NASHIRA ECOALDEA | FEB-MAR 2025
Gaia Education Ecovillage Design Education
After the first She-Ede held in Magliano Sabina in 2023 and a series of She-Ede of a week each held in Italy and Portugal in 2024 that are still happening and will run cyclicly, now, SHE-EDE goes to South America.
SHE-EDE NASHIRA COLOMBIA- FEBRUARY 3 – MARCH 5, 2025
GAIA EDUCATION ECOVILLAGE DESIGN EDUCATION HELD IN A MODERN MATRIARCHAL COMMUNITY IN COLOMBIA
SHE-EDE SPECIAL
Join a 30 Days Edition in an Existing Modern Matriarchal Community in Colombia
SHE IS WE
We teach the knowledge and skills that WE need as WOMEN to design truly regenerative Matriarchal Communities which thrive within planetary boundaries, empowering each other as a collective for the new story of the Great Turning to happen.
Open to WOMEN OF ALL AGES, FROM 18 TO 99, this SHE-EDE- NASHIRA 2025 is 30 days in place program that follows Mother Earth seasonal rhythms of life, Matriarchal Wisdom, the Spiral Wheel of the Work that Reconnects, Maternal Gift Economy and the Wheel of Gaia Education, Ecovillage Design Education program. This last is an award-winning provider of holistic learning for Sustainable Development. Besides Gaia Education and the Work that Reconnects, the course is meant to empower women to see the interconnections of life by learning to design Matriarchal sustainable communities, restoring balance to our planet in the urgent transition to a more regenerative future, reversing the climate crisis.
We teach the knowledge and skills needed to design truly regenerative communities, which thrive within planetary boundaries.
Our objective when we started this journey was also to activate alternative matriarchal communities of life and we found a beautiful reality in Colombia called Nashira EcoAldea .(http://www.nashira-ecoaldea.org/)
Nashira Ecoaldea, is an eco-village of 88 homes in Southern Colombia. It was built for and by women who suffered domestic violence or who have beendisplaced by the Colombian civil war. Inside Nashira there are 38 productive units from growing plantain, having hens and chicken to making ceramic pots and collecting solid waste in the neighbourhood, separating, reusing it and transforming them. It is a women led project (of about 400 people) where governance is managed horizontally through a council that works according to the sociocratic method. Nashira is very close to cultures with maternal values and represents a particularly interesting experience. Moreover Nashira has demonstrated that an eco-village can operate as a viable and self-sufficient concern and that eco–living is a life-style choice and an effective way of helping people out of poverty. The objective of the She-Ede Nashira 2025 course is to offer an experience and train women from all over the world in eco-village design education in a matriarchal village, valorizing and in collaboration with Nashira Ecoaldea’s women experiences, according the principles of the Modern Matriarchal Studies, the Maternal Gift Economy, the Work that Reconnects and Transition Town Movement.
With a a group of experienced Facilitatresses in Matriarchal, Feminist, Ecological, Social and Spiritual Studies the natural continuation of this program is to have Her next edition in a real existing Matriarchal ecovillage in which the teachings would be experienced in real and with and in an existing modern women’s community. We will live with this community, eat, cook and spend time with this community. We will learn about their governance and spiritual practices, their stories, their wisdom, their sorrows and joys. We will share our ecovillage design education best practices with them in a joint project. We will host women from all over the world that will be certified Gaia Education. We foresee that the participants will learn and bring forward this model in their communities around the world. We foresee to have long lasting friendships with these incredible, courageous women of Nashira and bring with us and around the world their Songs of Love.
Bringing together experience in ecovillage design, matriarchal societies, feminine wisdom, activism, community building and healing circles, we created a new format of EDE – responding to the worldwide need of mutual maternal values support and empowerment.
PROGRAM
Weekly Calendars
WORLDVIEW
Deep Ecology
The Work that Reconnects
Meeting Women and Local Communities
Global Ecovillage Network
Women Circles
Singing Culture
Decolonizing Patriarchal toxic system
Matriarchal Societies and Indigenous Cultures
Patriarchal system and unconscious mindset awareness
SOCIAL
Matriarchal and Indigenous cultures
Motherhood as a cultural model
Collective processes for community building including Scott Peck
Sociocracy 3.0
Group Decision Making
Conflict Resolution
Circle Culture
Transparent Communication and Active Listening
Reclaiming your power
How to heal your wounds
ECONOMIC
Regenerative Economics
Maternal Gift Economy
Doughnut Economy
Leadership and Entrepreneurship
Comparing Community Economies, Women Economies
Empowered Fundraising
Money, You and the Economy
ECOLOGICAL
Permaculture Design & Principles
Bio-Architecture, Class A buildings
Sustainable Infrastructures, water and energy
Whole system approach to Design
Agricultural Self Sufficiency
Ecological Colombian Gastronomy
Hands on gardening
Food Waste
Going back to the Roots of Mother Earth awareness through Women’s wisdom
We Will be hosted in a family in Nashira, live in their home and participate to their family Life. You Will have breakfast in their home, lunch served by the cooking staff of the communal restaurant and dinner you Will be part of home groups that in rotation Will prepare supper for the entire SHE-EDE participants.
