The people behind Gaia Education

Cayan is our IT and Back Office Support based in Porto, Portugal. He started with Gaia Education as an intern in Edinburgh at the age of 19 and now works more closely on European projects, supporting IT systems and helping ensure Gaia Education's website and other systems run smoothly.

Emmanuel Khodja (Manu) works with a whole system design approach, promoting personally, organisationally and environmentally integrated development. He is co-founder and the first president of the NGO and Ecovillage Terra Una/Brazil, where he has been living since 2007. Manu serves as academic coordinator of Gaia Education online courses in Portuguese, as well as co-leader and educator of Gaia Education programmes in Brazil. As a groups and processes facilitator, he is especially interested in next stage organisations. He is also the founder of BioSistemica.com.br, a consulting, projects and training company working in sustainability, organisational change, permaculture and regenerative cultures.

Fasil is a chartered accountant (ACMA, CGMA) and founding partner of Community Focused Accountancy. Fasil decided to leave a successful career in London working for a renowned asset management firm, European Credit Management, in search of a way to provide financial advice to community-based organisations in Scotland. Fasil has been serving as Treasurer of Gaia Education since 2015 and, more specifically, he manages the finances of Gaia Education projects in the Global South.

Gui is a Brazilian graphic designer, animator, illustrator and art director. Passionate about Visual Arts, drawing since childhood, he graduated in Graphic Design and took on the art direction of several organizations and projects, from animated films to Recycling and Reforestation NGO's, aiming the socio-environmental development, mainly on the Brazilian Cerrado biome. For him, the power of visual communication can be a strong ally to strengthen important causes. As a yoga practitioner and teacher, he applies calmness, presence and lightness to act constructively in teams, and to evolve in any area of life.

Henrique has an interdisciplinary scientific education in astronomy, nanotechnology, archaeology and cultural studies. Based in Braga, Portugal, he has worked on youth science education, technological innovation and several other businesses, from sports equipment to thermic isolation made from recycled paper. He is the founder of a branch of New Acropolis in Braga, an international organization for human development through philosophy, culture and volunteering. He teaches philosophy at New Acropolis since 2012 and leads ecological projects of reforestation and river cleaning. At Gaia Education he is responsible for all the technical IT challenges to deliver our courses and connecting a community of practice joining efforts to regenerate our world.

Ivan Ballesteros Barnie is part of the E-Learning and Projects Team. Intercultural mediator, holistic facilitator/coach, consultant and community weaver. With more than ten years of international experience exploring communities where community, regenerative and artistic development were the main axes. He has founded several organizations in Europe, coordinating alternative educational programs and regenerative projects. In his life he has been active in many fields of sustainability, including the social field, committed spirituality, rural regeneration, collaborative economy and eco-construction. He lives as a nomad, travelling in different communities and ecovillages where he carries out his purpose 'to connect people with themselves, with others and with nature through the experience of community'.

An avid reader and learner, deeply committed to the interrelated challenges of avoiding the climate crisis, recovering biodiversity and achieving social justice, through community-led, Nature Based Solutions. Javier is now based near Granada (Spain), and has been interested in ecovillages and sustainable communities since he helped organise the EYFA Ecotopia gathering in Ukraine in 2003. Later, he lived for 14 years in the intentional community of Can Masdeu near Barcelona, practising regenerative agriculture and beekeeping, and working as an environmental educator. For the last 5 years, he has been developing and writing research proposals, working with a wide diversity of organisations, such as the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and the Institute of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation (IUNG) in Pulawy, Poland. He brings his experience in facilitating knowledge exchange between different kinds of organisations and scientific disciplines in order to develop projects with a participative, holistic and proactive approach to research.

Macaco Tamerice (Martina Grosse Burlage) is a sociologist, a life coach for meaningful relationships specialized in community-building, inner transformation, leadership and conflict resolution. She has been living at Damanhur since 1993, where she has held many roles of social and artistic responsibility, not last leading the Federation. In 2008, she became Vice President and then President of the Global Ecovillage Network-Europe (GEN Europe) until 2015. She is one of GEN's UN representatives and the President of the NGO Damanhur Education. Macaco is a multi-lingual international speaker, facilitator of many courses and seminars and a certified GEESE Educator (since 2011). Trained in music and voice, she has toured as a professional jazz singer in Europe, Canada and Japan and has lead voice classes and seminars since 1984. In her life she has been active in many fields of sustainability, from the social realm and engaged spirituality to economy and eco-building. She lives in a straw bale house that she built together with her husband.

