Communa

Learn more about us

Are you looking to join an ambitious adventure, a close-knit team and an innovative project to help reinvent the city? Communa transforms empty buildings into socio-cultural spaces and housing, managed with their communities and open to their neighbourhoods. Since 2013, they have distinguished themselves in temporary occupation for social purposes and transitional urbanism by giving new life to a dozen places, housing 350 people and supporting more than 200 associative or social and circular economy projects. Imagine temporarily occupied places that become laboratories where we experiment with ways of living, ways of thinking and organizing life in the city... 🌿🏢

Within the non-profit organisation, they operate in shared governance and collective intelligence. This means that each employee influences the "how-we-work-together" and contributes to co-constructing the vision and strategy of the non-profit organisation. They have defined roles and decision-making powers, but no hierarchy. And it works very well! This internal organization is based on co-responsibility, trust, transparency and benevolence. This governance is the strength of Communa. They believe that this type of organization based on trust helps to change the world!

Communa is also an international network. In 2018, they discovered a similar organization in Riga, Latvia. This meeting inspired the creation of the STUN ( Social Transformative Use Network) in 2019, allowing enriching exchanges across Europe and even further afield. Discovering new horizons, training (while not forgetting to have fun), that's their joyful mantra! 🌍

With the federation of dozens of inspiring, cultural and solidarity local initiatives and a reach that grows every day, Communa does its best to support sustainable and solidarity initiatives in different districts of Brussels. Their approach is simple: see potential where others only see walls.

Their favourite phrase: turning constraints into opportunities!

We are transforming the city!

Social & Solidarity Economy

Shared governance (democratic and participatory)

A lot of joy

A taste of the team

Communa is above all a team of passionné.es people, committed to urban reinvention. Composed of about forty employees, the team operates in a democratic way, ensuring the active participation of all. Their mission is supported by participatory governance where everyone is their own leader, promoting autonomy and initiative ! And that's worth its weight in gold.

The gift we are giving ourselves? Each member undergoes an annual training course in Nonviolent Communication, and two people are dedicated to taking care of participatory governance. We manage to create a warm, caring and empowering environment, essential to face the challenges of our projects! 🚀

We can honestly say that we are very close-knit. Twice a year, three-day greening is organised in the Ardennes to work together, cook together, imagine the future, and above all, have fun together (really). Whether it's through brainstorming, outdoor games, quiz nights, or big collective decision-making, these moments are essential to cement our collective. 🌲🎨 Also, the monthly crew meeting and the neighborhood events in our places (such as the fairs or the Soup Festival) are other events to forge links, both internal and external.

For 11 years, we have been developing, we have gained visibility, seriousness and credibility. 🏄 Saying "I work for Communa" is a source of pride for us and it's a great business card to expand your network and create unexpected opportunities.

Communa is surely the right place for an impactful dream job that gives joy, the desire to move mountains together!

Employees

Average Age

60 %

Breakdown M/F

Our commitments to a sustainable world

Communa's projects aim to serve local communities by creating places of solidarity 🧡 In concrete terms, this translates into the organisation of events and activities open to all, in collaboration with local residents, in rehabilitated spaces. Any examples? In a place in Communa you can find yoga classes for Muslim women, pastry workshops for seniors, skating classes for young people in the neighborhood, artists, bicycle workshops, repair cafés, people who find a home. 🧘 🍰🚲 A whole ecosystem of people motivated to improve their daily lives a little that rubs shoulders in their buildings.

Since 2013, the non-profit organisation has stood out in transitional urban planning by facilitating a dozen places, housing 350 people and supporting more than 200 associative or social and solidarity economy projects... No less!

Communa optimizes the recovery of resources through activities based on repair, reuse and recycling (the 3Rs). 💚 How? By recovering existing buildings, where they are considered "waste", to make them "resources" at the service of vulnerable populations. This makes it possible to avoid building new buildings when we can mobilize existing buildings and extend its life cycle... As the saying goes: "The greenest building is the one that is already built"! 🏢🌱

The non-profit organisation rehabilitates vacant social housing while working with socio-professional integration organisations (OISP) and with recovered materials.

Their idea? Create "prooves of concept" that can inspire public policies, which will then make it possible to generalize the occupation of vacant buildings but also to create new places of community and solidarity in the four corners of the city. Between socio-community work, socio-professional integration, work against homelessness, circular economy, participatory governance and joie de vivre, Communa is resolutely at a crossroads to increase societal impact on a daily basis.