There are two important strands to this change: the ideas of the permaculture and a cooperative structure.
We would like to present these two axes and then invite you to react to them.
The permaculture is a concept systemic and global that aims to create ecosystems respecting the biodiversity. The inspiration comes from nature and how it works. It touches on our ways of seeing and living (cultures), our living places, and our way of relating to them. The principles ofecology are central. We draw on the stories and knowledge of societies traditional to replicate the diversity, stability and resilience of natural ecosystems.
You can discover the "permaculture flower" for more details.
Robechies is a special place with ponds, vegetation, paths and a hill. Plants, animals and people live there. We would like to highlight this life and the interdependencies that are woven into it.
The cooperative aims to bring us to cooperate in order to develop together a pleasant, respected and respectful space, where money does not rule. The cooperative encompasses and regulates what binds us: rental contracts, investments in time and money, emotional investments, an interest in the site, for what it offers us (rest, relaxation, conviviality, sharing...) and for what it allows (culture, fish farming and agriculture, welcoming, exchanges...) .
"A cooperative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise.."
The core values of cooperation are personal and mutual empowerment and responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity.
What makes the cooperative enterprise special?
The founders of the cooperative have common needs or aspirations (e.g. need for food products of a certain quality, need for a service provider to process or market their agricultural production, etc.) and together they create an enterprise to satisfy these needs or aspirations. In such a context, the capital necessary for the operation of the enterprise is only a means, not an end.
The cooperators have a double quality: owners of the enterprise and users of the enterprise.
You can explore the Cooperative Principles cycle for more details.
We would like to think about this place with you in terms of
- Of abundance What are the site's assets? How is it cared for? What can/will be done?
- Solutions What are the problems that arise? What opportunities does this give us?
- System What connects the pond and the plots? What connects the fish and the trees? What connects the campsite to the region and to tourism?
- By nature Nature gives, but we must not exhaust it. How can we find a balance between what she brings forth and what we take from her? How can we be attentive to her rhythm in relation to our own?
- Cooperation We have chosen to transform the company into a cooperative. Inside and outside, it's about collaborating rather than competing, contributing rather than consuming.
- Of the future Robechies will outlive us. What do we want to leave behind? Our actions have an impact on the next 7 generations (170 years).
- Of reflection and action We want to think before we act, to create circles of reflection that think about the actions to be taken before implementing them. What does the project do for the ecosystem? What energy will my project inject into the ecosystem?
Another rhythm to open another time in a space to be potentiated, to consider the living in their interrelations, to concern the passers-by to inspire new impulses.