The International Permaculture CoLab is actively looking to appoint 2 people for the Emergent Festival within the GROW Project. Perhaps one could lead and the second could support.
The Festival Coordinators Team will be comprised of people who are skilled facilitators with experience in coordinating within a self organized system.
We anticipate this position will be paid on an hourly basis on an equitable wage rate and will require around 20 hours of time over the next few months from mid-March until end-October. With a total maximum budget for both roles of 1000 GBP.
The positions will be active until the Emergent Festival is finished.
Role & Responsibilities:
Keep the festival running smoothly on time and on budget
Manage admin tasks on CoBudget / Community Space– training for this will be provided
Manage communications & assist Festival Rockstars & Ravers to actively participate
Host fun Festival Events within timelines provided – see timeline
Feedback into the festival setup for future improvements
Complete quarterly & end of project monitoring reports as per other Next Steps projects
Use Leantime to track tasks and hours worked
Having 2 people on this team enables an opportunity to co-design events and assign tasks between the crew as needed.
The GROW admin team will be on hand to provide support and induction training.
Make your application here between March 18th– 25th. Applicants must be active CoLab members – https://www.perma.earth/onboarding-journey/ and familiarity with how the CoLab works is considered an asset.
Please read the policy carefully before submitting your application which includes a full list of festival events and the timeline.
The Diversity Coordination team will be comprised of at least 2 persons (coordinators) who are themselves eligible for a diversity stipend and have interest and motivation to attract and support projects and individuals in supporting the diversity and inclusion in the CoLab. The coordinator will work alongside the GROW Admin team (who is paid through their group budget line).
Your experience in the International Permaculture CoLab, in the Permaculture movement and previous relevant work experience is desired. Please tell us about these in your application. Previous experience leading efforts to reduce barriers to participation, and helping those who would otherwise be excluded to participate is relevant. This includes cross-cultural communication skills, and an understanding of power dynamics, structural inequality, decolonization, anti-oppression and anti-hierarchy principles. Please include previous experience with this in the application as well.
This opening is for the Diversity & Decolonization Community Pot Coordinators.
We anticipate this position will be paid on an hourly basis on an equitable wage rate and will require 15 – 20 hours time per coordinator per year from March to November 2026 – 2028.
The positions will be active until the Diversity Community Pot is exhausted. The total budget for these 2 positions is 1400 GBP total per year.
Role & Responsibilities
Support groups & individuals to apply for a diversity grant / stipend
Encourage applications for the grant and stipend by communicate with CoLab members about the potential of this grant /stipend
Review applications for completion upon submission within 48 hours (2 working days)
Forward applications to the #grow-project sub-category along with up-to-date % of pot remaining and % of total pot that this application represents for e.g. 1000GBP 20% of total fund, 80% remaining to be allocated
Alert applicant of any pending clarifying questions / objections
Link successful applicants / contributors with the Digital Circle for set up
Report to the community in #grow-project sub-category any issues that arise
Provide and pass on feedback of this process in order to improve it
Make a commitment not to disclose details about personal circumstances applicants might share.
Follow up with contributors to complete the end of year report
Use Leantime to manage tasks and log hours worked
The GROW Admin team will be on hand to provide induction training and ongoing support.
How to Apply for this position
Read this document well from beginning to end and ask questions is anything is unclear.
Record a short video (not more than 5 minutes) outlining who you are and your relevant experience and one of the following:
In a nutshell – What is the Diversity & Decolonisation Community Pot?
Give 1 example of a possible Grant and 1 example of a possible Stipend
Post your video with a short text in the Recruitment thread for this position on the #next-steps-project channel for this position include a link to your LinkedIN profile.
Share your professional Linkedin profile, CV or similar.
Let us know what your understanding is of power dynamics, structural inequality, anti-oppression and/or decolonization and how is this relevant in this role.
