Reclaiming Education as a Path to Economic Transformation

What if education wasn’t preparing us for the global economy — but for something more rooted, more alive, more connected to place?

Education is not neutral. It shapes how we see the world, what we value, and what we believe is possible. For too long, dominant education systems have trained us to fit into an extractive economy — rather than to question it. If we are serious about building local futures, we must start by rethinking and repracticing education itself. Because every economic model begins in the imagination — and education is where that imagination is formed. Reclaiming education means reclaiming the power to tell different stories, grow different systems, and become rooted, again, in place and community.

This gathering brings together educators, community organizers, and regenerative thinkers who are reimagining learning as a tool for local resilience. In a world shaped by extraction and disconnection, how can education plant the seeds of thriving local economies?

Join us for a rich and grounded dialogue on how education can help us exit systems of dependence and build new paths based on cooperation, biocultural knowledge, and community autonomy.

What we'll explore:

• How can education challenge the logic of the global growth economy?
  
• What practices are already nurturing economic localization around the world?
  
• What skills and worldviews should we be cultivating in a time of planetary transition?

What to expect:

This is not just a conversation — it’s a call to action. You’ll hear from educators and practitioners who are putting localization into practice: in schools, in rural communities, in urban peripheries, in Indigenous territories. Together, we’ll map practical, inspiring, and radical examples of education that seeds economic transformation.

We’ll also mark the release of a new theme on education within the Local Futures Action Guide, offering updated tools and pathways for communities wanting to localize. Expect participatory moments, space for questions, and opportunities to connect across continents.

Speakers include:

Manish Jain - Ecoversities - India: 
A unique educator, radical “unlearner”, and ambassador for both human and more-than-human creativity, Manish is adept at turning conventional approaches to education, economics and incarceration on their heads. He is the co-founder of Shikshantar: The Peoples’ Institute for Rethinking Education and Development, Swaraj University (India’s first self-designed learning university), and the Ecoversities Alliance, a global network of alternative universities.

Thais Mantovani - EcoUniversidade - Brazil:
Passionate about nature, Thais co-founded EcoUniversidade, an educational platform that drives systemic change by facilitating dialogues between different worldviews and opening space for a more regenerative human presence on Earth. She holds a MSc in Holistic Science from Schumacher College, is a Youth Climate Leaders fellow, is part of the Global Regeneration CoLab network and works as a consultant on ecosystem catalyzation and organizational development.

Abhijt Sinha - Project DEFY - India
Abhijit Sinha is the Founder and CEO of an International Non-profit Organisation called Project DEFY. Through his organisation he creates a new variety of schools which have no teachers, exams or curricula; where children and adults of all ages decide what, when and how they learn. These learning spaces, called Nooks, started in a small village in Karnataka and are now spreading around the world, already existing in Rwanda, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, besides several parts of India. Abhijit believes that education systems around the world need a complete reimagining, so that we stop breeding children for jobs and start enabling children to happily live their lives and achieve their dreams.

Gabriela Alves - Perifa Sustentável Institute - Brazil
Gabriela Alves is a social designer and street strategist. With a degree in Social Sciences from UNIFESP and a postgraduate degree in Social Urbanism, she combines academic knowledge with lived experience in the periphery to pursue her dream of socio-environmental justice by redesigning favelas through regenerative and collaborative solutions. She is the co-founder of the Perifa Sustentável Institute and Gota do Oceano Lab, and has been working for over six years on impact projects, ESG initiatives, and just energy transition in local communities.

Manas Arvind - Farmversities Alliane - India
Manas Arvind is the Weaver of the Farmversities Alliance, a growing network of regenerative farming learning spaces across the world. With a background spanning communication design, organic foods, permaculture, and grassroots entrepreneurship, he brings a systems approach to reimagining education and economy. His work centres on creating pathways for localised livelihoods, ecological restoration, and grassroots leadership—especially among rural youth and tribal communities—through localised learning and regenerative stewardship.

James Wanyira - Social Innovation Academy - Uganda
James Wanyira is a Regenerative educator, a business artist and purpose alignment coach with over 15 years of experience in the Personal devt space. James helped design a practical Eco-Learning Curriculum for SINA which is built to unlock human potential for individual purpose discovery; it also utilises experiential learning practices and liberating structures to nurture creative thinking, critical analysis and collaborative learning, and in the process makes learning meaningful, fun and impactful.

Educators, youth organizers, activists, permaculturists, parents, policy shapers, and anyone curious about how education can become a lever for deep economic change.

Organised by:

Local Futures, EcoUniversidade, and Shikshanktar: The Peoples’ Institute for Rethinking Education and Development

Let’s re-root learning in life. Let’s reclaim education as a practice of place. Let’s build local futures — together.