Wo:

Hallo, ich bin christ tala (Christian Noll) und werde diese Webseite vorerst gestalten und halten. Bei Fragen, meldet euch gerne bei mir per eMail oder Telefon 015785933vier7sieben. Ich wünsche uns einen fruchtbaren Austausch.

Wo:

Versuch einer Zusammenfassung:

Unsere Initiative hat sich 2016 gegründet, weil bekannt wurde, dass die kleine Grundschule IGEL Schule in Silkerode stillgelegt wurde und die Schulbetriebserlaubnis ("Lizenz") binnen 3 Jahren an einen anderen Ort (andere Schule) umziehen kann. Vorteilhaft daran ist u.a., dass die neu zu gründende Schule geringere Anfangsfinanzierung leisten muss.

Normalerweise muss eine freie Schule 3 Jahre die laufenden Kosten tragen, bis das Amt einen Teil übernimmt. Diese ersten 3 Jahre sind besonders hart. Bei einem Umzug der Igel-Schule wäre diese Herausforderung geringer. Die "Lizenz" gilt nur für Thüringen.

Außerdem könnte wahrscheinlich das Konzept direkt übernommen werden. Ein Konzept bei den Behörden genehmigt zu bekommen ist auch eine komplexer und zeitaufwändiger Prozess.

Es hatten sich einige Eltern aus der Region WIZ, GÖ, Eichsfeld (ca 6 Personen) zusammengefunden und mehrmals im TT-Haus Wiz getagt, um zu erörtern, ob wir eine freie Schule in der Nähe Uder gründen können, um die Vorteile der "Lizenz" zu nutzen. Es sollte eine Grundschule oder Gemeinschaftsschule (neu in Thüringen) werden. Bisher ist eine Suche nach einem Ort, Lehrer*in nicht erfolgreich gewesen.

In unserer Gruppe waren keine Menschen, die genug Ressourcen haben (Zeit, Motivation, Kenntnisse), um das Projekt in die Hand zu nehmen (Fokulizer, Manager). Denn es erfordert sehr viel Arbeit, bis die Kinder lernen können. Einige Eltern der Gruppe haben schon Erfahrungen mit Schulgründung und freien Schulen und auch deren Herausforderungen.

Im Nov. 2016 hat sich die Gruppe der Gemeinschaft Windberg (bei Weimar) bei der Igel Schule gemeldet mit dem Wunsch, die "Lizenz" zu bekommen, um an ihrem Platz eine freie Schule zu gründen. Im Moment (Jan. 2017) sieht es so aus, dass diese Gruppe den "Schul-Umzug" manifestiert.

Wo:

This article is a reblog from the allmende.io blog: Ontogenesis & Procedure.

During the last three years, the allmende.io infrastructure migrates into the solidary librehosting collective ecobytes. It is evolving out of multiple so-called Snowflake Servers into an infrastructure as code. Within this process we are gaining experience in Development and Operations, in short DevOps, of the various components that we bring to life as running code.

While there is no single truth about how to run web services, nor how to develop them, we are aware of exemplary patterns. Further on, an understanding of technical processes as being inherintly social makes us focus on the techno-social architectures we are building: Not only do we create software for users, but, as maintainers, we are also human beings after all. Hence the practice itself turns into an object of learning and adaptation.

Unfortunately more than often it is time for a change, but no time to change: Existing habits within a team are deemed good enough for now. In the same time resource and knowledge constraints limit projections of the future to the already known and comforting. Where changing one's own practice means to kill your darlings, resistance to the new and unknown is likely to be inevitable. How can we approach this paradox?

"making the problem the focus instead of the solution"

As humans our situational capacity to perceive, know and react is limited. Engaging in collective processes helps us to highlight and overcome these limitations. Yet over time we equip ourselves with tools and techniques applicable in varying contexts. Up to the point that only those techniques appear valid to solve a given problematic, which we already understand and presumably control. The solution becomes a first-class citizen, while the actual, problematic situation fades back.

The more we stick to and defend a habitual pattern, the more likely it is error-prone and self-validating. To get it out of this vicious circle, it can be advisable to take a step back and reevaluate the originating contextual forces next to known applications in the wild. What we will find is a fine-grained depiction of the reasons why a solution was favourable in a given situation. Therefore the formulation of the given situation determines a lot in which domains of knowledge we allow our minds to crawl for extended contextualisations and possible reactions.

Consciously avoiding the confirmation bias of the described law of the instrument asks from us a high degree of discipline, selflessness and the ability to scope the bigger picture. As long as we don't limit our expectations and preoccupations to the already known, we are able to adapt and participate in ever changing environments. This critique is in itself a practice which we can learn and embody. In a collective it appears more easy to establish such a culture, as we can be repeatingly reminded by our peers. The generation and curation of intersubjective value thus remains a process of constant self-questioning.

Wo:

The SUSTRARES project, where Transition Town Witzenhausen took part as a partner, was flagged by the National Agency as a best practice, with an evaluation mark of 96%.

Here I share with you the training report, as well as videos and other links of relevant to this project, who may have follow-ups and lead to the building up of a network on skills sharing for building ecological communities.

Report Summary

The SUSTRARES project aimed at providing concrete competencies, skills and expertise to youth workers in order to act as multipliers and sustainability agents for their localities. Since mainstream and formal education are not structured to provide the skills and competencies

needed to tackle modern challenges in a crisis context, SUSTRARES aimed to create and strengthen training paths and resources based on real-life applications for resilience, sustainability and self-sufficiency. The partnership had the concrete objective of providing open knowledge and training for positive change in the personal lives of participants (regarding coverage of basic needs, entrepreneurship and employment), as a response to the multi-dimensional crises Europe is facing.

SUSTRARES main activity was a 10-day training course, which was developed with the concrete intent to encourage the active engagement of youth workers in sustainability transition initiatives, to exchange experiences concerning the promotion of local sustainability in European countries and to provide competencies and skills to youth workers to actively engage in the their local context and the employment market
SUSTRARES gave the opportunity to 36 youth workers and trainers from 6 different countries to become familiar with concepts such as sustainability, self-sufficiency, transition and resilience, at both theoretical and practical levels. In the course of 10 days, participants jointly
carried out a programme of mixed activities (participatory seminars, practical workshops, exercises, debates, role plays, simulations, outdoor activities, etc) that enhanced their skills and competencies and allowed them to experience a multicultural simulation of living in an
ecological community.

The youth worker mobility focused on non-formal experiential training (learning by doing), co-creation of DIY convivial/ frugal technologies and networking, while it provided useful skills for employability enhancement and community engagement. Topics addressed during the training course included energy autonomy using renewable sources, natural housing, waste management, food self-sufficiency, agro-ecology, health self-management, participatory decision making, and cooperative entrepreneurship.

The main activity was hosted in the premises of the STAGONES Sustainability Academy (www.stagones.org) in Vlachia Evia, which is comprised of three 1.5 acre plots and a variety of hosting and training infrastructure constructed solely with natural material. The training course hosted very experienced trainers from few of the most active sustainability transition/self-resilience collectives in Greece, namely Stagones, Nea Guinea, iliosporoi network, and UfiT, trainers from professional associations like Place Identity, We deliver taste and Perivoli Korinthou, from the international network SEYN (Sustainable Energy Youth Network), as well as trainers from the other project partners.