GreenfieldCities pays successful visit to Jordan to promote pilot project

Our plan for developing  a pilot clean tech campus to boost job opportunities for Syrian and Jordan talent in their own region was very well received.  Stakeholders unanimously labeled the idea as a good fit at the right time.  We also took practical steps, preparing for fast track implementation, such as location picking and discussing roles with potential partners.

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In line with the GreenfieldCities vision, planning and execution of the trip were large done by Syrian and Eritrean refugee talent currently living in the Netherlands. In this way they combine integration in Dutch society with contributing to solutions for their home region, and who knows, even preparing for a future return there.

Our partners in Jordan will now discuss with their government on how to best collaborate with the Netherlands under the commitments that Netherlands’ international development minister, Mrs. Ploumen made under the 2016 London (Jordan) Compact.

Wageningen Ambassadors and University Fund Wageningen donate €30.000 to GreenfieldCities

The Wageningen Ambassador Fund, part of University Fund Wageningen, an independent philanthropic foundation with a collaboration relationship with Wageningen University & Research has made a donation of €30.000 to GreenfieldCities. The world class Wageningen University community can play an important role for GreenfieldCities, as there is a close fit with the core competences and mission of Wageningen University & Research in the fields of sustainability, food, water and social economic resilience, to name but a few. The donation will be used to build out the GreenfieldCities organization and for preparing a pilot project in Jordan.

GreenfieldCities and Wageningen University & Research are developing a teaming agreement on setting up task forces, made up of refugee talent and university community members. Those task forces will work on detailed development plans for our projects and cities.  Wageningen University Alumni will support GreenfieldCities in the months to come.

GreenfieldCities Starts Refugee Talent Recruitment

img-20161104-wa0000On november 3rd,  GreenfieldCities started its first refugee talent recruitment activities.  Thanks to introductions by the  Arnhem Voor Vluchtelingen foundation, we had an excellent meeting with 5 talented and highly energized candidates.  Meanwhile we have spoken two more people and we are in follow up talks with all 7.  Please stay tuned for the first “new team member” announcements soon.

GreenfieldCities Foundation Starts Think Tank (Press Release)

Logo CMYKRefugees in Arnhem region help thinking about solutions in region of origin.

Securing sustainable and safe cities for 250.000 refugees in their region of origin. That is the goal that the GreenfieldCities Foundation has set for itself. As a start, GreenfieldCities teams up with renowned Netherlands institutes and companies, forming a think tank capable of thinking through concrete solutions.  The special angle to the approach is the fact that refugee talents currently residing in the Netherlands participate in the effort. The City of Arnhem, that currently cares for more than 1.200 refugees from conflict zones, actively supports the initiative with a grant of €9.000.

The GreenfieldCities core idea constitutes replacing  the concept of large scale refugee camps in conflict zones with real cities that feature a permanent and sustainable character. GreenfieldCities wants to help create the conditions for this to happen and enable current refugees to develop and sustain their own new cities including important aspects such as food, healthcare, education, energy, water, etc. 

Partners
To make the vision concrete, thematic expert teams will be formed over the next six months.  Refugee talents are key participants in those teams.  Interviews with refugees are underway and the first teams will start around September 1st.  Teaming talks with expert institutes such as Radboud University Medical Center (Health Care), Wageningen University & Research (Water) en Alliander (Energy) are progressing well. 

Talents
The City of Arnhem supports the initiative with a grant that will be used to provide internships for the first five refugee talents at the Foundation’s offices in Arnhem.

Arnhem alderwoman Anja Haga indicates that “the city government supports this initiative as it fits well with the Arnhem vision that new citizens should fully participate in our society as quickly as possible.  In this project they can use their relevant skills and expertise for contributing to solutions benefiting their own region of origin. It is very beautiful and worthwhile if you can use your talents for the future of your own country or region”. 

A Double Edged Sword
GreenfieldCities founder Joris Benninga says: “we use a double edged sword.  On the one hand we deliver short term value by propelling refugee talents into expert teams where they can excel in their own field of expertise.  And for the long run we contribute to structural  solutions for forced migration challenges.  Our dot on the horizon is creating safe and sustainable cities for 250.000 people in current conflict zones.

—-end of press statement—-

More information:
Joris Benninga,  GreenfieldCities Foundation, +316 414 87 161 / +1 202 821 2968
Office: Zijpendaalseweg 28, Arnhem, The Netherlands

 

 

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New office brings space for growth, connectivity and special features

watermuseumWe are thrilled to announce  that from August 1st, GreenfieldCities operates from our new office in Park Sonsbeek in Arnhem. Our office is adjacent to the Netherlands Water Museum, a 3 minute walk from the Arnhem Central Railway station.  The location and setting guarantee connectivity for our team and our partners. The office itself offers space for up to 30 people and the adjacent museum features amazing facilities for events and an extra 20  flexible work stations for future team members

The city of Arnhem is a great place to be part of as well.  Arnhem is very innovative on the subject of supporting and welcoming migrant citizens.  The city is also well positioned on the Berlin-The Hague axis. Germany is literally around the corner. Given GreenfieldCities’ international aspirations, Arnhem is an ideal stepping stone for reaching out to future German partners.

