Portuguese Network for Doughnut Economics begins
The Portuguese Network for Doughnut Economics had its Kick off meeting with loads of energy on March 23rd 2021.
A month previously (February 26th) Kate Raworth was invited to speak (remotely) in Portugal for the "Climate Change. New Economic Models" Conference*, at the invitation of the Portuguese Secretary of State for the Environment & Climate Action, Inês Costa. Since this event, people in different projects and communities around the country began to connect and think about how best they can organise to change their communities, towns and cities. Having heard about the wonderful Doughnut Economics projects happening around the world, people in Portugal now decided that they too want to join the adventure.
The event was in Portuguese and facilitated by Vasco Rato, a professor in the ISCTE school of architecture, urban activist Kitti Baracsi, and Duncan Crowley from the Irish DEAL group IDEN and the UrbanA, ECOLISE, Communities for Future and Degrowth Portugal projects. Two temporary online workspaces (MIRO & google drive) and a Telegram list were created, as initial temporary tools and communication spaces to facilitate network weaving and co-creation. From both the registration and input during the event, we got a very full list of active projects and movements currently happening in Portugal, that are shared in the table below (57 and growing). The event was recorded.
After a very brief intro about the structure of the event, breakout rooms were created for groups of 2. This was to encourage active listening and give everyone a chance to take their first steps in building our shared network. We had explored the idea of breaking up into groups of 5 and having a plenary type feedback session, but due to some technical issues, we resorted to plan B and had a full go around. Perhaps this was the most fitting way to kick off the Portuguese doughnut, by going all the way around our own Portuguese circle, where nearly everybody got a minute or so to say who they were, why they were here and what projects (if any) they were involved with. We then did little breakouts of about 5 people for 10 minutes, to talk about what we can do in our communities to implement change. Back in the full group for the last section, Kitti took us through our map and notes from the MIRO board and Vasco discussed next steps, including the proposal to have a follow up meeting sometime near the end of April.
In the days following the event, images and short reports were shared on social media using the #Donut4PT hashtag. There are now 40 people on the Telegram list and people have started to use the 2 online work spaces. From the clustering of Post-it notes, 6 key nodes were identified for the network; Porto, Aveiro, Marinha Grande, Lisbon, Algarve and a Rural group. While city nodes have been identified, we expect fractals nodes within will soon form to explore implementation of the Doughnut at various scales (previous DEAL posts explored doughnut downscaling here and here). Groups already thinking and talking about this, which could possibly result in pilot projects within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (AML), include the municipality of Oeiras, the parish (Junta de Freguesia) of Campolide and even the bairro (neighbourhood) of Parede in the municipality of Cascais. For the rural group, some people are based at the Portuguese Spanish border, along the banks of the river Server, which could lead to very interesting project exploring rivers as connectors and not dividers, within a shared bioregion.
The second #Donut4PT event is scheduled for dia São Jorge, Saint Georges Day, The Day of the Book, on Friday the 23rd of April, 14-15.30h. Liliana Louro, from “Es Giro” will give a short presentation about the Cities for Change project, that the Amsterdam City Council has just launched.
All are welcome to join this Portuguese network, no experience necessary. Changing our communities and cities is everyone’s business.
* Video of the panel with Kate found here (From 2hr, 9 min, 9 seconds, only in Portuguese)
Growing list of associated networks active in the Portuguese Ecological Economic landscape:
Share
Share
This story is licensed under a Creative Commons BY SA 4.0 license. For full details see our Licensing Rules. 
-
Member
Sílvia de Sousa
Full Sutton, England, United Kingdom
Hello! Olá! I am a firm believer in the Doughnut Economics - as a good rogue economist!! I have two children and I really do want Economic thinking and acting to change, to see a clean, fair, just and sustainable World for them to grow and thrive in! Utopia? I am interested in rural food poverty in "rich countries" and how we can wiggle out of it using the Doughnut! I also believe that children are our future, and we should strive to include "doughnuts" in our children's education, as early and as often as possible. So, if you can, please HELP!
-
Member
Adrian Ferreira
Lisbon, Portugal
Looking to learn from the laboratory of members, how to become more connected and commune more clearly and effectively. I want to enable capacity for a regenerative future. I am here to use my passion and experience in service of collaborative initiatives building resilience and increase diversity.
-
Member
ana lavaquial
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
I´m a cofounder of DONUT BRASIL, a community that explores and put into action the ideas and tools of Doughnut Economics in Brazil. I´m also a partner and curator at Instituto LivMundi, a social-environmental NGO in Brazil that aims to democratize sustainability through education in its broader sense, always connected to the contextual challenges of territories. Let´s start to transform the world!
-
Member
André Trindade
Lisbon, Área Metropolitana de Lisboa, Portugal
I'm co-founder and Head of Research at BY THE END OF MAY, a research and design lab exploring the future of manufacturing at the intersection of digital fabrication, crafts and biomaterials, as way to empower the transition to regenerative, locally productive and self-sufficient cities.
-
Member
Helen Hill
Dili, East Timor
I am an Australian, retired from Victoria University (Melbourne) where I introduced a BA in International Community Development after working on the Commonwealth Youth Program's Fiji Centre on the Diploma Course in Youth and Development. I am currently working on municipal plans for Five municipalities in Timor-Leste with a Portuguese consultancy group GERTIL and trying to apply principles of the Doughnut economy.
-
Member
Catarina Soares
Oeiras, Área Metropolitana de Lisboa, Portugal
-
Member
Shaktari Belew
Ashland, Oregon, United States of America
I am a life-long learner. From a early background in computer systems, which gave me a whole-systems lens through which to approach the rest of my life, I've been an educator, author, artist, Transition movement trainer/contributor (since 2008), Permaculture instructor/designer, group facilitator, complementary currency designer, researcher, parent, grandparent. I love seeing through multiple lenses and points-of-view. I guess you could say I am a Whole-Systems, Biomimicry, "DANCING ON MY LEARNING EDGES" explorer ... contributing, connecting, and loving, with joy.
-
Member
Adolfo Chautón Pérez
Cáceres, Extremadura, España & Marvão, Alentejo, Portugal
I am Spanish, I have a degree in Geography, a Masters in Strategic Territorial Development and have been living betwenn Spain in Portugal, in the frontier since October 2019. Professionally, I have 20 years of experience, always as a freelancer, working in different areas related to the territory: planning, participation, dynamization... For the last 15 years I have been working as a facilitator in territorial innovation and socio-ecological entrepreneurship, both as a facilitator of processes, as a trainer and mentor of social innovation projects or as a writer of several strategic territorial planning projects based on social innovation, both at regional and national level in Spain and internationally. As an independent researcher, I have developed several projects in which the Doughnut Economics model is always one of the strategic components. + info I am currently coordinating the BoraBeirã project in which the "LojaPlaneta" initiative is integrated. [Banner_Embajadora.png] #EMBAJADORA_ADE https://www.alianzadonut.es/
