Governance Models

Overview

Governance Models is a fundamental component of regenerative village development. This guide synthesizes knowledge from re:build gatherings to provide practical insights for implementing governance models in community projects.

Key Principles

• Self-organization with clear leadership: Effective governance models balance self-organization principles with clear commitment to leadership, while understanding that leadership circles must be permeable and accessible to everyone who wants to take responsibility
• Democratic foundations: Many successful communities start with democratic principles as the foundation for governance

Methods and Approaches

Learning curve: Getting groups (e.g., 11 people) to learn new decision-making processes and organizational tools involves a learning curve. There may be some frustration at the beginning, but it becomes more efficient as everyone learns the system.

Consent-based tools: Tools like Loomio allow for consent-based decision-making, using a sociocratic approach where you can integrate ideas into proposals based on feedback until you achieve consent from all people concerned at that level.

Hybrid approaches: Some communities work with tools like Loomio for online decision-making combined with in-person processes to streamline proposal workflows.

Market and contribution frameworks: Communities need clear frameworks for understanding how individual contributions relate to the whole—what benefits the entire community versus what benefits the individual contributor.

Benefits

And so that's where I was helping to make sure that there was governance, models, that the project was basically viable beyond just throwing it out there

It's a global, I think, which will, will help monetize farmers, carbon credits, and then turn those into carbon credits, which are very, very valuable and it can be made and mutable on the blockchain with our organization that we're building within the world of the governance of the organization through that

Key Insights

Viability through governance: Governance models ensure projects are viable beyond just initial ideas—they provide the structure needed for long-term sustainability.

Blockchain-enabled governance: Some global projects use blockchain technology to monetize carbon credits for farmers, making them valuable and trackable through DAO governance systems built into the organization.

Personal and systemic transformation: Governance work involves both personal transformation and large-scale macro governance systems—both are necessary.

Historical experimentation: Over the past five years, some communities have been experimenting with governance and economic models, essentially emulating and learning from financial systems developed over the past 300 years, experiencing both successes and challenges.

Crisis-responsive governance: Some communities were born from imagining and planning for social crises, demonstrating how governance models can emerge from urgent needs.

Fair decision-making processes: Effective governance requires fair decision-making processes that everyone understands and can participate in.

Learning curve: Getting groups to learn new decision-making processes involves a learning curve with some initial frustration, but becomes more efficient over time.

Digital governance platforms: Digital platforms can help clarify roles, communicate tensions, and facilitate governance processes.

Examples and Case Studies

About our governance quickly, we are imagining and planning for social crisis, but not and the community community project was born, who are projecting July 2022

Best Practices

• And there are some other tools like Lumio, which does allow for a percent of the consent decision making, which is the socio-economic approach where you can integrate other ideas into a proposal to shape the proposal more fully based on feedback until you get the consent of all the people that are concerned at that level
• So, in my own example of the community that I'm a co-founder of here, we are working with Lumio and our in-person decision making to try and streamline the processes of proposals
• Yeah, the last question is one that is based from a democracy
• And that is not just a governance, that is not just a legal step

Implementation Guide

To implement governance models in your regenerative village project, consider the following approach:

Implementation details to be added.

External Resources

For deeper exploration of this topic, see:

• OASA Constitution 2025 - Comprehensive governance framework for regenerative communities
• DAO Governance - Decentralized autonomous organization governance models
• DAO Governance Land Stewardship - Applying DAO governance to land stewardship

Related Partners

• OASA - Web3-powered nature conservancy network with DAO governance
• Traditional Dream Factory - Regenerative village demonstrating DAO governance in practice