HOW WE WORK
After the end of the first phase of the EMN project, we felt there was room to continue improving the structure of our network by experimenting with new ways of organising that imbue the values of cooperation and decentralisation. Ergo, for the second phase of the project we decided to decentralise the coordination to enable more territorial embeddedness and to include more diverse working bodies, and with that enrich, shape and better inform our municipalist practice.
Since the beginning of the year, we have been working steadily to shape the new strategic lines of our project, and the political discussions led to the creation of two main working areas within the EMN:
- the skill-sharing space, supporting municipalist groups to exchange tools and know-how in a peer-to-peer way;
- the storytelling space, focused specifically on imbuing a collective imaginary around new municipalism
Beyond the specific thematic areas, the coordination is the network weaver, the all-seeing guardian of the project that connects the ideation process with local municipalist realities, developing projects that strengthen community ties within the team and with the EMN community.
OUR TEAM
After many discussions and fine-tuning, we arrived at a desired combo of organisations to co-create this second phase together with the initial EMN coordination group. To move away from traditional, formulaic designations in organisational structures, we called ourselves the Space Caretakers, to imbue a management culture for the EMN that would be care-centric. Continue reading to find out who is who and how we are working together.
General coordination and legal holder
Commmonspolis weaves the project’s various initiatives whilst promoting collaboration among municipalist actors and strengthening the municipalist ecosystem.
Skill sharing space
Commons Network is developing a series of sessions in which municipalist actors can share, exchange and learn important skills to foster social and environmental transformation from the ground up.
Storytelling space
Research for Action works in the creation of a space that narrates municipalist stories from the ground, to imbue an imaginary that ties municipalism to a cultural narrative of transformation.
Supporting the thematic areas of work
The TNI is developing the digital infrastructure that will host the projects of the storytelling and skill-sharing spaces, a platform that will convey resources to the ecosystem in an interactive way, promoting the dissemination of knowledge that is generated and make it accessible to the EMN community.
Feminisation of Politics Collective (FoP)
Self-organised feminist space within the EMN network
Fop continues to shape the EMN political space as an autonomous body that operates in connection with the territories as well as the EMN coordination bodies (the Space Caretakers). FoP doesn’t actively take part in the decision-making process of the coordination of the network, however, the collective is embedded in the local territories and also participates in the projects developed by the Space Caretakers.
