Escuelas de Vida (Schools of Life)
We are the union of different organizations, foundations, collectives and transition initiatives from Manizales that join forces around a common purpose in order to build a more conscious and sustainable humanity: a group of agents of change founded in inner transition processes.
CASE STAGE: Well established and running
LOCATION: Manizales (Colombia)
POPULATION: 400,000
TRANSITION CONNECTION: Yes
GOVERNANCE: Not defined
Schools of Life is not a Project for the future, it is what is happening between you and me, here and now. We are a Transition initiative part of the Colombian Transition Hub. Our collective purpose is to contribute for transformation in all relationships and co-creating new lifestyles, having as main bases integral education, spiritual formation and the creation of alternative spaces of socio-environmental encounter around the natural organization of life itself.
Our main focuses include:
Health: Medicine for the spirit, the mind and the body, food sovereignty. Community: Family relationships, life in community, ecovillages, recovery of ancestral wisdom.
Art: Alternative pedagogies, works of art, handcrafts, communitarian learning processes.
Care of the Earth: custodian of seeds, urban and rural agriculture, organic gardening, market networks and community gardens.
Design: Bio-construction, natural architecture, design of sustainable territories.
Solidary Economy: celebrations, “mingas” (many working hands together), festivals, local currencies, exchange of services and products.
On a collective level, 2 of our highlights are the “Family Festivals” where we unite many local initiatives that share our same vision and we offer an immersion of one day in a space that delivers many alternatives of sustainable life (we are going for the 10th edition) and a soon-to-be implemented pedagogic project for schools in the city, called ”EduPaz”.
DOMAINS: Food and agriculture, Education, Raising awareness about sustainability, climate change, healthy living, environmental issues, etc., Health, Social Care, Arts and Culture, Economy, Waste management, Community work.
BENEFICIARIES: Children, Teenagers (13 – 17), Young adults (18 – 24), Adults (25 – 65), Elders (65+), Families, People with disabilities, Ethnic or Social Minorities, LGBTQ+
MiT note: Schools of Life. Interesting for phase 2 (to deepen the governance model). Suitable for pilot (fertile context, broad partnership; continuity is assured?).
