Happy New Year and welcome to the December edition of our newsletter!
In the last issue for this year we take a look back over the past twelve months at oikos. An eventful year is best captured in the Year in Review article, along with a throwback to this summer with Sophie’s meetups with chapters and the nine amazing projects from the oikos Camp.
LEAP Advanced just finished this year’s cohort and is preparing for a new generation of responsible leaders. Learn how you can take part in the program as we share the important details for those wishing to be either participants or coaches at LEAP!
We feel that in this spirit of the holidays and the sense of closing another wonderful year, it is a perfect occasion to express our gratitude in the name of oikos international for all the hard work, effort and support all of YOU – the lovely oikees have dedicated to oikos, its programs, projects and fulfilling our shared mission and vision.
It’s truly a blessing co-presiding over such a community of devoted changemakers joining forces in pursuit of making a difference and realizing our common goal of a more sustainable future. Your contribution, whether on a local chapter level as a member, or alumni, or at the international level as members of the Thematic Squads, Working Groups, Board, Management Team, or the organizing teams of various projects is immeasurable to oikos International.
This year, what we, as a community, have created had a far-reaching impact, both on local and international levels and all of this was made possible by YOU! Your great dedication and hard work served as an inspiration to others, both within and beyond our network. Your stories create hope, new ideas and fresh energy – all of which we need to bring the change to our homes, universities, communities, environments and ultimately – the entire world. We want to make your stories heard! The stories which will inspire a new generation of leaders eager and capable to drive climate action and advance the Sustainable Development Goals.
Thank you all once more for the passion and all the efforts you have put in oikos this year! We wish you the best of luck when taking on new challenges in the months ahead and want to reach out our hand – because whatever the challenge is, we can face it together!
2021 was an eventful year at oikos and as it draws to its end, we take a look at the past twelve months in our Community! The stand-out element of the year behind are the changes and adaptability, both in regards to the current global circumstance and future-proofing our organization. You may see some notable differences between what oikos is today and what it was exactly a year ago. Our governance model has changed, our community has created great impact beyond the oikos network, we have reimagined the way we connect and interact within and beyond the community and we’re determined to take all of that with us to 2022 and realize the maximum oikos potential.
In this article, we will review the year chronologically, highlighting the most important moments and highlights over the last twelve months.
January
We kicked off the year in the best way possible – our oikos family had grown for not one, but two new chapters. The first one was Cairo, just over a month after their compatriots in Alexandria, students from the Egyptian capital brought oikos to the second university in the country. Not long after, the Istanbul chapter was opened – the first ever oikos chapter in Turkey. It is the result of an amazing effort of local students to contribute to driving change at universities in two of the largest cities in the region and among the largest in the world. Another important highlight of January was the translation of the oikos Guide to Pluralist Economics to German, making it accessible in a third language after English and Italian.
February
We went into February bigger and stronger, with a bright look at the future. However, there was still attention to be given to the past – for over three decades oikos has seen many generations of students from around the world. We wanted to immortalize their great effort, making it more accessible and visible to the world. For this reason we kickstarted the oikos HOMEcoming project with a goal of creating an open and easy to access archive housing the works and impact of thousands of oikees throughout the years. This month also saw a new Thematic Squad – the oikos Consultancy – an initiative of oikos Barcelona which opened its doors for all members of the oikos Community.
oikos Academy
March
The third oikos Curriculum Academy, followed by the Open Evenings took place from late February to early March. The event was co-hosted by oikos International Curriculum Change Team and the oikos St. Gallen chapter. This month saw another Thematic Squad launched nurturing leadership skills – the Responsible Leadership Squad. In late march the oikos International Spring Legislative Meeting was held, where the chapters’ representatives voted on for the second mandate of the oikos International President and adopted new Constitutional Changes.
April
The main event of April this year was the milestone 10th FutureLab. Originally meant to take place on autumn of 2020, the conference was moved to spring with a new, entirely online format. With the main topic of Justice Shift, the online conference welcomed students from different backgrounds providing a platform for learning, but also lead to creating project teams for the oikos Camp which took place a few month later.
