Paul started as a journalist, then worked for thirteen years at COS Overijssel, a regional knowledge and expertise in the field of development issues and international cooperation, but above all Paul Hendriksen is an ambassador of doing-thinking. In Deventer he put  sustainability  ideas into practice: Transition Towns. Was initiator of the association Aardehuizen Oost Nederland, a collective enterprise to build a project of 23 houses inspired by the ‘Earthship’ concept in Olst, north of Deventer, Overijssel.

He has expertise in consultancy, project development, organisation and training on sustainability issues. And specialisation in the field of community processes aimed at sustainable development, Transition Towns and related bottom-up initiatives; lectures, presentations and workshops on local resilience and a wide range of sustainability issues, from the philosophical and historical to the practical level (and back); I profoundly believe in Added Value Afterwards.

Next to being founder and Director of MyWheels henry took the challenge of founding Het Veerhuis Varik. Together with others it’s there that he gives meaning to the new economy. His mission is to give awareness and love a practical place. With this aim he founded the first Village Trade Centre. The Veerhuis is also the home of the Club of Budapest, Global Ecovillage Network Netherlands and is connected with Damanhur in Italy.  Practical work in the village of Varik as well as being connected with the world. He developed the first 3D business plan, the UNO-Box with Source plan and a new legal form of legal entity that is easy to establish and still meets legal requirements. This is called the Participantship.

Mark Huser and Maya van Oosterhout are the driving force behind Earth Awareness foundation. Both have a treasure of practical experience and knowledge in off-grid living, recycling and upcycling. They lovingly take care of a part of a former military estate and have been able to magically transform this into a beautiful and creative inspiration centre, where many events take place. The zenith of their creation power is the Temple of Nature they have been building together since 2012. This eco-art project is an expression of their holistic worldview, recognisable for every human being and fitting for a society in transition. As artists with imaginative power they are looking for ways to express what’s living within society. They get inspiration of years of cooperation with indigenous tribes and their traditions. During many international meetings Mark & Maya have developed a different worldview which they express in the Temple. Mark can be seen as a multidisciplinary artist, all-round technician, musician and a visionary and truthful speaker. Maya is an energetic, creative spirit with love for natural, simple and healthy life. She works for re-honouring female heritage. Together they have followed much shamanistic training and contribute in an authentic way to creating paradise on earth.

Maya van Oosterhout and Mark Huser are the driving force behind Earth Awareness foundation. Both have a treasure of practical experience and knowledge in off-grid living, recycling and upcycling. They lovingly take care of a part of a former military estate and have been able to magically transform this into a beautiful and creative inspiration centre, where many events take place. The zenith of their creation power is the Temple of Nature they have been building together since 2012. This eco-art project is an expression of their holistic worldview, recognisable for every human being and fitting for a society in transition. As artists with imaginative power they are looking for ways to express what’s living within society. They get inspiration of years of cooperation with indigenous tribes and their traditions. During many international meetings Mark & Maya have developed a different worldview which they express in the Temple. Mark can be seen as a multidisciplinary artist, all-round technician, musician and a visionary and truthful speaker. Maya is an energetic, creative spirit with love for natural, simple and healthy life. She works for re-honouring female heritage. Together they have followed much shamanistic training and contribute in an authentic way to creating paradise on earth.

Monica is a graduate of the Agricultural Teacher High School (STOAS) and has taught courses in horticulture, construction and maintenance, animal husbandry and flower arrangements for more than ten years. Monica, along with students, created a herb garden with more than 300 kinds of spices. She gave tours and training on herbs and gardening. She is author and has written articles for magazines such as ‘De bloemisterij’, ‘Groenten en Fruit’ and ‘De Terugkoppeling’. She is co-author of the student magazines on sustainable technique of ‘De Verbinding’ and worked on the sustainable education project ‘Utrecht Goes Green’. Monica is professional child therapist and team coach. She prefers to accompany children, adults and groups in nature and with the help of horses. Monica did the EDE in Damanhur. Monica is committed volunteer for GEN Netherlands and is engaged in the development of (international) training.

Recently Monica took a masters in Design for Sustainability through Gaia Education and completed the Training of Trainers coarse in Findhorn. Monica became the first Dutch member of the Geese as a certified Gaia Education Trainer.

She is the initiator of ecovillage Akasha.

Kartien has been living on Vlierhof since February 2017. Working here gave her much experience in sociocratic decision-making, self management and community building. She has done several courses, in non violent communication, community building and group facilitation. Katrien grew up in Basel, Switzerland, studied sociology and English and then went exploring. Her experiences in Esalen, a living and working community in California led her to search for further community experiences and land on Vlierhof. She graduated from the Dutch EDE in 2017.

Sally established the Oasis Community Center as a sustainability education center, a 10,000 square meters piece of greenery and desert land, carrying eco-friendly buildings and facilitating children’s environmental activities.

In order to help solve the problem of scarcity of energy, water, and food, the Oasis Community Center provides curricula-based-education, hands-on training, and practical show-casing to school kids on sustainability issues. This is done through Oasis Green Day and Green Camp for children from national and international schools, and university undergraduates.

