Introduction
Established in January 1999, the Global Ecovillage Network South Asia (GENSA) is the regional node of the Global Ecovillage Network. Our main task is to connect interested people in South Asia and around the world.

GENSA is the newest addition to Global Ecovillage Network (GEN) International and we are honored and privileged to be a part of this global movement. As we are a fairly new entity, we have a long way to go before we reach the level of maturity and stability that our counterparts have achieved over the years.

Nevertheless, we are very keen to learn and become dedicated to the core principle of GEN, and will strive to establish GEN South Asia on firm ground within a short period time.

Given the close partnership that GEN has had with Sarvodaya over the past three years, we continue to use the good offices of Sarvodaya to establish GEN South Asia and to make it a separate legal entity.

Objectives

• To support the development of sustainable human settlements in the South Asia region.
• To facilitate information exchange and cooperation among ecovillages in the South Asia region and worldwide.
• To disseminate information about ecovillage concepts, practices and demonstration site.
• To promotes partnership and cooperation with other organizations.

Activities
Objective-related activities carried out by GENSA:

Various individuals and organizations request more information from GENSA. Many of them are new members. The local members are completed and submit GEN contact form and others are networked with via email.

We circulated 102 copies of Ecovillage Living (Spring 2001 edition), 52 copies of Ecovillage News and 30 copies of the European Global Ecovillage Network newsletter.

Dr Vinya Ariyaratne attended the GEN Board meeting in Crystal Waters, and submitted a grant proposal to the Shell Foundation for funding for the Thanamalwila Living and Learning Centre project.

Training and skill development programs
Mr Bandula Senadeera and Mr Nandana Jayasinghe successfully completed the Ecovillage Design, Ecovillage Design Practicum and Permaculture programmes conducted in Crystal Waters, Australia.

Awareness of Public and private sector
Most of the public and private sector key persons are highly appreciative of our ecovillage concept. It is very attractive sustainable living nature.

Comments
Many rural people are engaging with the agriculture sector and they are strongly linked with utilization of natural resources. However, poverty is main reason for affecting their life style.

Nandana Jayasinghe,
GENSA, c/o Sarvodaya,
98 Rawatawatte Road,
Moratuwa, Sri Lanka.
Email: gensa@sri.lanka.net