FutureLab
May
In May the spotlight was on the oikos Winter School. Traditionally organized by the oikos Witten/Herdecke chapter, this year brought some changes to the plans due to the pandemic, which had seen it moved from winter to spring. The conference tackled the topic of how a transformation towards sustainability can succeed. The organizing team focused on the interactiveness, the social dimension and the spontaneity of the conference, creating a format to allow for a better experience of an online conference.
June
A new chapter joined the oikos family in June, with a third UK city added to the oikos map – Nottingham. Following the adoption of Constitutional Changes at the Legislative Meeting in March, the groundwork was laid for rolling out new changes to the oikos International. This means the shift towards a co-presidency model, with two co-presidents taking up on existing and new roles with a goal of more efficiently and effectively managing the organizational side of oikos and addressing the needs of our community. At the UN PRME Global Forum in June, the Positive Impact Rating launched its 2021 Report, covering 46 business schools across 21 countries.
LEAP Mid Term Meeting in Leysin
July
We started off the month with exciting new of the oikos St. Gallen chapter winning the 2021 International Green Gown Awards. The amazing work of their students saw the chapter awarded the highest recognition in the Student Engagement Category. The easing of travelling restrictions in a number of countries in early summer meant after over a year of online events, we were finally able to host an onsite event, the LEAP Midterm Meeting in Leysin, Switzerland. However, as not all participants were able to join, we still maintained a hybrid format – allowing for those left at home to join virtually.
August
August was a historic month for oikos as that’s when the community came together for an Extraordinary Legislative Meeting to elect the first ever oikos Co-President. At the Meeting the chapter representatives elected Darija Miletić to work along side with Sophie Charrois as the first two co-presidents of oikos International. At the end of August, our Curriculum Change Team hosted oikos Curriculum Camp in Sestriere, Italy which was attended by 9 teams working together on education projects and presenting them to the public. One of the projects to come out of it was the Sustainable Finance Career map – a learning platform for students and researchers in the field of sustainable finance, ESG and impact investing.
oikos Camp in Sestriere
September
Once again we got to see the oikos family grow as a new chapter joins – Kano. The city in northern Nigeria is the first ever oikos chapter in the country and is a result of cooperation between local students and professors dedicated to sustainable development. In September we kick off a crowdfunding campaign for the first time, thanks to the opportunity from the GlobalGiving platform. This campaign provided us with donations and support from our incredible donors, allowing us to become permanent members of GlobalGiving.
October
At the Legislative Meeting in October, the oikos Community came together for the third time this year to elect a new oikos International Board. The oikos chapter representatives elected seven board members to take mandate for 2022. Later that month, oikos St. Gallen and oikos international co-hosted the oikos Conference, which was our biggest community gathering in almost two years. A number of chapter members and the oikos International Team members got together to learn and connect, but also get to know the new community platform oiKosmos which was officially launched at the conference.
oikos Conference in St. Gallen
November
Following the success of our first crowdfunding campaign, we reflected back upon it and all the challenges from the earliest parts of preparation. It was a good learning experience for our Fundraising Working Group, providing some different insights and perspectives which we were happy to take with us for the next campaign. With the first one centered around organizational changes, we decided to create a new one as a way to increase our impact and open up our projects to more students than ever next year.
Our community has made an incredible impact this year and despite sometimes challenging circumstances, made the best of all opportunities. With some new changes taking place and some new possibilities opening up, we look forward to 2022 and aim to make our impact go further, even beyond the oikos networks and campuses. As we finish planning out the year ahead, we keep on working together in driving change for a better tomorrow!
A closer look into the projects | oikos Curriculum Camp 2021 in retrospect
oikos International
Author
After the success of the first oikos Curriculum Camp 2021, our team is excited to announce that we will host a second edition next year, this time in Barcelona! This year’s oikos Camp was conducted from August 23 to 28 in Sestriere, Italy. This picturesque town was the perfect fit to disconnect from the outer world and fully focus on our goal of transforming management and economics education for a sustainable world.
The purpose of the Camp was to provide a space for international teams to develop concrete projects related to transforming education, some of which already initiated in an oikos pre-event: FutureLab.
