The SINGA Factory: Innovation through Diversity

Have you ever wanted to be a part of something that has never been done before? This fall, an innovative entrepreneurship program for people from refugee and migrant backgrounds will be launched in Zurich. It will be the first of its kind in Switzerland and YOU could be a part of it. Interested? Keep on reading...

SINGA Switzerland’s flagship startup program, the SINGA Factory, is designed for and with people from refugee and migrant backgrounds who want to start their own tech business in Switzerland. This 6 month part-time program will involve dynamic weekly workshops on the foundations of starting a business. The workshops will cover topics including: business modelling, trans-cultural training, legal aspects of founding a business, marketing and storytelling, finances and accounting, Swiss bureaucracy and pitching and leadership skills. All workshops will be designed and led by experts in the field, be as interactive as possible and include practical examples so that the participants gain insights from real life experiences and learn as much as possible within the limited time-frame. The SINGA Factory will start its first 6-month cycle in September 2017.

Alongside these weekly workshops, each of the participants, or SINGApreneurs, will be matched with a mentor who will accompany them throughout the program. Mentors will support the SINGApreneurs by sharing their professional and personal experiences, access to their own networks and advice on various aspects of living and working in Switzerland.

SINGA Switzerland is growing. While our energies are currently focused on the first cycle of the SINGA Factory and recruiting motivated coaches and mentors for the program, we are also looking to expand our SINGA Community. This will involve the organisation and hosting of various social and cultural activities. Two community projects already in the pipeline include a regular language meetup for German conversation practice, the SPRACHCAFÉ and movie, storytelling and cooking nights as part of our LIVING ROOM project. These are just a couple of the fun and easy going ways possible for people to meet, share ideas and expand their networks in Switzerland.

Would you like to be a part of an unprecedented program with real social impact? Or would you like to organize a social or cultural event for the SINGA Community? We are looking for experienced and motivated coaches and mentors who identify with SINGA’s mission and want to contribute their know-how to the program. We also encourage volunteers to get involved in our community activities like the SPRACHCAFÉ or LIVING ROOM or even create their own events!

We look forward to hearing from you!

Reach out: info@singaswitzerland.ch
More information: www.singaswitzerland.ch
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"So many beautiful souls spinning around together"

Emmanuel was one of the participants of last year's (r)evolution lab and co-organized together with a bunch of likeminded peers imp!act Geneva in spring 2017. Here's how he experienced the programme.

Amazed. Inspired. Empowered. Dreamful. I felt so, and so much more, during my experience at the RevLab in 2016. After seeing with my bare eyes what a crazy pack of changemakers could do in only 3 days at imp!act, I couldn't stand it; I wanted to be a part of it, and in turn give what I received.

Turns out, I learned so much more again! The RevLab was truly tailored to our needs and demands, I felt, and I really felt like euforia was unravelling under my eyes. So many beautiful souls spinning around together, to deliver a surprising solution-oriented training for an organisation team. The training is so complete, in fact, that I use almost everything in my daily life and NGO even now, after imp!act is finished.

With its very clear shape (2 week-ends, each of them oriented towards specific parts of the event planning) and its awesome guests and speakers, RevLab really has premium feeling with a friendly taste, as I could not feel rigid or heavy hierarchy during the sessions. RevLab is simply a gathering of same-minded individuals that want to come together to unfold the potential of youth, and let it explode! Truly a next-gen training session, the kind I want to find again as I move through my path towards the state of change enabler <3

Join (r)evolution lab and organize your own transformative event in your neighborhood, city or company! The next programme cycle will start soon: 24-24 September (Zurich) and 3-5 November (Bern) 2017. Find more information and the registration form here.
 

Welcome to the NEWforia

Holy Journey! The reinventing euforia process comes to an end, laying out new opportunities for the Community and the future of euforia. Often described as a "roller coaster ride of feelings", the Journey was a beautiful and tough process, with ups and downs, where we tried to build a more collaborative and sustainable future for euforia.

