The Green Road of Ecovillages is a project of two NGOs, GEN Ukraine and ‘Permaculture in Ukraine’, that started already on the second day of the full-scale invasion, February 25 2022. These organisations joined forces, mobilized their networks (one of ecovillages and one of permaculture centers), and created a map of locations ready to accommodate people seeking short-term or long-term shelter. In partnership with Global Ecovillage Network Europe, we also created a map of European eco-communities ready to receive Ukrainian refugees.

THE GREEN ROAD MAP

Already in one month the map counted 70 locations in Ukraine and 300 in Western Europe. Since the beginning of the project around 3000 people have passed through our locations. In the beginning a lot of them stayed only for some time heading to the western border. That’s how the name of the project appeared - Green Road.

In fall 2022 we counted 600 IDPs (that’s how the refugees are called inside of the country) who decided to stay in our eco communities for winter. In fall 2023 there are around 300 `newcomers` who are still staying. These people are going to stay there at least till the end of the war or already became new community members.

The project Green Road of Ecovillages had several stages:

First, the emergency support. People who were coming often with one bag needed everything: food, medicines, clothes, sleeping places. And our task as coordinators was to find somewhere this support and to distribute it to the hosting locations.

When it became clear that the war was not going to end soon came the infrastructure stage. The old houses in which people were hosted needed renovation, bringing water inside, creating comfort. We provided that support and the communities did all the works. Good results were achieved thanks to solidarity, mutual support and combined efforts of several parties.

We paid special attention to food security. 35 greenhouses and a number of agriculture equipment were distributed so that locations that already knew how to grow food could scale up their activity and involve the newcomers into it. Two permaculture design courses were held to share knowledge about sustainable agriculture.

When little by little the basic needs were covered and people settled down, the stage of integration came. We conducted several Soft Skills Courses with home seminars (when course graduates spread the acquired knowledge in their community), mediation weeks, in cooperation with other organisations we provided psychological support to people. The purpose of these events was to help communities together with new people to get along, make joint decisions, and easily resolve conflicts.

Care for children. Thanks to the support of foundations and benefactors, we provided a number of locations with playgrounds and sports equipment, toys and games, equipment for summer camps, and New Year's gifts. And in the summer of 2023, the ‘Caravan of Masters’ project visited 8 locations and organized children's events there with art workshops and various activities.

We started solving the issue of mobility in eco-villages located in rural areas, with bad roads and long distances between the houses of community families, thanks to the transfer of used bicycles from Western Europe, their repair and conversion into electric bicycles.

Thanks to our Danish partners, 97 used laptops were given to adults and children of the network. This became a huge help in solving the issues of remote work and online schooling

In the winter of 2022-2023, a lot of effort was directed at helping locations survive the period of power outages - we handed over power banks, charging stations, generators, and flashlights to eco-villages.

 

The current stage of the Green Road project:

• support of vulnerable groups of people with food and clothing
• the development of common spaces in ecovillages, which enable communities to gather for communication, the development of their own organisational structures, their own projects, events for children, and cover the practical needs of a number of families (washing machines and showers)
• development of businesses in ecovillages to create jobs: craft food businesses, bicycle workshops, etc.
• provision of common spaces and individual homesteads with sustainable energy solutions - solar panels and rainwater collection systems
• educational direction - courses in communication skills, permaculture, business planning

 

This project proved how ecological communities can be of real help in times of crisis and how community-led initiatives can make positive change. 

Our locations still have a lot of needs and we would appreciate your support!

We believe that ecological communities will be drivers of sustainable change and examples of a new civil society in post-war Ukraine.

 

We have been supported by:

• The European network of ecovillages GEN Europe shelters Ukrainians in their settlements and collects donations for us. We have regular calls with the Council of the organization and with national coordinators for mutual support and development of the project.
• The Danish network of ecovillages LOES helped us receive a grant from the CISU Civil Society Development Fund, which currently covers the basic needs of internally displaced persons in our communities. LOES also collected and sent us humanitarian aid.
• Fondation de France has supported our project with a grant which objective is to improve the living conditions for people, provide alternative energy sources for self-sufficiency and small scale agricultural equipment to ensure food security.
• The project "German-Ukrainian cooperation in the field of organic agriculture" supported us with an information campaign and helped collect donations.
• Visegrad and Beyond Permaculture Partership added permaculture centers in the Visegrad region to the Green road map and established national coordinators for working with displaced persons.
• Global Village Institute for Appropriate Technology is conducting a fundraising campaign for the project.
• Gas Up Ukraine Canada is conducting a fundraising campaign to provide eco-villages with fuel.
• The initiative center for promoting the activity and development of the public initiative "Ednannya" believed in the importance of our project and supported 5 locations with finances for their development.
• The Mission Bambini Foundation has funded the purchase of 12 tablets for children's online schooling at our locations.
• Agro-Perma_Lab  conducts a fundraising company in Poland.
• The Dunau Soja Organisation supported our locations with organic food from Ukrainian producers.
• The organic agri-trading company Sunrise Foods supported our project with a corporate donation. 
• The charity fund of the British cosmetics brand LUSH supported the project with a grant for buying tanks for harvesting rainwater.
• The Hilti Foundation provided support for the purchase of power banks, charging stations and rechargeable flashlights to survive the difficult winter of 2022/2023.
• The Netherlands Network of Ecovillages Fund supports projects to implement sustainable solutions in Ukrainian ecological communities.
• And many more of our friends from all over the world, to whom we are extremely grateful!

 

Watch a film about the Green Road of Ecovillages:

trailer / short version 9 min / full vershion 30 min

  

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