Over the five days we hosted 33 people from 17 different nationalities at the Camp. We provided the participants guidance on how to carry their projects successfully to completion, starting with project management, through creating a missing and vision, synergy and feedback sessions, finishing up with upscaling to increase the impact of their projects. The week was finalized with a presentation of all the projects to the public, however due to health concerns, we had to stick to an online format, hosting an open online Conference for everyone to join and learn about the projects. It also gave participants the opportunity to showcase their achievements, gather feedback and attract more volunteers to help with implementation.
Get to know the Camp projects
Teaching Economics in Italian Universities Oleksandra and Michaela had been long recollecting data about economic syllabus and teaching methods in Italian Universities. They joined the Camp to find a common space and time to analyse all data collected and reached some really interesting conclusions. They are now preparing a follow-up strategy based on the improvement areas they identified.
Economy studies The launch of Economy Studies: A New Approach to Economics Education was getting close and Sam and Joris found in the Camp the perfect place to enhance all the details. This new book aims at providing tools for reviewing curricular in a wide range of economic studies. It is now fully available at their website: http://www.economystudies.com
Ecological Economics Workshop An international team composed of PhD and postdoc students concerned about the hurdles to implement pluralist economics in universities gather together in the Camp. They prepared a 2h workshop on Ecological Economics. The aim is to make this topic more accessible to students and create ways to envision the future for a sustainable planet. This workshop will shortly be accessible through oikos’ channels.
Positive Impact Rating The Positive Impact Rating, an innovative survey that measures the best universities for the world, is on the rise. Hence, the management team along with three student coordinators from different universities joined the camp in order to develop strategies to hold successful PIR campaigns within the faculties. The project provided tools for spreading knowledge about PIR and providing support to student coordinators in forms of interviews, toolkits etc. You can see their input here: Meet PIR students!
Sustainable Finance Toolkit The sustainable finance lead met with four international volunteers in Camp in order to develop the Sustainable Finance Toolkit. The project strives to become a platform that is useful for students interested in the field as a space of co-creation. The toolkit includes: interviews with professors, participatory articles, practitioners’ experience, career map and a lot more. It has been released at oikos international website (Welcome to the Toolkit! – Sustainable Finance) and is still open to collaborations.
Curriculum Review A team from oikos Barcelona gathered at Camp to achieve two different outcomes: to develop a common guideline of curricular review that will be helpful for oikos chapters already engaged in Curricular Transformation and to develop a platform to centralize useful resources related to Curriculum Change. You can see their results here!
Decolonizing Economics Similar to the Ecological Economics Workshop, economic students from Norway and Spain joined the Camp to develop a Workshop on Decolonising Economics and make this topic more accessible to students around the world.
LEAP Tools As a leadership tool provided by oikos, LEAPalumni gathered at Camp in order to draft different workshops for implementing leadership coaching at a local level. Their toolbox has triggered the interest of 3 partner organisations who would like to create a leadership program within their own organisation with the help of the team and there is an introduction workshop planned that is open to all partners and chapters. You can find their work here!
Pluralist Economics Certificate Project The Certificate Project team worked out a plan of how to promote pluralist course accreditation for the next few years by drafting the vision and project plan for the coming period, while assessing prior project routes and their successes and continuing barriers. Their project is embedded in other activities of the German speaking Network Pluralist Economics. More information here.
Stay tuned to be part of the Camp experience in 2022!! News coming up in January.
Over the years, we as a society have taken up a more digital approach to life, with the internet allowing us to bridge the longest distances across the globe with relative ease and connecting people like never before. From simply connecting with peers thousands of kilometers apart to hosting large online events welcoming oikees from the whole community: the past two years allowed us to foster more inclusive and easy communication within our network. It drew the community closer and opened up new possibilities. However, it became clearly visible that the confinement to online meet-ups for over a year also meant drawbacks to some extent, and surely was not equal to in-person connections.
For this reason, Sophie, the Co-president of oikos Interational, found herself on the road as the summer began and the travel restrictions loosened, visiting oikos chapters around Europe. With determination and good spirits, she met up with active and alumni oikos members, getting to know our chapters from the inside, including their current highlights and challenges. From this exciting journey, Sophie returned with valuable insight into the needs of our community, along with new ideas to be shaped into plans for the future! Get enchanted by her journey and learn more about our community through her travel journal!
