"THE GREEN ROAD" - LØS & GEN UKRAINE

The green road - THE EFFORT DURING THE WAR IN UKRAINE

Eco-communities in Ukraine and large parts of Europe, including Denmark, have shaped a “green way” with safety and shelter for people fleeing the war. The unity in eco-communities and housing communities proves strong in times of crisis. The strength of the community is that we can do much more together than separately. To date, around 3000 people have sought refuge in around 40 eco-communities around Ukraine. In Denmark, Danish eco-communities continue to house people who are affiliated with the eco-communities movement in Ukraine. This is civil society at its strongest. The difference between landing in an eco-community compared to a refugee camp is that you become part of a living community, from day 1.

LØS has received support through the DERF-fund at CISU to enable the eco-communities in Ukraine to receive internally displaced people by offering emergency aid; primarily housing, beds, blankets, medicine and food, but also healing, a sense of belonging, being able to participate in healthy communities of practice and paying attention to a more normalized everyday life for the children in particular. Since then, we have followed up with the project IDPowerment, which is about learning new things such as cultivating the land through permaculture and learning how to behave in a community.

Read the latest press release here.

If you want to read more, here it is: interview (in english) with the president of GEN Ukraine, Maksim Zalevskyi, an article (in english) and a podcast (in english). 

The map shows an overview of available eco-communities across Europe – it is continuously updated and can be found online here.

FILM: "THE GREEN ROAD PROJECT: A HOME AWAY FROM HOME"

The film “The Green Road Project: a home away from home” takes us on a tour of Ukraine, where the president of GEN Ukraine (Maksym Zalevskyi), along with a team of volunteers, visits eco-communities that host people who have had to leave their homes in the cities.

Thanks to the “Green Road” project, more than 3,000 people have found a new home in Ukrainian eco-communities during the war. In the film you can meet some of those who were forced to leave their homes and create a new life for themselves. Caroliva from the Hallingelille Eco-Community near Ringsted was on the trip.

Mere information kan findes på: GEN Ukraines hjemmeside om the Green Road Project.

Idea for the film: Maksym Zalevskyi

Producers: ‘GEN Ukraine’ & Landsforeningen for Økosamfund

Financed by Civilsamfund i Udvikling (Denmark)

The film can be found in different versions;

CONTINUED APPEAL TO SUPPORT UKRAINE

LØS has supported our colleagues and friends from the first day of the war, GEN Ukraine, in their mobilization to help internally displaced people find temporary homes in Ukrainian eco-communities. We are in daily contact with the people from GEN Ukraine and have been continuously collecting funds from private individuals and initially from GAIA Trust. Before the DERF grants from CISU, it was these funds that got us through in the beginning.

But we continue to collect, among other things so that the Ukrainian eco-communities can establish natural playgrounds so that the children can live a more normal childhood life. Currently, we are collecting for summer camps for the children. Optional support amounts can be transferred via MobilePay 98365 or account 5331 0244889. We collect through our friends in 100% for the children.

ABOUT THE PARTNERSHIP WITH GEN UKRAINE

As one of the world’s oldest national networks for eco-communities, LØS has a close collaboration with one of the newest eco-communities network GEN Ukraine.  

It is part of GEN Europe’s focus to connect new and old networks to make the overall movement stronger. It is exciting for us to work with Ukraine.

and more Western-oriented eco-communities. Politically, this can create tensions, but eco-communities build bridges where others build walls. LØS and GEN Ukraine have carried out several CISU projects together. It has been about building the movement in Ukraine, mobilizing and setting direction.

Through this collaboration, GEN Ukraine has held the following activities:

A ‘mapping’ of eco-community initiatives in Ukraine – Conferences to bring together stakeholders and strategize – An EDE, i.e. a 4-week eco-community course – Regional activities with visits to eco-communities – Videos about sustainability during the Covid lockdown – Participation in the Sustainability Festival in Denmark autumn 2020

This ‘recipe’ for starting a network has been developed by LØS through its CISU projekt i Ghana, who have managed to build a strong movement with the same activities. We call it ‘Launch and Thrive’.

GEN Ukraine and LØS are partners in an Erasmus+ project with the same name, where we harvest and disseminate the results. Contact the project coordinator Camilla, if you want to join the Ukraine project.