Tamera Ecovillage

Tamera is an Ecovillage ....

# Legal Status and Location?

- name the legal status and add a link if available - add place/city, add country and continent as a link (tag) -> link back! or - determine if the project is bioregional or transnational

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# When did it start?

# How do they work?

# Finances and Partnerships

- need oriented funding strategy that Tamera is developing its horticultural strategy in a way so that, in the ne+tdecade, the percentage of food consumed within the community that is produced onits grounds shall rise up to 40G. The regional food autonomy network allows Tameraand its network partners to become increasingly autonomous from globali/ed foodchains. 3esides, it is a network of mutual support that contributes to the revitali/ationof subsistence farming in the region, as well as to ecosystem regeneration through thesupport of organic production. The relationship between Tamera and its regional food providers is not limited to commerce. t also includes mutual support, in the form of participation in harvests in partner farms, e+change of knowledge about permacultureand herbal healing and the establishment of a regional seed bank of native species. . Internal economy! 'a(or in e)change for access to the commons The internal economy of Tamera functions according to what is knowninternally as a principle of 1gift economy. 1'o-workers in training and 1co-workers, as full-time community members are known, offer their skills, in the formof labor, to ensure the overall functioning and development of the pro;ect, in e+changefor free housing, food, water, energy, participation in community events and use of theoverall facilities. The difference between the two categories of community members isthat 1co-workers receive 20 Euros of pocket money every week for personale+penses, plus have the duty of helping to cover possible deficits in the community budget by holding paid ;obs outside its premises or contributing with revenue from private property. 1'o-workers and 1co-workers in training are covered by acollective health insurance policy that allows them to access health treatments in<ortugal or in other E) countries. 3esides, they also benefit from access to 1<osto deaMde, an internal clinic staffed by doctors and nurses that are either 1co-workers or members of the network of supporters of the pro;ect who offer their services tocommunity members, as well as to visitors on donation basis.$uring fieldwork,  was informed that a group of 1core ! coworkers of Tamera was developing a 1gift economy pool. This is a collective financial1commons to which each participant contributes according to her or his ability andtakes according to her or his needs. ?or the amount that each coworker contributes tothis pool, the community altogether contributes with an e@ual parcel, taken from theinternal account of Tamera. The whole group deliberates about how and who uses themoney. This process began in *pril 20! with an e+perimental phase, from which thecore group will learn lessons that will afterwards be used to develop a gift economystrategy for the communali/ation of financial means in the whole community. Thisstage in the development of the pro;ect was preceded by 20 years of internal research,e+perimentation and setting up, in a phased manner, of institutional and technologicalstrategies geared towards this goal. .* + need$oriented funding strategy *t the time of fieldwork, the financial sustainability of Tamera was dependentupon revenue from educational and training programs, an international network of donors and private sources of income that community members held e+ternally. 5ost1co-workers and 1co-workers in training held e+ternal sources of income, within or 0 outside <ortugal, either as self-employed professionals, business owners or temporaryworkers in harvests or at 'hristmas markets. This allowed them to raise funds to cover possible budget deficits, as well as non-essential personal e+penses. ince  was notgranted access to accounting documents from community, it was not possible to assesswhether ine@ualities in terms of private wealth reflect themselves in the contributionseach community members made to the covering of budget deficits. $uring a public discussion round that took place in eptember 20!, a sourcefrom the financial team indicated that the total household e+penses in Tameraamounted to an average of one million Euros per year. !! The source claimed thatTameraAs financial strategy is need-oriented rather than profit-oriented. The ma;or source of revenue (over %0G& were the fees paid by participants in the educational programs, seconded by donations and interest-free loans, given by its internationalnetwork of supporters. The loans and donations were managed by the race?oundation, head@uartered in Nurich and with branches in Tamera and onoma,'alifornia. The ?oundationAs website states that 1The race ?oundation gives peoplewith money, influence and other resources the opportunity to support a global systemchange by investing in a new planetary culture. !2 The money is used to fundhousehold e+penses, as well as the lobal 'ampus. This 1network of trust, as it isoften referred within the pro;ect, plus the e+ternal sources of income of 1co-workersand 1co-workers in training, contributes to keep reliance on the banking system for credit to a minimum. Tamera has the goal of increasing internal food and energy production, diversifying educational programs and increasing the number of participants. f that goal is achieved, it will allow the community to decrease itsreliance on donations, as well as on e+ternal sources of income from the part of itsmembers, to cover possible budget deficits

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# 1. Which Core Dimensions of Commoning are enacted?

