Learning Communities in Rural Europe a Handbook
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LEARNING COMMUNITIES IN RURAL EUROPE A HANDBOOK EMBERCOMBE • FOCUS ECO CENTER • GARDEN OF GENERATIONS • KLEIN JASEDOW • SLUNÁKOVˇ This handbook is part of the results of the three-year’s Erasmus+ project »Strategic Partnership ›Learning Communities in Rural Europe‹« and was co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union. LEARNING COMMUNITIES WWW.LEARNING-COMMUNITIES.EU IN RURAL EUROPE A HANDBOOK COMPOSED BY EMBERCOMBE—UNITED KINGDOM FOCUS ECO CENTER—TRANSYLVANIA/ROMANIA GARDEN OF GENERATIONS—AUSTRIA Learning Communities in Rural Europe COMMUNITY OF KLEIN JASEDOW—GERMANY A Handbook © copyright 2017 Drachen Verlag GmbH, Klein Jasedow, Germany SLUNÁKOVˇ —CZECH REPUBLIC Published under a Creative Commons (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0) license. All photographs were contributed by the individual projects. Edited by Lara Mallien, Matthias Fersterer, and Johannes Heimrath Book design by Johannes Heimrath ISBN 978-3-947296-01-9 TABLE OF CONTENTS PART I—TELLING OUR STORIES 122 2.2.5 Ways of Cooperation within Each 183 2.5 EDUCATIONAL PRACTICE PART III—SHARING INSIGHTS Organisation —Commoning 184 2.5.1 Sharing Examples and Principles of 9 1.1 INTRODUCTION 128 2.2.6 Ways of Integrating Different Transformative Learning 251 3.1 WELL-TRIED TOOLS, METHODS AND Person alities, Abilities, and Levels 190 2.5.2 Approaches of Formal and PRINCIPLES FOR COMMUNITY BUILDING AND 23 1.2 HOW WE BECAME WHAT WE ARE of Commitment Informal Learning ORGANISATION 24 1.2.1 Embercombe, England 134 2.2.7 Coping with Stress, Finding a Balance 196 2.5.3 How Do We Enable Learners to Lead 252 3.1.1 Embercombe 28 1.2.2 Focus Eco Center, Transylvania Between Dynamic Development, a »Good Life« in Rural Europe? 256 3.1.2 Focus Eco Center 34 1.2.3 Garden of Generations, Austria Silence, Recreation and Celebration 264 3.1.3 Garden of Generations 42 1.2.4 Klein Jasedow, Germany 201 2.6 CONTINUITY AND EVOLUTION 268 3.1.4 Klein Jasedow 50 1.2.5 Sluňákov, Czech Republic 141 2.3 REGIONAL RELATIONSHIPS 202 2.6.1 Fragility: Why Are LCRE Endangered 278 3.1.5 Sluňákov 142 2.3.1 Regional Relationships to the Local Species? PART II—SHARING OUR EXPERIENCES Social Environment 210 2.6.2 How Can the Spirit of a Project Evolve 281 3.2 CHALLENGES AND ECOURAGEMENTS 148 2.3.2 Regional Relationships to and Stay Connected to the Initial 282 3.2.1 How to Read this Chapter 57 2.1 PREREQUISITES FOR STARTING A Local Authorities Vision? 284 3.2.2 Searching and Finding LEARNING COMMUNITY 152 2.3.3 Regional Relationships to Local 216 2.6.3 Next Generation and Elders 286 3.2.3 Visionaries and Followers 58 2.1.1 Ethical and Philosophical Background Educational Institutions 220 2.6.4 Approaches to Achieving Economic 288 3.2.4 Economics 64 2.1.2 The Call—Power of Vision 156 2.3.4 How Do We Contribute to the Resilience Stability, Dealing with Growth 290 3.2.5 Local Relationships 70 2.1.3 Legacy and Tradition of Our Regions? 226 2.6.5 How Do We Avoid Burnout and 292 3.2.6 Endurance 76 2.1.4 Political Situation that Enabled Self-Exploitation? the Start 163 2.4 BEING NATURE 295 APPENDIX 80 2.1.5 Enablers, Facilitators, Initiators 164 2.4.1 Agriculture, Growing Food, 231 2.7 STRUCTURE AND INFRASTRUCTURE 296 A Brief Digression to Values 86 2.1.6 Synchronicities and Lucky Situations Nurturing the Land 232 2.7.1 Ownership, Legal Structure 300 Further Reading 92 2.1.7 Academic Support 168 2.4.2 Perception of Landscape, Shaping 236 2.7.2 Fundraising Approaches 302 The Authoring Group of LCRE 94 2.1.8 Means of Communicating the Vision Nature, Allowing Wilderness 240 2.7.3 Economic Sources (Companies, 174 2.4.3 Genius Loci, Resacralisation of Fundraising, Subsistence) 101 2.2 WORKING TOGETHER Landscape 244 2.7.4 External Accountability 102 2.2.1 What Does Community Mean for 178 2.4.4 Rootedness, Becoming and Being Each Organisation? Native, Bioregional Identity, 106 2.2.2 Leadership, Power, Decisionmaking Finding and Losing »Heimat« 112 2.2.3 Audience and Resonance 116 2.2.4 Attracting Collaborators, Supporters, Friends, and Networking into Society 4 | Table of Contents Table of Contents | 5 PART I TELLING OUR STORIES EMB EMBERCOMBE FEC FOCUS ECOCENTER GDG GARDEN OF GENERATIONS KJ KLEIN JASEDOW SL SLUNÁKOVˇ 7 1.1 INTRODUCTION Klein Jasedow Embercombe Sluňákov Garden of Generations Focus Eco Center 1.1 Introduction | 9 1.1 How We Started this Project existing infrastructure and meanwhile reflect on their future learning journey. Embercombe also offers pro- INTRODUCTION When five socio-ecological educational organisations from five different European countries decided to cooper- grammes for children in cooperation with local schools and organises public events. It is managed by a trust. ate under the motto »Learning Communities in Rural