A European project to make financial, legal and organisational knowledge more accessible to eco-communities and community-led housing

 

Across Europe, community-led housing is gaining attention as a way to create more sustainable, affordable and collectively governed places to live. Ecovillages attract many young adults (18–30), motivated by housing insecurity, climate urgency and the search for alternative economic models. Their goals are often to support regenerative living, and reduce living costs and financial pressure by sharing facilities, mobility and energy systems.

 

 

However, establishing a community is not straightforward. Accessing ethical finance, acquiring land, choosing appropriate legal and ownership structures, and developing collective governance require specific knowledge and can become barriers that cut short citizens’ ambitions to pursue alternatives.

 

Through COFFEE, LØS and six other European partner organisations will make relevant knowledge accessible by developing a training pathway for Community Finance Facilitators (CFFs), who will support communities in navigating the financial, legal and governance aspects of community-led housing.

 

 

Why the project is needed 

At LØS, we believe that experience developed within one community should be able to benefit others. COFFEE builds on expertise already existing across Europe and turns it into a practical training pathway for facilitators, who can then support communities within their own networks, including those in rural and peri-urban areas.

COFFEE brings together seven partner organisations from across Europe:

• Global Ecovillage Network of Europe (GEN Europe) – Germany
• LØS – Landsforeningen for Økosamfund – Denmark
• Rete Italiana Villaggi Ecologici (RIVE) – Italy
• Stichting EcodorpenNetwerk – Netherlands
• Les Pas-Sages – France
• Iscte – Conhecimento e Inovação – Portugal
• RIPESS Europe – Luxembourg

In addition, Switzerland participates through GEN Suisse as an associated partner. GEN Suisse will run an additional Swiss pilot alongside those in Denmark and Italy and contribute its expertise in cooperative housing and community finance.

 

 

Through a series of activities, COFFEE will make community finance knowledge easier to access: 

 

 

1. A common framework for Community Finance Facilitators

The project will develop a competence framework defining the knowledge and skills needed to support community-led projects with financial, legal and governance questions.

 

2. The COFFEE Academy

A seven-module learning programme will combine online learning with practical experience. The COFFEE Academy will bring together knowledge and tools that are currently spread across different organisations, sectors and countries.

 

3. Training Community Finance Facilitators

A first group of facilitators will take part in a Training of Trainers programme, preparing them to use the COFFEE approach and share it with others.

 

4. Working with real communities

The trained facilitators will put their knowledge into practice by working with real community groups. The first pilots will take place in Denmark and Italy, giving the project the opportunity to test the approach in two different cultural and regulatory contexts and use these experiences to improve the training.

 

 

5. Open educational resources

The COFFEE Academy and its educational materials will be openly available for other communities, facilitators and organisations to use and adapt them.

For LØS, this is an important part of the project. Access to knowledge should not depend on whether a new community has the resources to pay for specialised expertise. By making the educational materials openly available, the experience gathered through COFFEE can continue to support new communities beyond the organisations and countries directly involved in the project.

 

6. A European network of facilitators

COFFEE will establish a Community of Practice where facilitators can continue to exchange experiences, knowledge and support. In this way, the project aims to create connections that can continue after the formal project period.

 

Building on knowledge from across Europe

For LØS, participating in COFFEE is an opportunity to contribute experience from the Danish ecovillage movement while bringing knowledge from European partners back to communities in Denmark. At the same time, the project strengthens our international network and our capacity to support communities in the future.

By collecting, testing and openly sharing knowledge, COFFEE aims to help future community groups find the support they need to turn their ideas into viable and collectively governed projects.

 

 

The project also aims to supports inclusion and diversity. Community-led housing can provide permanently affordable, non-speculative alternatives for people who are increasingly priced out of conventional housing markets. Through its blended Academy, COFFEE also makes training more accessible to practitioners in rural and peri-urban areas, who are often less well served by mainstream adult education.

 

 

Project period: December 31, 2026 – June 29, 2029.

 

 

The project is funded through Erasmus+ Cooperation Partnerships in Adult Education.