Stakeholder Meetings Overwhelmingly Positive

Stakeholder logosIn the first half year of 2016 we had about 100 meetings with stakeholders of the migration crisis. The results were twofold: (1) the views about our solution were predominantly positive and maybe more importantly even (2) we learned a lot discussing our initiative.

“I clearly remember one of the first times I discussed our presentation with Leen Verbeek, Flevoland’s high commissioner of the King” recalls Arie van Beek, co-founder of GreenfieldCities, “He started with giving historic lessons about the coming into being of the borders of the current Middle Eastern states. It made me double aware of the complexity of the situation and the necessity to include (or start from) the Middle-Eastern and North African perspectives. That’s not one perspective, that is many” he said.

Almost all thought it was a groundbreaking concept: using refugees here to develop good plans for sustainable urban regions  there, with many challenges ahead. Though Rob de Wijk (The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies) embraced the idea, he pressed home the message: “the business case from a Western perspective is rock solid, however the business case for the host country needs to be made! Without it GreenfieldCities will not get the support it needs.”

Tom Middendorp, our Army General-in-chief said “the migration crisis and the climate change (which is fueling it) are the biggest threats to national and international security”. Joris van Esch, former commander of 1 CMI of the Ministry of Defense had his reservists company help exactly building that business case for Jordan. For us it came as a surprise how many fields of expertise are avalaible: economists, energy specialist, arabists, psychologogists, all very useful in drafting the business case. What van Esch liked about GreenfieldCities was the long-term commitment. “In Afghanistan we have helped build up something substantial, but we couldn’t stay there for the long run. The moment we announced we would leave, things gradually started falling apart”.

Member of Parliament, Sjoerd Sjoerdsma underlined that in his view we had to start with something tangible and start relatively small. The idea of a pilot in the shape of a Cleantech campus near the Zaatari refugee camp was born.

Last not least: we needed to check what refugees themselves thought about our ideas. During a meet and greet organized by Radboud UMC we were able to talk with them and hear firsthand what they thought: they responded enthusiastically to our plans. We asked them as well: would you consider going back to build a GreenfieldCity yourself? Or become a citizen? Provided sufficient safeguards in place they indeed would go back to the region. Obviously, remigration is not the main goal of GreenfieldCities. But it is a useful by-catch.

Germany structurally earmarks almost 0,5% of GDP for refugees

Germany structurally earmarks almost 0,5% of GDP refugees

The German magazine “”Der Spiegel” reports that the German Finance Ministry has budgeted that managing the refugee crisis until 2020 will cost Germany  approximately €94 billion. That is more than €1.100 per German citizen or around 0.5% of GDP.

The German calculations show at least two things.  They acknowledge that the refugee challenge is tough and structural. One of the assumptions is that after 5 years, almost 50% of newcomers still will not have found a job.  The calculations also seem to indicate that the Germans want to give a long term commitment to curbing this crisis.

GreenfieldCities is also based on providing a long term commitment to refugees, but stresses the importance of improving conditions in the refugee home regions.  That offers much better opportunities to the refugees themselves and regional investors, it creates more economic value as well as environmental benefits and helps to reduce the burden for European tax payers.

See article (in German)

 

GreenfieldCities participates in refugee meet & greet

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GreenfieldCities took part in a highly successful meet & greet in Nijmegen between Radboud University and refugees with an academic back  ground that are temporarily housed close to the university premises.  The vivid presentations and the discussions with people from among others Syria and Eritrea underpins our vision that many refugee talents are very eager to start contributing to improving the situation in their home region and that they are very capable of helping us to make a difference. We met several people that we will try to get on board in our team.

 

 

Business Case Greenfieldcities Rock Solid

Impact Investment

Preliminary research by GreenfieldCities shows that the social-economic case for long term international commitment to safe havens, enabling sustainable development is overwhelmingly positive.  Not only can current financial costs to European host countries surpass €170,000 per refugee, it is also largely charity money with highly insecure returns, or even no lasting value creation.  All that charity money has to be brought up by OECD tax payers under current policies.
The GreenfieldCities approach slashes the above amount in half, and is mostly in the form of value creating investments, offering strong social-economic and environmental returns. The latter means that funding can be a public-private mix,  reducing the burden on tax payers.

 

 

GreenfieldCities Officially Founded

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On Friday February 19th 2016, The GreenfieldCities foundation was officially founded when notary Bart van Gemert of Daan Legal executed the deed of our Articles of Association.

GreenfieldCities’ organizational form is a foundation, but we like to have the operational agility and striking power of a market driven company. Bart and his colleagues at Daan Legal have been instrumental to create a fitting and future proof framework for our operating and governance structure.

We are a real entity now and that is a small but important step towards our goal: creating sustainable safe havens in Syria and Libya.