Catalyst: Simon Gisler - SDG 11 and 16

For some time now, Simon has been concerned with the question of how Swiss cities and municipalities can be made more sustainable. The Catalyst Lab 2019/20 has boosted his project "Gipfelstürmerprogramm für Gemeinden". Simon has benefited from the future laboratory in many ways: “I became more resilient, developed my leadership skills, started building up a flourishing network of initiatives and people, gained friends, learned about funding, talked to many municipalities and came away from just leading from my head to leading from my heart.” Today he is convinced that with the right motivation and a big dream almost anything is possible.The initial phase of such a project means a lot of stress. Not knowing if the project would be successful and at the same time working a lot for little financial security was not easy for Simon Gisler. But since June, two municipalities in the canton of Zurich are running pilot projects of the one-year Gipfelstürmerprogramm. The aim of the programme is as beautiful as it is ambitious: “We want to see a Switzerland whose people independently produce and implement new solutions and local innovations for a sustainable future at the municipality level. These communities should be role models for a transformation that solves serious global problems locally with the help of all local stakeholders. Key people from the population, from business and administration join to form a growing community based on local development, testing new solutions for the future and bundling its resources. The population supports these aspirations and also changes their behaviour on an individual level.” Simon Gisler's project is supported by the Mercator, vom BAFU und ARE.

“My project is funded, thanks to the help of the Catalyst Lab and the collaboratio helvetica team. In addition to that, we incorporated sociocracy and theory u into our project. I would not be there without them. Thank you!”

Simon Gisler
SDGs 11 & 16
Participant of The Catalyst Lab 1st cycle