Building on a year of groundwork; interviews, surveys, a needs assessment, and a database of Indigenous-identifying permaculture practices, this project moves from listening to action. That earlier phase also introduced a cohort of Indigenous permaculture practitioners to the CoLab. What emerged clearly from that process is that while the CoLab holds significant value, its resources are not structured in a way that is easy to navigate for practitioners who are new to the space, particularly those working outside institutional frameworks. The CoLab’s wealth of tools, trainings, and community connections can be lost without a structured entry point.
This project responds directly to that finding by designing and delivering four live sessions, each addressing a specific and recurring need identified among Indigenous practitioners, matched to what the CoLab already offers. The aim is to amplify the impact of these projects through resource matching and training.
Session 1: Orientation and Clarity covers ethical digital tools, familiarising practitioners with the CoLab space, networking norms, and getting clear on your project. Participants will learn how to use the community space to gather support, build connection, and begin articulating what they need and what they offer. They will also learn about why open source tools align with indigenous philosophies and what tools the CoLab offers members.

Session 1: Orientation and Clarity covers ethical digital tools, familiarising practitioners with the CoLab space, networking norms, and getting clear on your project. Participants will learn how to use the community space to gather support, build connection, and begin articulating what they need and what they offer. They will also learn about why open source tools align with indigenous philosophies and what tools the CoLab offers members. 

Session 2: Ethical Marketing and Impact Communication builds on the clarity developed in Session 1. Drawing from ethical marketing training recording, this session highlights the practical ways the CoLab can support practitioners with visibility: through the newsletter, allied partnership pathways, and content or video submissions to the comms team. Clear guidelines will be provided on what makes content both appropriate and strategic, so that practitioners can advance their own projects while contributing meaningfully to the CoLab as a whole. The session will also cover communicating impact, and how grounding your work in impact evidence sets you up to become more funding ready.

Session 3: Funding Readiness and Resources addresses one of the most consistently raised needs from the research phase. It is important to be clear that the CoLab is not a funding provider, but it does hold a funding database and training on funding readiness. This session will provide practical guidance on the different forms of funding practitioners can pursue, how to navigate the CoLab’s funding database, and how to make use of the other tools available to strengthen funding applications and long-term financial sustainability.

Session 4 — Mindset and Leadership focuses on how to approach international spaces, self-confidence, assertiveness, and clear communication. This session is about how practitioners can move with a deeply rooted Indigenous mindset and use that grounding to shift and transform the spaces they enter, rather than assimilating into them. It is about reclaiming authority and presence in spaces that have historically not been designed with Indigenous practitioners in mind.

Across all four sessions, Indigenous voices are centred; not as case studies, but as contributors, co-facilitators, and knowledge holders. These live conversations create space for practitioners to share their stories and experiences directly within the CoLab community. The intention is not simply to inform but to build real, lasting connection so that more practitioners feel genuinely called to join, contribute, and grow with the community over time. The sessions are designed to be replicable, creating an onboarding pathway that can serve future cohorts of Indigenous practitioners and strengthen the CoLab’s own reach and relevance.