Economy of Love EDU

~ from philosophy to holistic education

Recently, SEKEM announced the new holistic certification standard called Economy of Love (EoL) and the accompanying educational program (EDU). This time we would like to introduce EoL EDU in more depth and share with you some parts of our journey from Sekem founder Dr Ibrahim Abouleish’s philosophy of the Economy of Love to a holistic educational concept. 

This journey began in January 2021 with three young women from Egypt, Germany and South Korea.

We see ourselves as part of the multi-cultural, globally aware, socially conscious younger generation committed to co-creating and to being in service of a more sustainable, thriving world by daring to try new ways and empower those we come into contact with so together we can cultivate the skills and visions needed for a truly holistic and lasting (worldview) change. 

Guided by the questions of “how can we create a learning space for awakening to mindful and responsible action?” and “how does change happen - collectively and individually?”, we set out to design a comprehensive education program which offers a new lens through which to view our world, to find out how to be a thriving human on a thriving planet and to truly unfold the potential within each individual. We wanted to create a learning experience where each person can reflect on their own patterns in life, as well as be introduced to the four dimensions of sustainability underlying the Economy of Love standard to support its implementation.  

Living with these questions as our guides, we embarked on a journey into the curriculum and content design process. By combining research and design with ongoing, weekly pilot group sessions to get immediate feedback and learn by doing, we were able to go deeper with every meeting, discussion and session to allow us to gain more clarity on what works in a variety of Egyptian contexts and what exactly it is that we are wanting to bring into the world. 

Since the EoL standard focuses on the entire supply chain of a product, we also designed the educational program to be suitable for everyone from worker to manager, to different cultural and religious backgrounds. The focus of our pilot groups was to bring more awareness to the impact of our daily choices and lifestyles on people and planet and to discover a diversity of options together. We were also curious to find out which seeds we could plant and which doors we could open for every individual - knowing that change comes from within and we can never know which seeds will actually begin to grow ~ or when. 

So what did we actually do in the many sessions we held between January and June 2021?

In general, we used the first one or two sessions to get to know the group through personal storytelling, before beginning to introduce the wheel of balance with its four dimensions (environment, economy, society, culture) that is at the core of the Economy of Love and reflect on balance in both private and professional lives. Many long-time Sekem employees told us they are already familiar with the EoL concept from their experience of working with Dr Ibrahim and from the weekly meetings with CEO Helmy Abouleish, and the EoL training thus helped to complement the weekly meetings by providing a space where individuals could deepen their understanding and actively reflect and act on the knowledge and wisdom they hear at Sekem. 

Due to this rather lengthy introductory work, we were able to gain a better idea of the groups, build trust and tailor the remaining sessions to their interests, needs and circumstances.

This meant that with the factory workers, we focused on the society dimension, like creating a safe space, conflict resolution, improving group dynamics, and how to listen to and respect each other. 

For farmers we allowed more space for them to share their long experience with organic farming and the environmental dimension. 

For both groups, we tended to use more discussion-based learning than experiential learning methods as it seemed more culturally appropriate and more readily accepted.

For our management groups of the different producing companies and processing factories, we focused on leadership and group dynamics, as well as a deeper understanding of the four dimensions, hoping to reach a level of embodiment to create a shift from hopelessness, disillusion and frustration (“the others are not acting like it”) to empowered change and agency (“I can do something in every moment”). 

With our group of consumers in Maadi, Cairo, we designed experiences of what an economy of love might feel like through mindful reconnection, looking at people and stories behind the products we consume and in general creating a community of conscious consumers who know about the impact of their consumption choices and act accordingly.

How did participants respond? Were we successful?

We do not focus too much on ‘success’ - because for us, even mistakes and hiccups are a ‘success’ since they allow us to learn, adapt, grow and improve. In line with our educational principles, we ‘enjoyed the ride’ and trusted the process we were in - even when encountering many obstacles and challenges along the way.  

What we are trying to do, however, is find ways of measuring qualitative work and the seeds of our educational activities - through interviews conducted in June 2021, different kinds of feedback forms or simply by noticing the gradual shifts in the groups and individuals we work with. While the feedback reflects the diverse backgrounds and experiences of our participants, we have been able to find several common themes across the different pilot groups: Due to our focus on personal storytelling, participants had a chance to connect with their colleagues on a more personal level by hearing about each other's problems and being able to talk about things which they don’t normally discuss, hence developing empathy and communication skills.

Participants also reported that the active learning approach of the EoL sessions enabled them to reconnect with themselves and pushed them to reflect and think deeply in order to express their opinions and ideas in the group. This is something which we noticed took some time to develop as participants became comfortable with the new exercises and ideas, however it is ultimately the biggest success of our pilot groups because it has given people the space and the tools to become more conscious, articulate their inner feelings and contribute mindfully within the group. 

Finally, a recurring theme in the interviews was that participants looked forward to the sessions as a way of clearing their minds from the stress of work and that they left feeling energised, refreshed and inspired. 

With EoL EDU, we embarked on a living process and ongoing journey and we are only going deeper everytime we can share, witness and be part of people’s stories and experiences. 

We are still on this path of creating spaces for unfolding individual potential by working with the wisdom within every human and finding ways to bring it out.

Were we successful? We don’t know. How could we know?