Projects
Solicitations for these research, development and demonstration grants (RD&D) flow in two ways.
1) Open Solicitations tap into the wisdom and cutting edge work already being done in the network and originate in the ecovillages and other sustainability projects and are brought to the Guild Boards. These open solicitations are reviewed and supported in the context of the RD&D framework that each Guild area has established with this very framework being generated by a two-way breathing process from the communities to the Guild Boards and back again – thereby providing the sustainable communities movement with central coordination while bringing forth the collective wisdom of the whole.
2) Targeted Solicitations flow from the Guild Boards to communities for specific RD&D projects the Guild Boards see as essential. This ensures that the leaders and holders of Guild knowledge drive a systematic RD&D program in specific areas of sustainable living. This also provides the opportunity to do RD&D projects across several communities – perhaps studying the cross-cultural or cross-climatic context and applicability and replicability of any given solution or research subject.