We knew it wouldn't be easy because by "reinventing" we meant questioning and looking for ways to improve the way we do our work. And these new solutions needed to be a good match "for me, us & the world". Titanic task. But we did it and we're happy to implement the "newnewnewforia" from July on.

We're especially excited about one of the main outcomes, the creation of The Marketplace, an opportunity for the euforic community of volunteers and friends to implement new projects at euforia. In the past, we opened our programmes to let individuals worldwide organise imp!act or step in their cities. This time we're pushing the boundaries of collaboration to let our community bring in their ideas and develop their own projects. If you want to know more about it, Sidsel prepared this video and she's looking forward to your feedback regarding our new concept (please send any comments, thoughts or requests etc. to sidsel@euforia.ch).

As Elodie said it very well, we can all be euforia-preneurs and bring the euforia spirit to many different areas. If I can name one thing that makes us special, it is the capacity to live our values. I believe this is a beautiful way to honour our 10th anniversary and celebrate what has been the spirit of euforia since the very beginning: a safe playground to empower people to become changemakers.

Javier, Chief Culture Officer

A VOS VOTES !

Notre projet step into action Genève est nominé pour le Prix Jeunesse!! Maintenant, nous avons besoin de votre vote pour remporter le prix!

C'est par ici pour aller voter pour notre projet : http://pjgenevois.ch/prixjeunesse/vote/

Et voici l'aftermovie de l'événement : www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViTK01jvoJA

Get to know Karima

Carpe Diem - enjoy the present & live the life you love...

It’s my motto forever !!!! Enjoy every moment as if it was the last and without worrying about  tomorrow! So I follow my heart and build my life step by step, without plan or big (long term) project! Just me and my feelings!

I grew up in Paris where I did a mathematics’ bachelor degree. Then, I went to Marseille to do a Management and Communication Master, with sustainable development option!!! I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do, but I wanted to be useful and work with values.

I have always done what I’m passionate about whether it be doing animations for children age 3 to 17, creating/calculating carbon footprint and giving advice for SD, taking care of people with disabilities,  managing various teams or organizing projects and events.

Fun, Love & Smile!

I’ve traveled a lot, but always seek for more! I was a volunteer in India, danced salsa in Cuba, took english lessons in Dublin, ate vegan in Berlin, discover Sicily living in a  car and more!!!!

I’ve followed my heart and love brought me to Marseille where I lived for 6 years. I then went back to my family in Paris. Only 2 years ago, I discovered the mountains and Switzerland!

In Geneva, I’ve discovered euforia and the step into action project ! 2 volunteering years later, to develop the project I have become an employee for step Geneva :).  I am also happy to work  for euforia to help them with administration work!

12 moves and 9 years since I left my parents house, it means a lot of homes, lives, friends, experiences, life sortings and discoveries!!!

Take time & Relax...

This year I have decided to stay in the same place the longest possible! After 10 years of  madness and hard work, I choose to take time for myself, and work part-time. I’m lucky to be part of Euforia, where  finally the values I defend are present in my work.

Can’t wait to meet you euforic euforia community <3

Support bare Ware (born at imp!act)

Our dream is to establish a more conscientious way of consuming in Winterthur: organic and packaging-free. 

At bare Ware you will find goods that are organic, regional and packaging-free – and at the same time avoid creating food waste. We want to establish a revolutionary way of consumption in our store in Winterthur, in which sufficiency, efficiency, sustainability and fairness are the foundation, and the strengthening of the relationship between producers and consumers is the heart. At bare Ware, the ideas and creative solutions come from the “bare community,” which is building this project hand in hand with us. We want to be involved with local shops and organizations as much as with alternative sustainable economic models. Since odd-looking fruits and vegetable are as tasty as the ones complying with the norm, these will be found at bare Ware as long as they are biologically produced. 

Helps us go Packaging free in Winterthur and support our Crowdfunding campaign here: https://differencelab.org/en/bare-ware/

18 new Radical Collaboration® trainers in the euforia community and new trainings coming up soon!

