We know that living in community can be some of the most beautiful – and challenging – work of human life. In order to support those seeking to live in community, as well as those who already do so, we offer a range of learning opportunities, often through European-funded projects. Here you can see a selection of some of our flagship education offerings. Watch out on our social media and news pages for dates and details of future trainings!
Sociocracy
Sociocracy is a form of organisational governance and decision-making that is rapidly gaining traction in regenerative movements and organisations worldwide as an efficient and inclusive way to create effective, agile and resilient organisations. Through guiding principles of equivalence, operating via consent, in circles of peers with a double-linked feedback loop, sociocracy seeks to make swift and efficient decisions that draw on the collective intelligence of a group and allow for continuous improvement.
GEN Europe and our members and partners run trainings in sociocracy throughout the year.
Graphic Facilitiation
Better communication means better decision making. As ecovillages, we are dedicated to exploring means for clearer, more effective and engaging communication in all contexts, from meetings to trainings.
Graphic facilitation with its visual language catches the eye and sparks joy
and imagination. This becomes especially relevant for youth workers and youth leaders, where communication is a crucial aspect in each stage of our activities and clearly influences the dynamics and motivation of groups and individuals. Graphic facilitation can be a unique way to facilitate by the
use of simple visual drawing techniques to help groups to “see what others think”. The method helps to achieve common understanding and direction, and it improves commitment and results at meetings, through processes and in projects.
GEN Europe and its members run annual Graphic Facilitation trainings with experts in the discipline through the SHOW IT project.
Project Creation
Our Project Creation trainings, held by members with years of experience in applying for EU funds, helps participants navigate the Erasmus+ project system and design engaging projects and trainings that are designed to succeed.
CLIPS
CLIPS (Community Learning Incubator Programme for Sustainability) is a GEN Europe programme to assist community groups and collective projects of various kinds in their processes towards becoming tangible and solid organisations. It was developed over the last five years by 12 GEN Europe national networks with the support of the Erasmus + EU programme.
The CLIPS model offers tools for self-assessment and verification of the group’s health status to assess the difficulties encountered and the progress achieved. After careful analysis of the group, its strengths and critical points, the CLIPS facilitator will be able to define and agree on an effective action plan to support the community in its next steps towards greater sustainability, longevity and effectiveness.
The CLIPS programme also provides a framework that includes trainings, mentoring, an IT platform, a table game and a CLIPS Guide with a strong focus on the social aspects of community building.
