The Sustainable Village is a partner in the EcoEarth Alliance, a network of civil society organizations representing 15,000 rural villages and several million people. Partner organizations are carrying out projects in local communities around the globe that provide access to such things as renewable energy, organic agriculture, ecological building practices, sanitation, clean water, education, health care, and reforestation.

Many of these village projects are among the most sustainable of communities on earth and most have also taken action to restore the natural environment in the regions where they live. Through their actions they are challenging the US, along with other countries, to support more sustainable practices. This Partnership Initiative includes four primary components including access to resources; training programs and conferences; regional implementation; and advocacy for increased levels of funding for community-based and sustainable rural development.

A solution to these challenges has been demonstrated repeatedly by EcoEarth Alliance partner organizations - an integrated, multi-sectoral approach to sustainable development. Efforts to build small earthen check dams bring water back to the land and restore natural eco-systems, access to water increases crop yields and can result in reforestation, access to clean water and renewable energy options leads to a healthier population, and micro-enterprises based on sustainable resources can pull people out of poverty. When planned and implemented together each component reinforces the others.

The Alliance is supporting an initiative in Senegal as its first project to develop a network of ecovillage projects throughout the country. Beginning with 12 communities that are already well along in such areas as Mangrove restoration, organic agriculture, water harvesting, micro-enterprise, protection of bio-diversity, and education, the GEN Senegal project will work with local NGOs (non-governmental organizations) to spread the project to include ecovillages in all 450 provinces over the next five years. Partner activities are also planned for India, Inner Mongolia, Nigeria, Latin America, and elsewhere around the world. The results are that civil society is leading the way towards a new development model that shows great promise. Governments, inter-governmental organizations, businesses, and civil society organizations have been invited to join in the initiative. For more information, see EcoEarth.