The program is structured with the model head, heart and hands of the four dimensions of Gaia Education wheel: the ecological, the cultural, the social and the economic dimension. There will be also comparisons to the principles of matriarchal societies’ dimensions that are sisters to the ecological values and of which all the ecological movements take primary inspiration.
These courses are meant to give also many other tools such as the one belonging to the Work That Reconnects (WTR) practices on weaving connections, uplifting creative ecological expressions and collaborating in service to the Great Turning or the Transition Town Movement tool kit and last but not least Matriarchal Societies knowledge.
A JOINT VENTURE BETWEEN DIFFERENT NGOs IN ITALY AND PORTUGAL, LED BY BESTUP – BELLO EQUO SOSTENIBILE – RETE PER LA PROMOZIONE DELL’ABITARE SOSTENIBILE APS, ITALY.
OUR TEAM
We are ready to openly and passionately share this learning journey with you.
With the aim to empower beings to contribute to the world they wish to live in with maternal values, we met around the world in different Ecovillages and we came together to create SHE-EDEs. Our collaboration benefits from our shared vision as well as the diversity in skills, personal and professional background, age, and personality.
Each facilitatress bringing her own rich experiences, we offer a learning journey of depths and impact. We welcome you warm-heartedly to join this course, this research, this network and are looking forward to meeting you.
Sabina Santovetti
Italy
WOMAN, MOTHER, ARCHITECT, DESIGNER, ARTIST, FEMINIST, ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVIST, SPIRITUAL SEEKER
Sabina Santovetti, 65 years old, Italian, mother, architect, designer, teacher, spiritual ecologist and artist runs a Boutique Architecture & Design Firm in Rome. The firm’s philosophy gives exclusive attention to Eco-design and sustainability issues. In the last 30 years, she is committed in designing new and old residential buildings, with all respect to their contest and life quality. Her focus is to use energy saving principles and ecological certified construction materials. She also has been involved in designing textiles, products, furniture, interiors, events, theater and cinema sets as part of a personal vocational formation. She also paints subjects related to Feminine Energy and currently she is writing and researching for a book on the Energy of the Feminine. In the last five years, she has devoted her time in learning feminine spiritual ecology, being in activism for Extinction Rebellion, facilitating the Work that Reconnects, Community Building in the Transition Town Movement and Gaia Education Ecovillage Design Education, She-Ede as a certified trainer. She is currently studying at the International Academy Hagia, Modern Matriarchal Studies with Heide Goettner-Abendroth, as well as re-thinking and embodying her life as a new journey of discovery, healing and dedicated commitment to develop new strategies of resilience to the climate and ecological crisis. She is the President of the Association BestUp-BelloEquoSostenibile-Rete per la promozione dell’Abitare Sostenibile APS, association that is working for the empowerment of women. Her Eco-sophy focus on Spiritual Feminine Ecology. She is starting a school retreat ecovillage on the hills of Umbria in Narni with the name of MatriCulture.The opening will be in July 2024 welcoming the Cultural Dimension of the second edition of SHE-EDE
Angela Dolmetsch
Colombia
founder of nashira ecoaldea
PhD at London School of Economics, World Vice President International Federation of Women Lawyers. Mother of the quota Law in Colombia, Director and promoter of the Nashira Eco-village, a social experiment for 88 women and their families based on matriarchal principles and the gift economy in Palmira Colombia. Writer and TV director of the program “el Agora” and “la Lupa”
Maddalena Ferraresi
Italy
Mother, Free-lance Architect, specialist in Bio-Architecture, Bio-Climatic Design, Performarce Artist
Since 1991, I have been directing the archesis studio I found in Milan.
Over the years, I have developed an original methodology that involves close involvement of people both in the design phase and in the implementation one.
I am a specialist in bio-architecture, practice and facilitate participatory planning and auto-construction.
I am an expert in advanced energy design technologies.
I conduct continuous research and experimentation with natural materials and bioclimatic design.
I am a trainer on the most advanced natural techniques, straw, raw earth, lime plaster…
I lead projects for the experimentation of innovative housing practices, co-housing, solidarity condominiums…
Alongside these, I also carry out construction work for public works for which I take care of the accounting, executive and works management.