In order to provide the same standard of environmental education to all Egyptian kids, Sally founded Khadra, a long-term education project for children from public schools and orphanages about environmentalism, where children learn about gardening, up cycling and recycled fashion.

Through Khadra, and in collaboration with PwC, Oasis aspires to be part of the solution for environmental sustainability in Egypt by educating and encouraging school children to make lifestyle changes and to adopt simple habits to manage solid waste, conserve energy and water.

Sally wishes to see this center replicated nation-wide as satellites, acting as local flagship for sustainability education all over Egypt, and thereafter for all Arabic-speaking countries. The satellites shall be operated by women from the locality, serving the neighboring schools, and university students. Satellites will then be a game-changer of the education scheme nation-wide, as well as opportunities for women’s employment.

Mali Boomkens is a happy inhabitant of Ecovillage Ppauw in Wageningen, and currently works as a coordinator for OtherWise Foundation, organising lectures, courses, workshops and trainings around environmental and social (in)justice and alternative ways of thinking and doing. Just as her sirname (in English: “little trees”) indicates, Mali became passionate about nature and all that is connected to her from a young age onwards. The academic world and travels around the globe taught her all about sustainable and participatory (tropical) forest and nature management. Followed up by some years of practical schooling in biodynamic farming and primitive living/native bushcraft skills, and co-initiation of the Dutch association ‘Toekomstboeren’ (Future Farmers).

Mali is currently walking the path to develop as a facilitator in the fields of nature connection and (eco-)community building, strongly supported and inspired by workshops, (Erasmus+) trainings and European youth exchanges that introduced her to various methods, like Dragon Dreaming, The Work that Reconnects, Deep Ecology, Theory U and Non-Violent Communication.

After co-facilitating some elements of the cultural dimension in this year’s EDE, Mali will integrate her noval inspiration into the second edition of an intensive, 8-day long summer training on nature connection and inner sustainability for students and youth.

Hugo Schonberck is an inspired entrepreneur and experienced consultant in various projects, research and consultancies. He brings a practical and warm hearted approach to sustainability and a large international network. He loves the challenge of bringing together the best people for any given task. He is an expert in sustainability and behaviour change, designing programmes and facilitating teams in communities, local authorities and companies for Global Action Plan, Nuon Energy, British Gas and currently partner in GPX Energybank, a sustainable energy and smart grid start-up, as well as promoting the very low energy sustainable block chain Energy party from the Energy Coin Foundation. Co-founder of a Dutch think-tank on climate change with government officials, NGO’s and representatives from industry that did ground-breaking work on carbon reduction and compensation.

“Do not ask me who I am. If I am already … then I am emptiness … emptiness through which that breathes what breathes through everything. ‘

Bas is co-initiator of the ecological home-work initiative De Zwerm in Winterswijk and co-owner of Levensland, a 3.5 ha large food forest laid out according to permaculture and Anastasia principles. He lives in a farm (starting home-work group) in Winterswijk.

Bas is a lawyer and, among other things, uses his knowledge to supervise starting ecological home-work initiatives and eco-villages. In addition, he has immersed himself in all sorts of cultures and shamanism. The teachers he names are Dave Hegglun (Maori), Ayako Goh (Japan), Ahamkara (Altai), Erik Berglund (USA), Daniel Crane (Tsuu Tina, Canada), Wai Turoa (Maori), Moon Deer (Objibwaj, USA), Elliot Rivera (Cuba), Suvalaq (Inuit, Alaska), Philip Carr-Gomm (Druid, England), Inti Cesar (Peru), Kiesha / Little grandmother (USA), Tulku Lobsang Rinopoche (India), Ayangat (Mongolia) ), Anastasia (Siberia) and all who live close to nature, close to the Source.

Rehab uses her past experience in Architecture and environmental design, Project management, and Renewable Energy along with her passion in research to contribute to the sustainable development field in Egypt.  She is the Country Director of Maxx solar academy in Egypt. http://maxx-energy-academy.org/maxx-solar-academy-egypt/. Rehab is responsible for preparing Maxx solar academy courses in Egypt including off-grid and grid-tied PV systems for technicians, engineers, and decision makers. She is revising the content of DGS prepared material to make sure that they fit the Egyptian market and coordinating with German and Egyptian instructors to prepare courses, marketing courses, evaluation and follow up.

Henk is owner of ‘De Verbinding’; a company that developes education about sustainable technology and sustainability. He is also a science teacher at a secondary high school “Ecolyceum” in Deventer and coordinator at CleanTech. In this job he is building a network of secundary high schools working on sustainability projects. His skills are:

IT

He has been working as a systems administrator for several  years. Currently he manages two servers. A webserver running the websites of the Dutch ecovillage Network, the Dutch transition towns network and several websites for my???? company. The other server contains the E-Learning environment.

E-Learning

For his company he uses a Moodle e-leaning environment. The environment contains the courses wrote for students as well as the E-learning environment build for the Dutch  EDE course.

Education

As a sustainable science teacher he has been working for eight years at several secondary schools. Next to this he has helped organize the Dutch EDE