Please include prior experience in similar roles. Including cross-cultural communication, leading efforts to reduce barriers to participation, and helping those who would otherwise be excluded
Deadline for Applications: open until filled
Recruitment Process: All applications will be visible to all CoLab members. They will be able to comment and ask question of candidates within 2 weeks of submission. There may be a recorded informal interview in this period.
Onboarding and training for the role will be conducted during the first 2 weeks after appointment.
Location: Remote Timeline: 3-year commitment (initial focus: Year 1 module build, March–November 2026) Team: CoLab E-Learning Team
We are building accredited, modules of the Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) pathway for CoLab and allied networks.
Our vision over the next three years is to develop peer-reviewed, badged PDC modules that are recognized across permaculture networks and partner institutions. These courses will remain available as open, on-demand learning resources at no cost to the learner.
To bring this to life, we are seeking a digital illustrator (human-created work only, not AI-generated art) to join our E-Learning Team.
Your Role
You will serve as the visual orchestrator of our course modules.
The design team will develop and structure the module content. You will:
Translate curriculum into cohesive visual learning assets and design specifications
Create original diagrams, illustrations, learning visuals, and layout elements
Support clarity, accessibility, and coherence across the e-learning experience
Collaborate closely with the design team to finalize delivery on the platform
You will become a team member contributing to this educational program.
Commitment
Remote collaboration
Participation in team meetings when requested (in alignment with CoLab accountability policy) in the afternoons and evenings in CET, Monday to Friday
Ability to commit to the broader 3-year vision of modular PDC development
Estimated capacity: approximately 25% of the project budget allocation c. 1500 GBP p/y paid per hour at your equitable wage rate: https://perma.earth/equitable-wage-guide/
The design team is currently scheduled for structured build sessions twice weekly Thursdays and Fridays during the initial development phase. Your engagement will align with module handover cycles.
We’re Looking For
Strong digital illustration portfolio (educational or systems thinking experience preferred)
Ability to visually communicate ecological and relational concepts
Comfort working within collaborative, values-aligned teams
Commitment to equitable wage principles
Interest in long-term ecosystem building rather than short-term gig work
Preferably: Someone who has attended one or more Permaculture Design Certificates and has previously done permaculture design work before.
First published on Medium – Aug 20, 2022, written by Aimee Fenech
Bringing my question whilst being myself, listening with my experience, my identity, my context and my emotional state.
When the starting point may already be laborious, in cases where we already know before sitting at the table that there is no shared language, for example, making it necessary for ground work to be done before any debate can really commence.
Even when we think we have a shared language, it may transpire that in fact we need to do the clarification work as we go along and to keep checking in to ensure we are on the same page.
If we take, for example, the term abortion, many of us will have our own understanding of this, and we use the word in our discourse as advocates for and against access rights to this procedure. Now consider that different countries legally allow for the termination of a pregnancy up until different stages, and here comes the use of additional terms in order to distinguish between these late-stage terminations at x weeks and early-stage terminations before x weeks. The weeks here are a determinant clarifying term in that as a people we share an undisputed understanding of the 7-day week. Early stage by itself is again not specific enough. Another scenario to consider is an incomplete miscarriage, which is when the pregnancy is terminated by the body, but the fetus is not expelled, and therefore a procedure is needed to remove the fetus. Here’s an example where clarification for an unfamiliar term is provided; that’s not to say it couldn’t benefit from further clarification.
This process of clarification is essential to build a common base of understanding. Often public debate is not based on a common understanding and this is where a lot of energy is spent without arriving at any reasonable conclusion other than: “someone is wrong on the internet”. People shouting over each other, we leave debates with contempt and anger with each other and we perpetuate this over and over again.
Keeping abortion here as an example, this is critical because laws are defined to limit or increase access to this procedure. In some places, no type of abortion is legal, but people protest and express the right for access rights to be introduced as a right to health care.
Creating safe spaces on common understanding
Sitting with the other in discomfort is hard, but if we build a common base, there is already a part of us that feels safer, more grounded and perhaps more ready to be in conversation rather than waiting for the other to finish to have our turn.