# 2. How does Provisioning through commons occur?

# 2.a Use Convivial Tools Single out which kind of tools are used and tag them with: Constituting Tools and/or Knowledge Creation and/or Socializing Tools and/or Infrastructures and/or Finance and/or Laws

# 3. Self-Governance in the Commons # 3.a Governing Internal Relations Ana M. Esteves pins it down to "formal inclusiveness and informal hierarchies" (pages 6/7) Tamera has a mi+ed organi/ational identity, composed by a for-profit and anon-profit sector, which includes three different legal entities. 6 los, <eace :esearch'enter, da. is the 1umbrella company that owns the land and infrastructure of Tamera and deals with household e+penses, such as food, healthcare and restorations.:evenues are e@ually shared between the shareholders of los, two non-profitassociations known as 1.:.*.'.E. and 1*ssociaHIo para um 5undo 8umanitJrio(*58&. *58 is responsible for the environmental and technological research pro;ects of Tamera= the olar Killage Test ?ield, landscape and ecosystem restoration,and the food autonomy network. The .:.*.'.E. *ssociation is responsible for thelobal 'ampus program 9 , as well as educational pro;ects for children, such as theinternal childhood and youth educational program, as well as the pro;ectednternational chool 1Escola da EsperanHa.  The *ssociation also manages ascholarship fund that allows people from developing countries and crisis areas toattend TameraLs educational and training initiatives. *t the time of fieldwork, the governance structure of Tamera included theKision 'ouncil, 'arrier 'ircle and <lenary. These organs were responsible for decision-making regarding the overall strategy and management of the pro;ect. t alsoincluded a omenAs 'ouncil, composed by women over 0, which dealt with social@uestions in the community. The decisions were implemented by the overnment of Tamera, composed by three members that are chosen by the community to fulfill suchrole for a period of !2 months. Each thematic area, such as finances and regionalautonomy, had pro;ect groups and councils endowed with the authority to makedecisions regarding topics of their area of activity. uch topics and decisions wereshared with the whole community in the <lenary. everal community members said, during interviews as well as in publicevents that the goal of this governance structure is to promote inclusiveness and participation and undermine the emergence of hierarchies. The centrality given to theomenAs 'ouncil and to care work is said to be a strategy aimed at 1undermining patriarchy and empowering women in the governance structure. t was not clear if such form of 1empowerment reinforces traditional gender roles of women as primarily responsible for care work, or if it e+panded their options in terms of socialroles and construction of their own sub;ectivity. The fact that the members of theovernment are chosen among people who 1en;oy the greatest amount of trust amongthe community is also understood to be a strategy aimed at preventing the emergenceof such hierarchies. t is noteworthy that, despite such claims, most communitymembers who addressed this topic indicated that there is a correlation between thetime people have been living at the community and the amount of 1trust that isascribed to them. The Kision 'ouncil and the 'arrier 'ircle are composed by the  founding members of the community, as well as by people who have been recogni/ed by them to be 1carriers of the vision of Tamera. *ll this factors indicate the presenceof an informal rank based on age, period of time lived in the community andrecognition, by core community members, of identification between oneAs values and behavior and the ideas of the founding members

# Governing External Relations Proceed the same way selecting from the following dimensions

# 4. Inner Kernel

- Aspirational goals: if possible quote - Relational categories: harmonics, resonance, holon - Metaphors: web, web of life - Epistemology:

- Rationality: substantive relationality RELATE TO ONE OF OUR LSIT)

tag

# Realms of Commoning delete those which don't apply; if you are missing a top-level-tag; put a note in [Notes to Silke] Air&Atmosphere, Art&Culture, Communication, Democratic Innovation, Energy, Fisheries, Food, Forests, Health, Housing, Knowledge, Land, Learning, Mobility, Spirit&Well Being, Spaces for Commoning

# Assessment by Silke or David use the Five Stars for a quick signaling or/and describe your assessment

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# Sources

Tamera Ecovillage wiki Ana Margarida Esteves (2016): Radical Environmentalism and Commoning. pdf

# Additional Notes