July 1, 2021 – Brussels: The start of a colourful summer
Dear travelling journal,
Summer is here and it will be the summer of oikos! For years we have been talking about visiting our chapters and experiencing what is happening on the ground – and for years we couldn’t put our focus and resources there. Now is the time, and I find myself on the road to see some of our oikees in their natural environment. Beyond this: I cannot even imagine what will happen once we get back together for our two onsite meetings at the end of July and August. I am excited and curious about what I will hear and learn!
July 5, 2021 – Copenhagen: Coping with a rotten system & the joy of being together
Copenhagen welcomed me as a first stop on my journey. I met two generations of oikees for a little city walk which flowed into a beautiful Indian dinner at the place of the adjourning president of the local chapter. Over dhaal and chapati, we started exploring the current developments at the international and chapter level – and all were impressed by the similarities and overlaps we could identify. It became clear that what we share is more than the name of our organization – and that we have to increase our communication to exchange more often on our learnings. Kata, one of last year’s board members shared about their struggles in building the team in covid times, the importance of the human factor and the motivation the new regulations might bring now. We all agreed that we can learn a lot from the time and that the challenges we faced should be normalized. Beyond this, the chapter is currently facing a very tough situation, as their business school might be forced to hold all courses in Danish instead of English in close future. This would mean a de-internationalization and therefore a big break for admitting European students without fees. With a reach to a mainly international audience in the local chapter, we were sitting together and started realizing the depth of the impact on the work of oikos Copenhagen. Rethinking the membership, the target group, the handover processes, and even the mother university moved into tangible distance at that moment – a scary and uncertain future. Looking into M’s eyes, as the incoming chapter president, I knew that she already had accepted the challenge before we sketched out the potential impacts. The strategy was written and signed by the government, everyone, including the board of the university, their favorite professors and supporters were sitting in the same uncertainty and many might have to leave. Not even a petition of faculty from across the country had any influence and many students would have to change their plans in the midst of their studies. ‘Now, what can we do other than venture out to other universities and at the same time focus on strengthening the Danish core of the chapter?’ What a strong person, what a strong support network, what a strong chapter! I left with the promise of being in their back with the whole oikos International team, and I am curious to learn how the group turns the challenge into the next big opportunity.
July 13, 2021 – Paderborn: The art of Sustainability
After my first stop in Copenhagen, I jumped on a train and was warmly welcomed in the city of Paderborn. What is important to know here is that the Pader is the river that lends its name to the place – and supposedly 90% of the local businesses around. Right after arriving, I got to see the surroundings with my friend and co-oikee D who I met over 3 years ago in our leadership program LEAP. What a journey we have been on ever since!
In the evening, the local oikos chapter hosted one of their monthly meet ups and I got to learn about their current projects – an impressive portfolio of workshop series, special events and a podcast that truly made me think back of my own time in Reutlingen, where I did my undergrad and joined oikos over 7 years ago. So many parallels! From business students in their master studies to physics undergrads and engineering doctorates, Paderborn is one of our chapters that reflects the transdisciplinarity of the whole network. The meeting was joined by a collaborating artist who introduced a creative project and invited us to get our hands on. In the next minute, we found ourselves sketching designs for a new oikos t-shirt for the chapter – fun! From oi-Kois to tree heads and treehouses, the group came up with amazing ideas which started to unfold as we merged them together. What stood out: we all could connect to one of the meanings of the Greek word oikos, which in German can also be translated into ‘Geborgenheit’, a beautiful word that tells of the warm, cozy feeling of belonging. Like a true home. I cannot wait to see the final results! Being motivated by the art, we started dancing and closed the night in celebration of the great work of the chapter. GRATITUDE!
July 17, 2021 – Bayreuth: Where past meets the future
After leaving Paderborn, my journey took me to another place that is deeply linked to my LEAP and oikos experience, given the many people that have been crossing my way as members of the always very considerate, reliable and proactive chapter. Bayreuth, what a picturesque Bavarian city, in a way a world on its own, with a lot of history and heritage, including some shady stories of privilege and racism that are not heard that often, but that found space over the wonderful conversations I had with my host and friend P. The soon-to-be doctorate always surprises and inspires me with her incredibly holistic, and detailed view of the world. We both had grown so much over the past years, becoming more vulnerable but also more clear in our perspectives and how we aim to act in the world – and we both felt that one of the important points in our journey was our leadership program LEAP, and how it opened us for our further commitment in the organization & beyond.
