Mission
Village Earth's mission is to help reconnect communities to the resources that promote human well-being by enhancing social and political empowerment, community self-reliance and self-determination.

We do this by...
Empowering communities to sustainably access and manage the resources needed to achieve their vision for the future by working directly with communities as allies, distributing appropriate technology information, as well as providing training, consultation and networking services to individuals, communities and organizations around the globe.

Background

The roots of Village Earth reach back to 1961, when Dr. Maurice Albertson, cofounder of Village Earth and Professor Emeritus of Civil Engineering at Colorado State University (CSU), worked with Sargeant Shriver to establish the Peace Corps. Dr. Albertson continued to be a major influence in the field of international development, serving as a consultant to the World Bank, USAID, UNESCO, and other agencies. In 1993, Dr. Albertson began a successful collaboration with Dr. Edwin and Miriam Shinn, who brought to the table more than 30 years working at the community-level in places as diverse as inner-city Chicago, tribal communities in India, the Outback of Australia, and the Horn of Africa. The three organized an International Conference on Sustainable Village Development at CSU that same year. More than 300 participants from 30 nations came together to create the Consortium for Sustainable Village-Based Development (CSVBD) and gave it the mandate to implement and train others in the strategies discussed during the conference. CSVBD was officially incorporated as a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization in 1993 and later renamed Village Earth: Consortium for Sustainable Village-based Development, and its CSU training arm the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) was also established. Since its inception Village Earth and IISD have trained and consulted with hundreds of individuals and organizations all over the world.

Values

• We believe that communities must be empowered to access and manage the resources they need to be self-sufficient and sustainable.
• We trust and value the ability of local communities to shape and create their own vision for the future, as well as the path to move toward it.
• We believe that transparency and participatory decision-making is central to the goal of social justice and sustainability.
• We believe that working toward ecological sustainability must be a priority for all societies to ensure peace and prosperity for all peoples.
• We appreciate and respect the diversity and differences among our constituents and our collaborators.

Activities

Village Earth achieves its mission through a number of activities, including:

• Training individuals and organizations in the Village Earth approach to sustainable community-based development.
• Consulting with individuals and organizations to help promote more equitable and community-based approaches.
• Providing external and participatory evaluations of development programs and projects.
• Networking organizations around the world to ensure greater cooperation and communication.
• Making appropriate technology resources and information available to community-based projects through our 1050 volume Appropriate Technology Library.
• Initiating sustainable community-based development projects

Affiliations

Village Earth has a direct affiliation with the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) at Colorado State University (CSU). IISD and Village Earth partner to make accessible the people and resources of CSU to community development projects around the world.