Oasa is first and foremost a community of nomad entrepreneurs. At the core of everything we undertake we evaluate how the affect on the community will be. Whether it's figuring out the best way to lay out a room, designing a building or deciding how to evolve our online presence.

Vulnerability, love and belonging

Illustration by Els Kenney

At the core of community building is empathy. More than simply providing shelter, Oasa seeks to build a community that provides for the needs of members along Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Let's check out what values we want our community to embody.

Personal space

Fostering a sense of community through spaces that can connect members is crucial, but so is the ability for members to retire to more private quarters. We aim to study carefully the wishes of our members and the layout of our buildings to maximize a balance between privacy and community. For example, this means having a private bedroom and bathroom, space where you can focus on work without getting disturbed, and also space to just hang out and read or exercise any other type of solitary activity. It may be possible that we implement room allocation based on Myer Briggs's or other - personality tests in order to optimize each members happiness.

Ownership & Sovereignty

We believe that members are more than just customers. They are the experience. And they own it too. Members bring their creativity, energy, knowledge to the community, and share it through skillsharing sessions, masterminds and other events designed to provide value to members and increase the connectivity between members.
But ownership also means empowering each member to lead more with empathy, and make their voice count. Changes to the platform and the community will be driven through the members preferences, and amplified by members taking on an active stance.

Learn more about why co-ops are a great way of living

Oasa aims to have its structure remain true to its founding members. What we mean by sovereignty is that members shall remain the decision makers, not external investors, public opinion etc.

Inclusion

Inclusion is at the core of our community. We will welcome any race, cultures and norms. We will not tolerate judgmental behavior.

One of the aspects of inclusion in everyday life is giving time to each other in conversations, favoring a common language (usually English), and always remaining curious to learn from each other and from the local culture.
There will be no space for big egos.

Gifting

Providing value to local communities is an integral part of our community. From hosting events, providing assistance in various forms and integrating with the local economy, we will ensure that the local population gets value from our community.

We recently helped out the construction of a daycare in Kahaylitsha.

Gifting is also giving back to each other as a community - through skillsharing, mastermind sessions etc.

Do-ocracy

A do-ocracy is an organizational structure in which individuals choose roles and tasks for themselves and execute them. Responsibilities attach to people who do the work, rather than elected or selected officials.

We will run our communities as do-ocracies where members are able to take initiatives, propose changes and encourage them to be leaders.

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