EKO was designed to foster communication and networking among the kids of disparate communities around the world with the same goal: to enhance our planet's health.

The organization of EKO is simple and easily (a) accommodates the different structures of all of these global communities, (b) harnesses and focuses kids' disparate interests and talents, and (c) brings the people in these communities together to enhance their power and effectiveness. It is based on two principles:

• face-to-face interaction is essential for participants to feel happy and successful in their work and
• Internet-based networking is essential for quick communication, effectiveness, and momentum building on a global scale.

EKO Communities

EKO is organized around kid-centered communities. A community can be any kind of network of people: a network of schools, a home-school network, a group of organizations within a county, a library system. The only guiding principle is that the members of a community should be able to work side by side and meet face to face.

A community's membership is comprised of

• kids and
• grown-ups who want to help the kids achieve their goals, such as parents, teachers, librarians, religious leaders, and environmental organization leaders.

Each community needs two Internet-based organizational tools:

• its own Yahoo group for communication among community members and
• its own EKO Team Yahoo group for the kids of that community so that they can communicate with one another (must be moderated by an adult to ensure the safety of the group).

EKO Central

Each EKO community accesses EKO Central via the Internet. Through this central website and its forum, all EKO communities interact with one another, browsing for and sharing action and event ideas, forging partnerships among different communities, asking questions, seeking logos and materials, and looking for support and information.