Ecogenia

Introduction

In January 2022, our Foundation offered financial support to Ecogenia for one of their pilots, Dorida: Trail Building & Eco-Tourism Program.

Ecogenia’s mission is to provide all Greek 18- to 28-year-olds with the opportunity to engage in a civic service program, where they address local needs and deliver tangible impact on the communities and places they serve.

Their vision is to become a national program and be the missing ingredient for Greece’s young talent to prosper at home, and for Greece to become a lighthouse of sustainable development for the region.

About Ecogenia’s model

Ecogenia’s service-year model creates a sustainable cycle that is good for the workforce, good for development, good for Greece, and good for the planet.

The model stands on three critical pillars:

- Training / Service Program: Ecogenia couples up unemployed young Greeks with partner organizations to advance sustainable development initiatives in Greece. Ecogenia is responsible for recruiting, training, and raising the funds to facilitate this synergetic process.

- Cohort Members: Young Greeks, who offer their time, talent, and skills to Host Sites through a paid-service model. Trained by Ecogenia, Members are responsible for helping Host Sites amplify their impact. In return, they get a salary and continuous professional development and support from Ecogenia.

- Host Sites (Community Orgs, Schools, NGOs, etc.): Host-sites are responsible for taking in, assigning work tasks, managing, and mentoring these youth. In return, they get passionate, competent, and sustainability-minded manpower for their community projects.

The model is inspired by AmeriCorps & UnisCité, two proven service-year concepts from abroad. Ecogenia is taking these innovative concepts, applying them in the Greek context, and adapting them appropriately to scale nationally.