Forming words and expressing ideas in a space which feels safe may bring to light things that may not be expected, even to ourselves.
Expressing how it feels in our body and how it reminds us of our experience brings people into a relational space, and this creates a container for being personal. For a more in-depth position beyond the expression of ideals and beliefs merely as a statement, but as a perspective built from experience.
Being present and sharing that for example: “Hearing you talk about your ideals and what that means to you, reminds me of the time when…. Hearing you say that I feel…”
What on your side are your troubled by and what do you find of value on the other side? —
Acknowledging that our position may not be totally for or totally against positions, but more nuanced in that we may agree on the yes when situations arise and not when limitations arise. Although we may advocate for a particular position, we may acknowledge that we still have questions, and we still need clarification to identify with these specific parameters.
For example, we may acknowledge that ethical production and consumption of food is something we advocate for, but we acknowledge that defining these parameters and the support needed around that needs further and more lengthy debate. Indeed, diverse action depending on the context, perhaps even an overhaul of the agri-food industry, and perhaps even economic and financial systems that need significant changes to get to the ideal state of ethically sustainably grown produce for all.
If we put the topic on the table and ask, “What if we view ourselves as a being that is not entrenched in the cause and rather view ourselves as independent individuals with our experiences that arrive here with curiosity?”, how might that change our experience of the debate? How do we see the other who is arriving here in the same spirit?
Below is a link to a podcast bringing together opposing views into a generative debate.
Aimee Fenech is a permaculture teacher and student, she is co-founder of Eco Hacker Farm and a project manager at Finca Verde where Permaculture principles are applied on a day to day basis. She is an experienced teacher, group process facilitator and public speaker, an advocate and activist for open source, open knowledge and passionate growing permaculture into the world. Within the International Permaculture CoLab she is an active members of many projects, circles and micro-enterprises.
First published on Medium – Aug 19, 2022 & Written by Aimee Fenech
In a world full of distractions, how are we doing at listening? When we listen, what is it that we are hearing? What questions are we asking to better our understanding?
I recently enrolled in a course by Krista Tippett on the Art of Conversation hosted on Acumen Academy. I quite like the format of the course on this platform and have to admit I am a fan of their high-quality content. I do not get anything for saying that, by the way, in case you think I am getting any benefits from promotion. The course is self-paced with no deadline, with around 2 hours of video content.
The premise of the course is to find new ways to foster dialogue across our differences including politics, religion, experience and other divergences.
Better questions for better debate
What is a generous question? How do we elicit a response from people’s better selves? How do we build questions in reflection?
Start with recognizing the context. Who are you talking to? What are they going through? What is their reality?
What do you mean by X? — The art of clarification
Particularly useful when we do not have a shared language or use words that others may find triggering in diverse social spaces. Acknowledging that diverse groups and different individuals mean different things with terms that may feel inflammatory to us, to recognize our embodied reaction and taking a moment to check in with the other about their meaning.
What makes you hopeful? — Tapping into the positive part of very difficult situations even in disagreement
What frightens you? — perhaps remember that intention here matters, are you asking out of care and wanting to understand?
Shining a light on emotions may give us a common ground on which to empathise with the other, as humans share hopes and fears often in common. Humanising the other as a reflection of self.
Staying in relationship even when we disagree
We can have relationships with people whom we don’t agree with, because maybe you don’t want to, but you need to in order to co-exist.
What do I admire in the position of the other, that I can honor even if I do not agree with the other?
Staying in relationship requires acknowledging that despite our differences we have our similarities and enough trust to talk, agree and share insights around those things that we do agree on.
Aimee Fenech is a permaculture teacher and student, she is co-founder of Eco Hacker Farm and a project manager at Finca Verde where Permaculture principles are applied on a day to day basis. She is an experienced teacher, group process facilitator and public speaker, an advocate and activist for open source, open knowledge and passionate growing permaculture into the world. Within the International Permaculture CoLab she is an active members of many projects, circles and micro-enterprises.
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
English 
French 
German 
Spanish