The other day, we met with current and future oikees in a beer garden and I felt a little unsure in the beginning: how should I introduce myself, what to say that is not too much or overwhelming, what is expected? After a short while of orienting, the conversations started flowing and I heard more about the emotionally challenging and, due to covid, incredibly difficult situation of the chapter. After weeks of looking for successors, the board finally concluded that they had to serve another term if they wanted the chapter to remain alive. Struggles in communication, the decreasing motivation and sensibility of acting online at this stage of the pandemic and the uncertainty of coming back to a more physical agenda made it hard for the people on the ground to persist and to find new, committed members for the association, even if there would be many actions that could be taken. ‘Wait, what is the positive impact rating?’ one of the new members asked suddenly. After a while, it crystallized that we might have found a new project lead, and that there is a lot of support we can offer from the international side to make it happen. The mood of the meeting shifted to one of optimism, and I encouraged the group to work in babysteps. All chapters are sitting with similar problems right now, and they do what they can. But that is no reason to lose hope or feel stuck. The night ended with the oldest oikees in the group gathering for a last drink and some further reflections and insights into where we are in our lives and where we are heading. This personal connection is so precious to our work, and to all that is happening around it. How lucky I am to grant space to it, and how inspired to take this with me for my next steps.
July 21, 2021 – Munich: Shift of perspective
Time for a quick shift of context & perspective. In Munich, I visited a dear friend of mine who recently opened a restaurant/experiential learning space in the city center. Accompanying her for 2 days was a big gift. Of course, as oikees can be found everywhere in the world, I could make use of this opportunity to meet one of our Alumni. S, who I met one year ago at the oikos Unconference, shared about his great work & progress in the world of medical technology. Fascinating, I am so grateful to see how diverse our network is and how interested our alumni are in learning and supporting our work. A field where we definitely can grow in the near future, there are many of us out there, so many empowering, rich stories to be shared.
July 26, 2021 – Leysin: Taking another LEAP
10 days in the Swiss Alps, surrounded by beautiful people and nature, and the intensity of a personal development journey that has started for me in early 2017. Hosting the hybrid version with onsite, online and connective sessions in parallel, keeping an overview and guarding the depth and safety of the experience for our participants and coaches, while feeling deeply nudged by the questions of the program itself – that was a lot. How great to have the support and heartfelt learning commitment of a whole team of hosts, and how amazing to see us making big steps ahead! Together, we made this week an incredibly deep, spacious, relational journey which will have an influence on all of our lives.
August 16, 2021 – Belgrade: Hospitality, hurdles and hope
New week, new country, new city. These days, I am visiting Belgrade together with my fellow board member and dear friend D. We both found ourselves still sitting in the intensity of the LEAP, and with the need of processing all that had happened. How great to make space for that, in the context of learning more about her world, and getting to know her amazing family. I am so thankful for the hospitality I experience here, and I am reminded of my love to explore new cultures and understand what is lying below the stereotypes, behaviors and habits. The city is buzzing with cultural heritage, hidden beauty and lively people enjoying their summers. Meeting oikees here means to explore the space together, and the pride of my Serbian friends is infectious, it makes me love the place beyond my own judgement. Also here, the topics of finding new committed members, and finding supportive voices in the university, are some of the most pressing ones. What stands out is not the role of covid, but the culture where extra-curricular commitment is valued even less than in other places, like for example Germany. Also the nature of commitment the chapter envisions: Do you just want to have a name for your CV, or do you really care? Great conversations! This week was also a special week for the whole community: we elected our first-ever co-president who came out to be D herself. How glad I am that I could be here, to celebrate with her, and to set a tone for the journey ahead!