Europe« (LCRE), they started a research journey to unravel the meaning of this term. It had been coined in the hamlet Klein Jasedow in North East Germany where nu- Focus Eco Center merous variations of formal and informal ways of learning are taking place. In spring 2014 the community run- In the valley of the river Niraj in Transylvania the members of Focus Eco Centre have established a number of ning this place of learning had asked themselves how these diverse and intertwining activities might be called, pioneering projects to demonstrate that traditional small-scale agriculture is ecologically and economically when viewed as a coherent whole. None of the usual terms, such as »centre for environmental education«, »cul- sustainable and should be the general orientation for the future development of rural regions. They show that tural centre«, »ecovillage«, »social business«, »organic farm«, or »centre for regional development« seemed to the human-made landscape of their valley has stayed so rich in biodiversity exactly because of the farming fit. »What do we end up with, when we combine all of these aspects?« was the question. »And why do we have activities that have taken place there for centuries, and that the social climate in the villages is so positive be- the impression, that all our various activties actually have the same core, being inspired by the same motiva- cause people are used to helping each other in various areas of agricultural work. Educational activities try to tion, making all these aspects combine and form a large single one organism?« promote this new paradigm for rural spaces. Focus Eco Center is based in a former school house in the village of With these questions in mind, the people from Klein Jasedow contacted a number of other projects whom Adrianu Mic. It mainly assists young locals in finding a job perspective in their rural area, but also connects city they imagined to be in a similar situation and eventually came to the idea of setting up a »Strategic Partner- dwellers with local farmers as well as young people from all over Europe. ship« according to the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union, thus making meetings and teamwork be- tween these partners affordable. During summer the group of five manifested itself, and in September 2014 the Garden of Generations project was ready to be officially launched. Garden of Generations is an emerging community in Lower Austria. It combines multigenerational co-housing, The now joined five »strategic partners« aimed to find out whether there would be a common denomina- ecological building activities, participative organisation, ecosocial entrepreneurship, gardening as well as care tor in all their complex activities and whether the designation »learning communities in rural Europe« (LCRE) for the youngest and oldest. Apartment houses, offices, and communal spaces are currently planned according would, in fact, work as an adequate description. Could it be a role model for other multifaceted eco-social educa- to the principles of Christopher Alexander’s pattern language. The group organises itself by the method of soci- tional projects in the countryside? Are LCRE able to bring about positive societal change and, if so, how do they ocracy, so that overlapping circles of responsible people work on decisionmaking in different fields. provoke such change and how can they share their experiences? The founder of the project has developed the innovative tool »wealth pool«: A fund for short term and long This handbook is the main visible result of our common research on these questions. It was co-authored by term loans which is only used for investments into property that equal the value of the loans. A liquidity-re- all of the five organisations introduced below. serve of 10 percent is kept for back payments. This makes financial resources, which are not needed anywhere else at the moment, available for the investments of a meaningful project. Embercombe Embercombe is the name of a valley in a secluded region of county Devon in South West England. It was for- Klein Jasedow merly used by a milloniare as a private airfield, so it includes two former hangars which today provide room In the community of Klein Jasedow, a hamlet belonging to the municipality of the small town Lassan in North for workshops, the main kitchen, meeting spaces, and offices for an unconventional social educational project. East Germany close to the Baltic Sea, today 28 persons of four generations are sharing life and work in the form Embercombe offers various workshop-programmes that invite people to find their true purpose and meaning of commoning. They run the »European Academy of Healing Arts«—a non-for-profit educational center for in life through deep experiences in nature. Only a small number of people are permanently