SEKEM at the Annual GEN Africa Regional Conference

At the beginning of November, Mohammed Anwar, instructor for Education for Sustainable Development at Heliopolis University, was invited to present SEKEM at the 2018 GEN (Global Ecovillage Network) Africa annual regional conference in Hala Ochi, Zimbabwe.

GEN Africa was founded in SEKEM in 2012 to catalyse communities which are working towards a more regenerative world. The network connects initiatives and communities which bridge between cultures and countries and fosters trustful relationships, social resilience and environmental conservation by the concept of ecovillages as models for sustainable human settlements.

Kosha Joubert, founder and president of the Global Ecovillage Network Africa.

Lindah Kabaira from GEN Africa, who co-organized the conference, recently visited SEKEM for 5 weeks in order to write her PhD with the title “Exploring Alternatives to Sustainability and Climate Change Responses in Africa: Contributions of Autonomous Organisations and the SEKEM Interdisciplinary Approach.” She was co-supervised by Dr. Omar Ramzy, dean of the faculty of Business and Economics at HU.

Previous to the actual conference, Mohammed Anwar contributed to an event on the Ecovillage Design Education program by presenting SEKEM initiative’s new vision goals for 2057. Besides, he explained the approach of the program of the Centre of Education for Sustainable Development at Heliopolis University. The aim of the centre is to align education for sustainable development with the national Egyptian curricula and to embed it into schools, universities in informal and non-formal education. An important topic was also the sustainable management of project funds. Anwar reported that it is always crucial to think about how you can sustain the fund from the beginning on by rather asking for know-how than money, since money alone cannot solve all issues.

Mohamed Anwar, HU’s ESD Instructor, with Zimbabwean kids.

During the GEN Africa Regional Conference, Anwar could introduce a partnership between the permaculture education program SCOPE form Zimbabwe and SEKEM School. A connection was also established with the Zimbabwean ministers of education and environment. Additionally, new collaborations in the fields of Organic agriculture and youth exchange will be set up between SEKEM and two NGOs: Marrakesh Organics from Morocco and Arc-en-Ciel from Algeria.

Lilli Pohl

A fair and sustainable world is on its way: GEN Africa representatives in SEKEM
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