August 18, 2021 – Vienna: Vibes of a city
End of August is approaching and I realize that I have already been on the road for quite a while. I realize how I crave space to rest, or just space to process and be with myself for a little and just as I call for it, I find it – in beautiful Vienna! It all started with a moment of reunion over a rich breakfast with K, a member of my own LEAP peer group who turned into one of my best friends over the years. I also realize how much I have achieved in my other oikos roles in all of this time while travelling, next to the relationship-ing. And that this is more than enough, other than what the monkey mind tried to tell me over the past days. I find myself being hosted by M, who I met already in Switzerland as she helped us as a host for the LEAP, and we start exploring that we share several interests beyond oikos. How important it feels to be seen beyond this work, how much richer & how much more colorful it becomes when we bring in more of our identities and do trust that there is space for it all. I meet Me and L who are currently active in the chapter, and together we dream a little about all that will become possible now that the regulations allow it. ‘Let’s not think about what might happen later this year’. I agree. I cannot even imagine how my oikos experience would have looked without the physical element on campus – and I am incredibly proud about how the community navigates through all of these challenges and grows beyond. The time in Vienna ends with some live music & good laughs on a beautiful summer night.
August 20, 2021 – Graz: Thriving in diversity
And yet another beautiful summer night and so many lovely hosts! I am meeting oikos Graz at one of the most prominent viewpoints of the city – and the insights I get into the chapter life are just as stunning as the view. oikos Graz for me really is a chapter with a heart, the culture is one of true collaboration & friendship – and the results of this are outstanding and awe-inspiring. What amazes me is the diversity of the group, and the mixture of newbies and alumni that come together that night. It really feels like new connections are weaving and it is so nice to be invited into the space & share a little about our work and how I relate to the aspirations & challenges the oikees in Graz sit with. On a walk on my last day, my host S suddenly says ‘Now I understand more about what oikos is about. There are still several open questions – but at least I got a feeling & sense of it.’ Wow, what a gift to hear that and what a confirmation that this journey is just the right thing to do in this time after the pandemic hit all of us like a wave. And so nice to see new people joining the community wherever I turn! We are growing, individual by individual, and together at our own pace. This evening, I found myself on a night train from Graz to Turin, together with Mi, the current chapter president. We both feel like excited kids entering the train to our next adventure, being sure of only one thing: it will be a shared one & we will get to know each other and many more inspiring people over the upcoming days in Italy.
August 25, 2021 – Sestriere: oikos Camp Magic
Welcome to oikos CAMP! Do you know the moment when a vision becomes a reality? I am so happy to witness this in the Italian Alps, surrounded by oikees and friends of the community from all across Europe. I did not know what to expect in this place, but the energy the different groups bring, and the colorful ideas and boiling motivation of everyone, make me feel home and inspired in no time. I appreciate the spaciousness of the program, and the considerate way the agenda was built to address any concerns and wishes when it comes to the context we were meeting in. The camp is very different to the LEAP, there is more agency with the groups. And yet the moments where we all get together are full of joy and connection, and the cross-pollination between the projects is fascinating. How lucky I am to have only one role this week: hopping from team to team like a bumble bee and spreading the magic together with my transversal team, the so-called genies. What I really love about this: We thrive in our constellation, feed from our diverse strengths and inspire the teams based on thorough and honest observation and exchange. If I could choose to work like this forever, I would straight jump into it. Maybe I can offer my genie services at some stage in the future, who knows? The week flies by – and the outcomes of the work of all participants are stunning! How sweet to already see where we will meet again in the future, at the oikos Conference. I am sure that the threads of the projects will keep evolving until that point.
August 28, 2021 – Genoa: Some last takeaways
Learning can be so much fun, and so relaxing indeed! My summer is winding down and as I foresaw the intensity of the past week, I decided to schedule some quality time for myself in my calendar. Good food, the sea and just some time passing by as I walk up and down the lanes of beautiful Genova. One morning I wake & see pictures of other oikees having a good time in the region. What a great feeling it is to enjoy solitude, knowing that one is in the end part of something bigger and appreciated for just that: belonging to oneself. I take a deep breath, grab one last scoop of ice and find myself on a 16-h ride back to Brussels, dwelling in Italian Indie Pop as I observe this chapter closing.
September 1, 2021 – Brussels: Coming back home
What a blast of a summer! What a beautiful and intense time out there on the road. I still cannot believe that I am back, only 200m from where I started 3 months ago, in a new flat and with so many new stories. All of this is hard to grasp. I am so happy about this, about arriving and yet I see that I will need patience as my world will keep spinning, probably just as fast as over the past weeks. I feel that I will be asked about the themes and patterns that I see and that will need to be turned into action – but for now I want to just let it simmer. The action will emerge when we are ready for it. Breathing into this new chapter, curious what Autumn holds for me and how the learnings will show up and influence our next steps.
