Our Circles

We have Working Group Circles (in green on the diagram) that are organized by theme and Continental Circles (in red) that are organized by geographical region. We also have the Organising Circle (in blue) which helps the internal functioning of the IDN. Lastly, the General Circle (in purple) brings all the circles together and decides the strategy and aims of the IDN. Some Circles decide to create sub-circles to split up work into smaller teams. Two Circles “link” with each other via two individuals who belong to both Circles (double arrows).

The diagram below is dynamic: click on any circle to learn more about their purpose, responsibilities and domains. This structure is based on sociocracy, which you can learn more about here (external link).

The General Circle of IDN oversees the network's overall governance and strategic direction, ensuring the principles and aims of IDN are met. It coordinates all the other circles and acts as the central hub for evaluating and improving IDN’s structure and operations. 

The Research Circle continues its mission to collect, store, and share degrowth knowledge, ensuring it is accessible and applied to a broader audience. They take care of updating and maintaining the Degrowth Database (external link).  

The Communications Circle enhances the network’s outreach by refining its communications strategy to engage with labour unions, social movements, and political parties, and expanding social media efforts (give us a follow on IG, Mastodon (external link) or LinkedIn (external link)!) Key projects have included the IDN's visual identity, our slogan, and managing the content of the IDN’s websites (check out our Explore Degrowth (external link) resource hub!). 

The Global South Circle aims to increase involvement from Asia, Africa, and Latin America within the degrowth movement.  They have developed a series of two Beyond Degrowth (external link) webinars, panels and interactive café-style chats. They have also created content that explores degrowth through a Global South lens, alongside workshops to teach effective communication of degrowth ideas. 

The Transformative Learning Circle has developed a Transformative Learning for Degrowth Framework and is currently building a dynamic Playbook around it with specific resources, activities and processes that could be used in different cases and contexts. 

The Practice Circle is focused on initiatives putting degrowth into practice.  Currently, they split their work into the following pillars:

1. Associations and collectives that practice degrowth

2. Private businesses and cooperatives into degrowth

3. Policies and politics into degrowth 

4. Personal degrowth lifestyles

The Activism Circle is organises the Global Degrowth Day (external link) and plans in-person meetings to further unite activists. It focuses on advocating for degrowth through campaigns, intersectional activism, and building strategic alliances.

The Asia Circle is focused on fostering informal, free-topic discussions about degrowth, tailoring these conversations to the specific context of Asia.

The Latin America Circle is new, and it is still working on its priorities and first projects but will be focused on actively growing and strengthening degrowth initiatives in the region. Would you like to help them with this adventure? Reach out to info[at]degrowth.net!

The North America Circle, after a period of activity, is currently on hiatus.  But we would be more than happy if this circle is activated again.  Would you be interested in leading this new chapter? Reach out to info[at]degrowth.net!

The European Circle is dedicated to networking, organizing webinars, and influencing policies within the EU, while promoting more local degrowth initiatives.  

The Organising Circle supports the activity of all other Circles by providing them with functional IT, moderating a help room, onboarding and welcoming new members, maintaining a handbook of IDN guidelines, dealing with logistics, organisational and admin tasks, overseeing finances, and offering support in case of conflict. Some of this work is done directly by its inner circles:  Membership and Onboarding, Tech and Finance. There's always room to help out! Reach out to us at info[at]degrowth.net :)