Unity Center Overview

OVF-Unity Centers (UCs) will be places where people can get hands-on help and assistance bringing the various tools, knowledge-sets and human networks together with an ambitious plan of establishing sustainable communities all over the world. Its about bringing people together in a community setting to see how through cooperation people can augment their individual efforts and create more complementary relationships at both the local and global level. The goal is to create a new globally linked but community based bottom-up economy. Through the effective use of best practices this network will promote and facilitate this process.

The Unity Center vision will be carried out through the implementation of the oneVillage Initiative (OVI). OVI is a holistic framework for deploying motivated change agents in underserved communities. It should be pointed out that the term underserved communities is purposely vague. It is also important to point out that we do not consider Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to be a cure all or panacea. We believe that ICT when properly and appropriated towards social enterprise oriented community development can augment existing networked efforts. We also believe that by bringing information affluence into each village, the global village will be enriched and strengthened by all-hands participation in the knowledge-based economy.

Specifically in relation to the oneVillage Africa mission, the goal of UCs relates to pressing needs in areas hard hit by AIDS. The larger and more long term goal is to create wealth creation models that reverse the negative trends associated with the grinding poverty that has gripped non-affluent nations proactively by promoting sustainable development. oneVillage intends to build model ecovillages specifically designed to accommodate the needs of those struggling to deal with AIDS on an everyday level and the communities of people that surround them, while addressing critical sustainability issues applicable to humanity at large to develop a approach that is proactive and whole system oriented.

Unity Centers will:
1. Empower people in local communities through the creation of small business and local initiative incubators within or integral with UCs.

2. Promote a variety of appropriate sustainable technologies and approaches suitable to local conditions and preferences. Unity Centers will serve as the base for more integrated development model as outlined in the OVF mandala diagram.

3. Serve as the base for Rapid Response Teams that will trained to rapidly respond to the immediate needs of people in these underserved communities.

4. Serve as anchors that will help to ground the OVF projects in the practical aspects of social change, acting as communication and coordination centers.

5. Create the necessary infrastructure to improve the everyday economic reality of the people in these regions.

6. Serve as a knowledge and learning hub for builders and global citizens come to learn, share, develop and test new sustainable technologies and techniques.

7. Provide a comfortable stopping point for those traveling in oneVillage Ecotourism adventures.

Activities at Unity Centers will use Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for rural economic development and integration to ensure AIDS Relief and community empowerment promoting:

• Sustainable development
• Ecotourism
• Storytelling
• Awareness
• Transformation

We envision ecovillages as eventually linked enough as part of a global network of locally based incubation centers. Places where people (particularly those in underserved communities) can get hands on help and assistance in bringing the various tools, knowledge-sets and human networks together to realize their dreams. Our goal is to involve people from around the globe to support the formation of sustainable communities.

How to modules on Sustainable Design for Unity Center Ecovillages

energy

agriculture

industry

eco-tourism

architecture

The Longju Sustainable village which was proposed for rural China, is an example of this new development strategy creating localized self-sustaining economic models.

Water hyacinth fights AIDS
Researchers at Africa University in Mutare, Zimbabwe, teach AIDS orphans to grow mushroom on water hyacinth substrates, thus enabling them to secure sustainable livelihoods.

Maggots Secure Hygiene
A Zero Emissions Research Initiative (ZERI) affiliated project called Songhai Farm is located in Benin creates ecotourism environment while creating products from a variety of wastes. There is also more information about it at the ZERI site and this includes a schematic of the Songai farm system in Macromedia Flash.

Eco Yoff is an ecovillage in senegal.