Open call for professional coaches inspired to support the next generation of leaders to create the change they wish to see in the world!
oikos is a student-led international organization fostering the reflection about how we want to live, lead and learn together for a thriving, sustainable tomorrow. Our community of student change agents works towards transforming education for sustainability.
One of our main initiatives is LEAP – the oikos leadership program to support the community in their personal and professional development. LEAP focuses on building capacity in the oikos community with the necessary competencies, qualities, practices, tools and global network to become conscious leaders in the co-creation of thriving and sustainable societies.
By being part of our LEAP Programs participants become equipped with capacity in key aspects of conscious leadership with a focus on personal development and transformative economics and management (business) education change and change for sustainability; are empowered and inspired to expand their learnings and impact in the different communities they are part of; build capacity for personal wellbeing and resilience; and are part of a global network and community of support within LEAP & oikos.
The LEAP program is composed of different elements including inputs in the form of webinars and reading/watching materials; workshops; hands-on projects; onsite events, and contemplative practices as individual reflections; group reflections, dialogues; peer coaching and individual coaching sessions.
We are looking for professional coaches who are inspired by the oikos community and the LEAP program to volunteer in monthly 1:1 coaching sessions.
Through the Monthly Donor Drive, Global Giving is offering a one-time 200% match on all new monthly donations set up between today and Friday, December 17.
This means that donations up to $200 per unique donor setting up a new monthly donation on our campaign will be matched one-time at 200% after four total payments.
By pledging monthly donations you can support us long-term and by doing so this week, your impact will be doubled!
The applications for the 2022 cohort of LEAP Advanced are open!
LEAP Advanced is a 10-month transformational leadership programme focusing on building capacity in the oikos community with the necessary competencies, qualities, practices, tools and global network to become conscious leaders in the co-creation of thriving and sustainable societies. The journey will start with an online Kick-off on February 26 & 27 and will run until December 2022. Click here for more information about LEAP Advanced.
Every oikos member (active and alumni) can apply to become a participant of the program. Please take your time to answer the questions thoroughly. We estimate that it will take about 40min to answer all questions. Participants will be chosen solely based on their answers in this questionnaire. We are looking especially for individuals with a strong commitment to their personal and leadership development, who wish to become empowered, skilled and inspired to act as conscious leaders in the different communities and organizations they are part of. In this way, building effective conscious communities that transform systems towards sustainability and wellbeing of people and Planet. The result is empowered student change agents who strengthen their chapter’s performance and create impact in line with the oikos vision and mission of transforming education for a sustainable world.
Do you have a question about LEAP Advanced or want to learn more about the program? Make sure to join the Info call on January 10!
The oikos Community Hours is taking up a new format, consisting of three parts:
COMMUNITY CONVERSATION (from 5pm CET to 6pm CET)
As oikos, our mission is to raise awareness of sustainability opportunities and challenges, in order to empower students as change agents. However, as an international, multi-cultural community of students, we often have different understandings and knowledge of what sustainability means, how wide it goes, etc.
So today we chose to use the COMMUNITY CONVERSATION to tackle that specific issue: HOW DO WE UNDERSTAND SUSTAINABILITY AS A COMMUNITY?
COMMUNITY PLAYGROUND (from 6pm CET to 7pm CET)
oikos is more than a simple group of students working for sustainability. We are a community. And sometimes, it is nice to join some simple and enjoyable activities to meet new like-minded people from all over the world.
Thus, we created the COMMUNITY PLAYGROUND. A moment to get all together and share a few games to get to know each other.
If you simply want to relax, get to meet new oikees, and have a good time, join us!
COMMUNITY APERO (from 7pm CET onward)
In addition to being a multicultural community, we are also a multigenerational one. So let’s take a few moments during this COMMUNITY APERO to get all together, no matter where you come from or your status as active or alumni, to get a drink together and have a nice talk and catch up.
To join, connect to the oikos Virtual Office on Tuesday, December 7!
