Exploring Auroville’s Capacity to Flourish

Auroville has been called “The city the Earth needs”. A multicultural hub for innovation and experimentation, many of the world’s biggest challenges are being addressed on a microscale. The cutting edge work is in the fields of reafforestation, water management, arts and culture, health and wellness, green building, education, and more. In order to truly benefit the Earth, Auroville needs to share its findings more widely.

Flourish is a unique project developed by Auroville International USA to support projects in Auroville that want to scale their work globally, while generating income to support Auroville’s work. We started collaborating with Aurovillians Helen and Manjula to conduct research into the Auroville economy and the opportunities and limitations for these kinds of projects. A year of research is summarized in a report available at the bottom of this page.

In 2022, Flourish shifted from desk research and interviews to practical research, looking into what interventions might support projects looking to scale outside of Auroville. The core Flourish team of Helen and Manjula has expanded to include Manas and Mukta, and they have also recruited an Advisory Board and a Technical Team, which helps to assess the needs of the projects and source the support to meet those needs. 

They are experimenting with a small number of projects to enable them to understand what support is critical to the growth of Auroville’s ideas and economy. They are currently building a group of local experts to support them in areas like strategy, business modelling, leadership, communications, human resources, organisational development, finance and administration. The lessons learned in these experiments will inform future efforts to unlock the potential of Auroville’s aspiring projects.

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