoid long URLs. The result of this e-mail dialogue was that it is up to the person responsible of website development to decide weather GEN-Europe can go back to its domain or not. Rolf does not feel he can take that decision, as it would split up the website.
At this moment GEN-Europe badly needs:
- own navigation system
- own graphic lay-out
- use of our domain (to be more user-friendly).
In case GEN-Europe would drop out of the main navigation system, we would still try to create a feeling that we belong to a global movement (through links, graphics and the logo). At the moment no web development is possible, apart from normal updates on html pages.

Newsletter:
(Kasimir Reichmuth)
I have been collecting articles and sending some already out. Articles till now are: General Assembly report (Agnieszka), Lotan news (Michael Livni), German community study (Peter Dangelmayer), article on the French network, reports on ICSA and ICM, announcement of "Restore the Earth" conference at Findhorn, article on alternative health insurances ARTABANA (Roland Koller Switzerland, still waiting for the English version) and more still coming in.
Magazines are:
- LØS, Denmark
- AAM Terra Nuova, Italy
- Forum Ambiente, Portugal
- Come together, Germany
others where the publishing dates are still not clear:
- GEA , Spain
- Pozytywne Wiadomosci, Poland (Nicole has got the articles but didn't inform on the time schedule)
- Bugday, (they seem to have had their last issue in the end of August, I am re-checking with them)
- L'ecologiste, France (Jean-Michel wants to help establishing the contact)
Other Magazines:
UK: Simon Fairlie (Chapter 7) is giving advice for UK magazine
Russia: I asked Volodya and Vasudeva for a Russian magazine.

Sales of material:
We are selling a few copies of the Directory (Cristina is VERY convincing over the phone) and recently received 60 copies of a musical CD from the Wolimierz Festival which we will sell at 15 Euros.

Education:
The "Consensus and Facilitation Course" held in Poland was the most important event for this trimester. A mailing list was created to keep the participants in touch with each other, and a survey is being carried out on use of consensus and facilitation in European ecovillages.
The educational meeting organised by LØS and held in Denmark will be reported in the next trimester.

Legal status, bank situation:
Nothing new to report. Our buffer funds are periodically re-invested in mid-term bonds to cut down on bank costs. Our bank does not deal in ethical funds, unfortunately, and the benefits they give us make it difficult to leave them for a larger one like Istituto San Paolo (which has one line of ethical funds, from time to time).

Fund-raising:
By Agnieszka Komoch:
In September, 4 possibilities for fundraising within the EU were identified:
1. Youth: deadline in February 2002
2. Culture 2000 deadline 15 Nov 2002
3. Support for environmental NGOs (the same grant we received this year). The program runs out this year. The ENV-DG has put out a proposal to go on with this support. At the moment there are no deadlines. More information will be available before Dec. 31
4. A programme from the Educational DG.
Objectives:
- To Develop an ongoing debate towards the following themes:
- European governance
- European citizenship
- The European social model
- Enlargement
- To Develop the organisation of networks in civil society.

In dialogue with the Council and Lucilla, Agnieszka decided to fundraise for the possibility number 4 using this programme to hold a conference and a seminar towards development of the European educational programme (planned for 2003). Agnieszka is currently working on this application.
Moreover, we are awaiting a deadline for option number 3.
In December Agnieszka is going to Brussels to participate in a conference about European governance organised by the DG Environment to establish some contacts and receive more orientation.

By Manuela Vullo:
My fund-raising activity in this period covered the following areas:
- In July I wrote application forms to ask for free computer equipment for our West Africa partners (3 requests sent to different enterprises);
- I collected information on various donors (through web-sites, newsletters, annual reports) mainly in the USA, to check which areas of GEN-Europe activity could fit with their grant programmes. In particular I focused on: Twin Villages, co-operation with East Europe, ecovillage tourism;
- I wrote presentation documents and cover letters to fundraise for the Ecovillages Travels 2002" project and for the next edition of GEN-Europe general assembly. I collected addresses of potential donors for both programmes, but I haven’t sent out the applications yet.

FUTURE ACTIVITIES

Network Meetings:
- Ekilat meeting at Eco Foca, October 27/31, organised by Tunca Bokesoy;
- Meeting of the Czeck network, 9-11 November, Permalot, organized by Max Jensen

Council / Board meetings:
- GEN-International Board meeting, Crystal Waters, Australia, November 24/31
- GEN-Europe Council meeting in Findhorn, March 25/29, 2002

Upcoming conferences and events:
- Planet´ERE II in Paris at the UNESCO, November 18/23, French Network delegation will attend; a special publication on GEN educational activities, co-ordinated by Jean Michel Pochat, is being prepared for the event;
- Possible conference in Auroville in partnership with EU, February 2002, Lucilla invited to represent GEN-Europe;
- UNITAR pre-Johannesburg 2002 Summit Workshops, from December 01 to June 02, series of GEN reps invited;
- Restore the Earth Conference, Findhorn, March 30 - April 5, 2002, GEN-Europe will present a workshop;- "Green Week", Brussels, April 15/20, organised by the EU General Directorate for Environment, GEN-Europe will present workshops, a photo exhibition and the new video.


Respectfully submitted,
Lucilla BorioTorri Superiore, October 31, Halloween and St. Lucilla´s day.