FAQs

An ecovillage is an intentional, traditional or urban community that is consciously designed through locally owned participatory processes in all four Areas of Regeneration (social, culture, ecology and economy) to regenerate social and natural environments.

If you want to  visit or join an ecovillage/community project, it is best to contact them directly via email. On our ecovillage map you can find all the projects that are currently posting their information with GEN, including contact details. We are in the process of updating our ecovillage database so check back with the ecovillages about their current state, especially when you can see that they haven’t updated their profile since a while.

For your individual journey with an ecovillage from our ecovillage map, GEN Australia can not take the responsibility for your experience as we are not directly working with the ecovillages on the ground.

Please contact us if you would like to find out more information, we might be able to provide some feedback.

One of the most joyful things you can do collectively, is to start a community. Creating a community in Australia however is a complex multi-level process and can take much time and energy. You will need to consider various aspects, plan and design using holistic thinking and ensure there is active engagement from your group or forming community. Check out some tips for creating an ecovillage here.

If you have already started your community and have a location, you can create a profile on our ecovillage map so people can find/hear about you.

The easiest way to find an ecovillage in a specific area and with specific criteria is by using our ecovillage map where you can search by name, country and type of community.

For knowing more details about the ecovillages please contact them directly.

Unfortunately, GEN Australia does not have the finances to fund projects/ecovillages. We are constantly working on increasing our capacity so that we can directly support more projects on-the-ground.

We are happy to hear more about your community or project and support you within our capacity. Please contact us to connect directly with one of our team members.

GEN’s Online Learning Platform can support you with a diverse range of online courses and free resources to develop your own project

We invite you to add your project to our ecovillage database/map or to our Solution Library.

Due to capacity, we cannot share crowdfunding/project links on our Facebook page or other social media. We receive quite a few requests like this, which is why we have a policy to only share requests from long-standing partners from our network with prior notice.

If you would like to learn more about the ecovillage movement in Australia and help to shape its future, we invite you to join one of our working groups. You can deepen your connections with the network and collaborate on projects both internally and externally. We have working groups in many different areas and are continuously seeking passionate people to join our teams.

• If you want to volunteer with GEN Australia, you can sign up here as a volunteer. Please note that the majority of volunteer opportunities with GEN Australia are task and project-based, remote support. This means you don't have to be in a community to offer this type of support. For example, you could be helping with communicating upcoming GEN Australia events, using your design skills to create communication and educational materials, checking if our ecovillage database is up-to-date, or writing an article.

• If you want to volunteer on-the-ground in a community and in an ecovillage, for example by supporting a permaculture project, learning natural building, developing off-grid energy systems, or similar, then please contact ecovillages directly that you can find on our Map of Ecovillages for Australia. In this case each ecovillage has its own volunteer requirements and conditions for volunteering. GEN Australia is not responsible for the quality of any experience within the ecovillages, it's the ecovillage responsibility. We advice you to connect to other volunteers, and the ecovillages itself if you are facing any issues.

• We get a lot of requests to volunteer with GEN Australia and we don't have the capacity to reply to or accommodate everyone all the time. You are welcome to contact us more than once if we haven't immediately replied to your inquiry. We have a lot going on and appreciate your generous spirit. We will reach out as we have projects you can plug into.

There are many ways you can support GEN Australia.

• If you part of a community, create a user profile and register your project on our ecovillage database
• You can contribute tangibly by donating once-off or becoming a sustaining donor.
• You can join our social media channels and keep up to date with events and news.
• If you want to dive deeper into the work of GEN Australia, GENOA and our international network, and wish to get involved with us we are happy for you to join our online GEN Introduction Course.

GEN Australia partners with networks, movements, associations, non-governmental organisations, government offices and ministries, and academia to share resources and to collaborate on events and projects. If your organisation falls into one of these categories and you would like to work with us on a specific funded project, please contact us.

If you are a recognized organisation providing ecovillage education or hosting events aligned with GEN Australia’s vision, mission and goals, working with the ecovillage principles and interested in collaborating with us, please contact us.

GEN is first and foremost a network, not an organisation, but it is serviced and coordinated on different levels through several organisations. GEN International is one organisation, existing within the network providing a global support, network weaving and amplifying services on a global scale that require global coordination (e.g. data collection and visibility of the global network, support for inter-regional communities of practice, online platforms) and supporting the transition to sustainable livelihoods and self-sustaining organisational models for all parts of the network. Like GEN International, GENOA is one organisation within a greater network fabric, working to grow and strengthen relationships, collaboration, cross-pollination and the emergence of joint projects in Asia and Oceania.

GEN Australia like its sisters networks above, exists to support the network of ecovillages, communities and projects in Australia and collaborates on projects and events with like-minded organisations and networks within the country. By having a strong national ecovillage network, we can raise the profile of Australia ecovillages, advocate ecovillage solutions and ensure wider dissemination of whole systems design and regenerative practices.