I also dedicate myself to artistic activities where I direct and create site-specific installations and performances.
Francesca Lulli
Italy
Mother, socio-anthropologist, Community development and self-funded communities Trainer, Feminist for a Maternal Gift Economy..
Francesca Lulli, socio-anthropologist, community development and self-funded communities trainer. Member of the network International Feminist for a Gift Economy, she has been collaborating for several years with the Feminist Study Center for the Gift Economy of Rome (Italy). She has been involved in studying gift and popular economies, community building dynamics and grassroots women’s associationism, mainly in Sub-Saharan Africa. She wrote the book Microfinance, Informal Economies and Associationism.
A Feminine Perspective, (Editori Riuniti 2008) and several articles including : “Grandmothers at the Centre in Velingara, Senegal. The Transmission of Knowledge, education, intergenerational relationship and the gift logic”, in Canadian Women Studies 2020. She has taught at La Sapienza University and in several Master’s programs. She has worked with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and several NGOs mainly on issues related to education, social and economic inclusion of women and youth, and gender issues. She has been involved in project design, researches, data analysis and evaluations, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.
She has been collaborating since 2011 with feminist philosopher and theorist of the Maternal Gift Economy, Genevieve Vaughan, through supporting activities to promote the Gift Economy and feminist visions for more equitable societies. She has been working as a research consultant with the American-Senegalese NGO Grandmother project – Change through Culture. She has been leading studies on women’s relationships, intra-and intergenerational relationships, gender relations, female sexual health in adolescence, adult education, girl schooling and changing social norms.
Elisabeth Cory Holzinger
Austria
Installation Artist, priestess, entrepreneur, Creatrix, web designer, graphic designer, social media assistant
Elisabeth Cory Holzinger is an Installation artist with a focus on multimedia art. She has exhibited at the Biennale in Venice, Italy, and Shenzhen, China. As well as in numerous groups and first solo exhibitions in Austria, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland. She draws her inspiration from a deep connection and movement for the contemporary needs of society and the soul of mother nature. The resulting field of tension of humanity that moves out of the harmony of nature prompts the artist to make the reunification tangible through a new consciousness through walk-in installations. The concept of the warmth principle, a term coined by renowned artist Joseph Beuys, which she develops further through her life and work, enables a new embedding in an all-encompassing understanding of nature through the quality of experience. A loving recognition of the self in nature.
During the Pandemic, she set out to follow her spiritual female teacher and became a digital nomad. Always striving to find balance in the digital age she specialised in web design and made it her profession and passion to act as a digital midwife. Birthing, often spiritual, projects with her clients into the visibility of the digital space. Therefore using Technology as a tool to enrich the world with meaningful projects.
She gives talks and workshops about the relationship between AI and spirituality, The female cycle, the balance of the male and female energy within, and the energy level scale of consciousness.
Lena Seyfried
Germany
Multiplier for transformative education and inner development processes for an outer change, reseacher for a good life for all (following the “buen vivir” concept), systems thinker, spiritual seeker, forest lover
Lena Seyfried is a committed systems thinker and advocate for socio-ecological transformation, dedicated to integrating inner growth with broader societal shifts. Inspired by the South American “buen vivir” philosophy, Lena focuses her work on fostering sustainable and harmonious ways of life. With a multidisciplinary background spanning ecology, environmental psychology, and transformative education, she brings a holistic approach to creating impactful change.
Her professional and volunteer work reflects a strong commitment to community-led initiatives. Lena has coordinated food-sharing programs, co-managed sustainability projects, and facilitated educational workshops on global learning and sustainability. As a student assistant in her university’s Green Office and an active member of organizations like the Centre for Good Living in Germany, she excels at fostering collaborative, impactful change within communities. Lena is also skilled in nature and wilderness education, emphasizing deep ecology and “Coyote Teaching” to strengthen connections to nature.
In 2023, she joined the SHE-EDE program in Magliano Sabina, sparking a profound interest in blending matriarchal principles with the ecovillage movement. Passionate about holistic practices, Lena enjoys embodiment work, dance, and singing heart-centered songs with others around the fire, finding joy and connection in shared human experiences.
OUR Curriculum
Together we want to research what we can learn from matriarchal societies around the world, dive deeply into our own wisdom and struggles as women.
Are you ready for an adventurous experience?
We offer direct experience in a supportive learning environment to practice collective skills in working groups of varying sizes.
By clicking Apply you will be redirected to our application form and the application process will begin.
Scholarships
Scholarships are available for EU and non-EU citizens which cannot afford the Middle Path. Share your dreams, life aspirations and motivation with us and apply for this opportunity. Please send an email with your photo to:
she-ede@dancing-goddess.org
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