Pedro joined Gaia Education in 2018 and has supported the organisation through many different challenges and opportunities since. Pedro has a Bachelor Degree in International Relations and European Studies, and is currently a PhD candidate in Communications and Activism. He worked as a Science Communication Officer in his past life as an Astronomer in the Astrophysics Center of University of Porto, managed the Homeless Support Center in Porto, and is a member of several activism organisations relating to Migrants and Refugees and Animal Welfare. Pedro lives in Porto, Portugal, but was born in Vizela, a small town in the north of Portugal.

Peter is part of the Gaia Education's Projects Team and is a change agent and works with the use of whole systems, transition and regenerative design approaches, principles and methods, including permaculture, to provide support through integral and participatory facilitation for individuals, groups, neighborhoods, communities and organisations to co-create and co-design our sustainable futures of regenerative and thriving cultures, places, environments and local but globally networked livelihoods. Peter has a background and experiences in earth systems, environmental and sustainability sciences and has been involved in many small to large projects in these fields of practice in a number of countries and regions, with a recent focus on training, education and facilitation for regeneration. He is a Gaia Education certified trainer, a GEN Ambassador, Earth Charter Educator and Ecological Footprint Trainer and is or was actively involved with GEN Australia and Austria, Cohousing Australia and Transition Towns Austria and currently based near Vienna in Austria. One of his main areas of interest include pathways towards transforming our worldviews, beliefs, values, mind sets and attitudes towards the generation of regenerative cultures.

Rafael is our Spanish and Portuguese Communications Coordinator. He comes from Brazil and has a degree in journalism, having also a background working with advertising agencies and marketing in the corporate world. As an enthusiast of permaculture, he has an interest in regenerative cultures, especially in the subjects related to agroecology, sustainable models of land occupation, and bioregionalism. At Gaia Education, he brings his experience and skills to promote sustainability and transformative education for the paradigm shift we want to see in the world.

Sally has worked for over 20 years as a project manager, project development manager and fundraiser in the fields of international development, humanitarian aid and sustainability. Having worked for Findhorn Ecovillage as Youth Project Manager, she joined the International Committee of the Red Cross in 2007 in the Philippines and Guinea. Returning to Scotland in 2012 with Ecologia Youth Trust, she joined Gaia Education in 2016, holding various roles in projects, resourcing and partnerships. Her passion is supporting pioneering partners to launch their projects, working with them to share their learning, and that of Gaia Education, with those interested in regenerative lifestyles. With Pedro, she prioritises the wellbeing and capacity building of the Gaia Education team by building participatory, inclusive internal systems.

Saskia is our Marketing and Communications Manager at Gaia Education. She originally comes from Finland and has an international background after living in several countries around the world. She has a degree in Marketing with Digital Media from Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland. Previously she has worked in digital marketing for a local charity as well as a support worker for children and young adults in need. At Gaia Education Saskia provides support and information for existing and potential students by connecting with them daily.

Taisa is passionate about Ecovillages and regenerative education. She has coordinated and taught Ecovillage Design Education Programmes since 2009, having contributed to 30 certified EDEs all over in Brazil, Portugal, Mozambique, Argentina and online. Education & Research Coordinator at the Global Ecovillage Network (since 2019); Board Member of the International Communal Studies Association (ICSA), she is currently the Project Manager of the Erasmus+ partnership project Regenerative Communities for All (ReGEN4ALL) on Ecovillage research. Leader author of the GEN Regenerative Urban Communities Manual. Author of the book Ecovillages: building a regenerative culture. Professor at the Post-Graduate Program on Pedagogy of Cooperation and Social Methodologies (UNIP/Projeto Cooperação) in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo since 2014. She holds a master's degree in Psychosociology of Communities and Social Ecology (EICOS/UFRJ) and a Bachelor in Social Communications (ECO/UFRJ). Taisa is Brazilian and works globally as a trainer, consultant and researcher in the fields of sustainability, regenerative education and community life. She has contributed to transition initiatives both in urban and rural areas. Co-founder of Terra Una Ecovillage (MG, Brazil), she also lived, for several years, in small urban communities in Rio.

Thao Kin joins the Gaia Education team as the eLearning Associate, supporting our rich online offerings. She is an ecology and environment trainer with a background in Sustainable Development and experience coordinating online and in-person courses on Regeneration. Kin has also worked on numerous non-formal educational projects in Vietnam as a coordinator, trainer, facilitator, and designer, driven by a passion for Deep Ecology and compassionate space holding. Her vision is to reconnect people with the awe and enchantment of nature through education and lived experience, and she co-founded Project Awe, an intentional community in Vietnam, to realize this.

Yan is our COO and eLearning Manager; he oversees and supports, along with the rest of the team, all the online programmes. With a degree in engineering, he has been exploring a holistic worldview in his life, as well as regenerative design. Yan came across Gaia Education 7 years ago when working in the Ecovillage Movement and has since then been connected and supporting our programmes and supporting partnerships with multiple partners.