The European Ecovillage Gathering is our most public and biggest community space where hundreds of people come together to form a temporary community for a few days. It is a space very dear to our hearts, where we wish to deeply embody and demonstrate the ecovillage values and practices. It is a space we are strongly committed to make as safe, respectful, inclusive, brave*, transformative, caring, nourishing and inspiring as possible – and we humbly keep on learning every year how to do so.

To ensure the best conditions for all during this event, we have developed a set of agreements, aspirations and collective boundaries. We ask every single one of our contributors to read these agreements, aspirations and boundaries and to fully commit to upholding them. The participant’s aspirations and the collective boundaries are also shared with all our Gathering attendees, and they are also asked to fully commit to them. 

During the Gathering, please remain aware that by being a contributor to the Gathering you are representing GEN Europe and our common values. We invite you to also read what GEN Europe stands for here as well as our statement of tolerance here.

*A brave space is a space where participants feel comfortable and challenged enough to learn, share, and grow. A brave space is inclusive of all identities and lived experiences related to ethnicity, sex, gender, ability, religion, class, immigration status and other social positionalities. The brave space concept encourages participants to try to honour each other’s experiences and opinions and move towards a place of mutual understanding, solidarity and transformation. Brave space conveys the idea that all participants will embrace the discomfort of hard conversations with courage and openness. Find out more here.

VOLUNTEER AGREEMENTS

• I agree to complete all the missions and tasks that have been agreed upon with the Gathering Managers and my coordinators, and to reach out for support if I encounter difficulties. 

• I agree to show up on time for my shifts and to not leave earlier than agreed. 

• I agree to maintain confidentiality about the participants. This means not disclosing any individual’s identities, stories, and experiences. I am free to speak about my own experience. If I am entrusted with personal data as part of my volunteering role, I will handle it with utmost confidentiality and in alignment with GEN Europe’s Privacy Policy.

• I agree to bring awareness to the hierarchy status, power and privilege that I hold as part of the volunteer team and bring this awareness into my engagement with other participants. I will take extra care to ensure consent in any interaction with participants. 

• I agree to consider the following questions if I borrow elements or tools from other cultures (such as music, stories, decorations, etc.) as part of my volunteering work:
  • Do my actions pay respect to the cultural tools I am borrowing from & do I humbly acknowledge the culture I’m borrowing from?
  • Do I know this culture well enough to not deliver false/distorted information about it?
  • Do I provide context for why this cultural tool is appropriate to use?
  • Is there a way I can communicate the same message / achieve the same goal using my own cultural practices?

• If I need materials for my volunteering work, I agree to choose the most environmentally friendly and socially just materials available. 

• I commit to keeping all the receipts for all the expenses within my volunteering work, and to obtain the Gathering Managers’ approval before making purchases.  

• I agree to be open for feedback from my coordinators, the Gathering Managers, GEN Europe’s staff and council, and workshop holders. 

WORKSHOP HOLDER, SPEAKER & ARTIST AGREEMENTS

• I agree to do my best to hold a safer container for my participants. This particularly includes asking for prior informed consent to activities where they are asked to touch each other and/or be active, especially if I am pushing their physical or emotional boundaries. I will always allow participants to not take part in a proposed activity and to sit as observers instead and/or to leave the workshop. Informed consent includes informing the participants about the full extent of their consent. 

• I agree to maintain confidentiality about the participants in my workshop. This means not disclosing any individual’s identities, stories, and experiences. I am free to speak about my own experience during the workshop.

• I am aware that my workshop might have emotional implications for the participants that might continue after the workshop and that there might be need for support afterwards. If I do not have the capacity to hold this aftercare for the participants, I agree to provide a clear disclaimer in the beginning of the workshop and ask the participants to organize their own support system, as well as clarifying that they can leave at any time during the workshop. I will also remind them of the presence of the emotional support team and angels and remind them where and how to find them. 

• I agree to bring awareness to hierarchy, power and privilege in my workshop, both towards myself as a workshop holder and towards the participating group. 

• I agree to consider the following questions if I borrow elements or tools from other cultures (such as music, stories, rituals, decorations, etc.) in my workshop:
  • Do my actions pay respect to the cultural tools I am borrowing from & do I humbly acknowledge the culture I’m borrowing from?
  • Do I know this culture well enough to not deliver false/distorted information about it?
  • Do I provide context for why this cultural tool is appropriate to use?
  • Is there a way I can communicate the same message using my own cultural practices?

• I will do my best to pay attention to creating safer and more inclusive spaces for LGBTQI+ people. Here are some guidelines from GEN Europe’s Queer Advisory Circle:
  • Language: use inclusive language that acknowledges diverse gender identities & sexual orientations, and try to avoid assuming everyone’s gender. For instance, invite participants to introduce themselves with their pronouns and the gender they identify with if you do a name round or exercises in small groups.
  • Representation: try to include diverse perspectives and voices in workshop materials, presentations, and discussions. Highlight contributions from queer individuals and communities.
  • Inclusive Activities: try to design workshop activities and exercises that are inclusive and relevant to diverse identities and experiences. Avoid activities that rely on stereotypes or assumptions about gender or sexuality. Also avoid, especially in conscious relating/sexuality topics, to use hetero-normative language (male/female and masculine/feminine narrative). 
  • Feedback Mechanisms: encourage feedback from participants on how to improve inclusivity in future workshops. Actively listen to concerns and suggestions from queer participants and incorporate them into your practices.
  • Education: stay informed about issues affecting queer communities and continue to educate yourself on best practices for inclusivity. 

• If I need materials for my workshop, I agree to choose the most environmentally friendly and socially just materials available.

• I agree to be open for feedback from participants to my workshops, from fellow workshop holders and from the Gathering Managers. NB: At the end of the Gathering, we will send out an evaluation survey to all Gathering attendees to evaluate various aspects of the Gathering, among which the workshops they attended, and we will invite them to name workshops they felt were of exceptional quality and workshops they felt were really problematic. We (Gathering Managers) will use this information to get a better sense of the quality of the workshops offered and if agreements, aspirations and boundaries have been respected. 

PARTICIPANT ASPIRATIONS & COLLECTIVE BOUNDARIES

As a workshop holder, speaker, musician, volunteer and other contributor, I also commit to upholding the Gathering participant aspirations & collective boundaries.