Eco-feminist retreat for systems change

We’re gathering. Not just for a retreat, but for a spark. From September 22 to 23, a group of ecofeminist thinkers, organisers, and changemakers will come together to imagine a different Europe—one rooted in feminist values, systems thinking, and collective care.

This retreat is an invitation to pause, connect, and build. Our primary goal is to slowly and intentionally widen and strengthen a growing network of ecofeminists across Europe. Together, we’ll explore how we can support each other—not only spiritually and strategically as individuals, but also as a collective seeking bold, systemic transformation.

Together for Collective Impact

Who is this for?

Anyone who is working towards a more eco feminist Europe, intersectional feminist Europe
Anyone who cares about power, awareness, transforming power
Anyone who cares about how mother nature would go about that
Anyone who sees the need to connect the local grassroots struggles to national and European level efforts, to fund that and create space for that
Anyone who cares about feminist leadership, culture and how to bring that into our lives and organisations as a means of greater change outside
Anyone who cares about brave and safe space to hold hard and necessary conversations across issues, oppressions, languages, borders, groups

Specifically, this is for:

Organisational, campaign and project leaders of all levels that either want to do campaign strategies, organising strategies, internal strategies, meeting, decision meeting differently, inspired by feminist values
We are particularly interested in connecting with artivists, musicians, storytellers, people in the cultural sector who are fighting for a better world.
Movements that need to target Europe and connect, reflect and strategise with partners all over Europe but dont have resources to do that.
Likewise anyone seeking belonging to a community of changemakers in Europe that is bigger and wider and cares about diversity, depth and width, east and west, north and south: that we will build via retreats once to twice per year.

Over two days, we’ll co-create space to:

Reflect on what it means to build a more feminist, organising, and systems-thinking Europe
Explore how to widen the “we” of this community and make it more inclusive and powerful
Identify the tools, frameworks, and (action) research we need to support long-term change

Agenda

Sunday, 21 September: Arrival day for those travelling
Monday, 22 September: Retreat day 1
Tuesday, 23 September: Retreat day 2
Wednesday 24 September: Optional Trip to the Kerkini lake in Greece, stopping at Bulgarian vineyards and flamingos spotting. If not participating in the trip, 24 September is departure day.

Sessions will include:

Creating safe space: Container-building exercises designed to foster trust, belonging, and self-awareness, creating a safe and supportive space for exploration. Through purposeful reflection, we will trace the origins of our activist spark, briefly sharing personal dreams and visions for the future while balancing direction with openness to emergence.
Collective sense-making, reflecting on the current global landscape and our roles as individuals and civil society. We will explore the root causes of where we are today, asking what foundational elements have shaped our collective experience and what seeds of change might take root.
Roots of activism: a deep-dive into sources of resistance, resilience and activism. What do we need to thrive, and how do we get there?
Meditation and grounding: rooted in the belief that nurturing our creative and grounded self is a vital source of resilience, we will be reconnecting to our breath and nature.
Community building: we will not only rest, laugh, dance and rejuvenate. We will also organise, and feed a community of eco-feminist resistance and active hope.

And most importantly: joy, music and rejuvenation!