We are happy to have a bunch of freshly certified Radical Collaboration®  trainers in our community and to offer the first trainings in and around Switzerland. Together with our Chief Euphoric Officer Chantal, who became a trainer one year ago, we are now 19 trainers – the only ones in Switzerland!

Jim Tamm, the creator of the Radical Collaboration® methodology, and the psychologist and Radical Collaboration® trainer Malou Laureys facilitated the seven-day Trainer Certification course for 18 euforians in Geneva. The course was a deep-dive into the topic with a lot of space for reflections and discussions. The two trainers gave a great example on how radically collaborating creates an atmosphere where people complement each other and can flexibly come up with new solutions. Jim and Malou were happy to have the chance to train Radical Collaboration® trainers in a new country and to open up opportunities for a new group of young participants.

The aim of euforians to become certified trainers is to create more training opportunities for people within and from outside of the community. From now on Radical Collaboration® trainings will be offered regularly. Check out the next trainings:

March 24th to 26th
(only 2 spots left!)

March 31st to April 2nd
(12 spots available)

More trainings will come up in May and in Summer. You will find more information soon in our calendar. If you would like to book a training for your organization, get in touch with us!

What contains the three-day Radical Collaboration® training?
The three-day, highly interactive Radical Collaboration training is designed to teach people five very practical and immediately useful skills essential to building collaborative relationships between individuals and within teams and organizations. It is appropriate for anyone whose circumstances have the potential for disharmony, misunderstandings and conflict, and who would like to improve their effectiveness. It is also particularly helpful for individuals responsible for creating more collaborative environments within a team or organization. It provides participants with step by step tools how to initiate, lead and reach closure in negotiations and how to build successful long-term relationships.

Cat’s Cradle - The first euforia Unleash weekend in Bern

Katalin from unMonastery is engaged as part of the host team to organize the first workshop cycle of the unleash project.

“The task is to make kin in lines of inventive connection as a practice of learning to live and die well in each other’s thick presence” — Donna Haraway: Staying With The Trouble

Image source: blog.rowleygallery.co.uk/cats-cradle-1/

According to the dictionary, Cat’s Cradle is a collaborative game played with strings by two or more people. During the game complex patterns are formed. Each person needs to focus on the collective effort as they take over and complicate their partner’s configuration.

Playing together requires many skills beyond the rules of the game. According to the author of Radical Collaboration, Jimm Tamm, the five principles of collaboration are:

Radical Collaboration ©

Interestingly, 4 out of the five principles refer to feelings rather than intellectual capacity. It seems to be the case that to be able to work together better, a personal journey to deal with unresolved feelings, vague fears, inarticulated needs and hidden assumptions is necessary.

I have to admit, I am not comfortable with the term, personal well-being, and the army of self-help books that teach tricks on how to solve problems within oneself. There seems to be a whole new level of consumerism directed to feelings, as if now that the world has become nearly uninhabitable both on a physical and an emotional level thanks to unsustainable practices of production and consumption, we are now offered the opportunity to spend yet more money and time on learning ways to be able to deal with this devastation.

However, having worked with various groups in the last years, and seen beautiful projects go astray due to personal conflicts, lack of communication, and an inability to move beyond personal defensive attitudes instead of moving forward together, it seems inevitable that personally taking responsibility for one’s own inner universe is absolutely necessary in order to work together in new forms of organisations such as Teal or Open Organisation.

It is therefore not a coincidence that I found the first weekend of the Unleash program by euforia focused on personal wellbeing not only interesting but quite useful. We learned a wide range of different methods enabling us to engage with and accept our own fears, aspirations and vulnerability, and use these insightful strategies also to relate to each other.

For a weekend focused on the individual, most of the workshops required team work and in-depth conversation with one another. It provided an opportunity to get to know each other beyond the visible roles we each play in that particular community. The only thing the various techniques required us was to be truly present for ourselves, and for the others, not as experts, problem solvers, critics, defenders, judges or protectors, simply “as mortal critters entwined in myriad unfinished configurations of places, times, matters, meanings.”