Applied Permaculture in Communities

Self-Organizing is the natural way that cells have made it through evolution to become the magic that we see all around us everyday. Many animal formations are great examples of this today, such as colonies of ants or geese flying in formation over long distances. It doesn’t seem to come as naturally however to many of modern society’s organizations and groups of people. Which tools and technology do we have available to us as a movement to become better, and more inclusive, at organizing ourselves?

Project Aims

Development & research into inclusive organization modes (technology and tools) within self-organised bodies / communities to be developed and revised by teams / circles.

Research, testing and prototyping into inclusive ways that is documented and shared widely within the community.

Funded with 19, 500 GBP through next steps

STATUS : complete

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Team

Research: Aimee Fenech, Jyo Mann, Vida Ashmole, Aline VaMo

Previously: Andy Goldring, Mayi Lekuona

Reporting: Vida Ashmole

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Area

Prototyping, Next Steps Project

objectives 2023

Objective 1: Review and update the aims of the CoLab as an exercise in simplification.

Objective 2: Simple review of available tools (S3 etc).

Objective 3: Description of current situation (working / not working / gaps).

Objective 4: Development of simple new ‘User Guide/Handbook’.

Objective 5: Documenting the process of how the above is done to be shared as a case study.

OUTCOMEs 2023

Objective 1: Simplified Mission, Vision and Aims consented by the CoLab community: https://perma.earth/vision/

Objective 2: Review of available tools:

Form sent out to all CoLab members, explaining what our research is about:
https://cloud.perma.earth/s/bHxeKjNkZqzST7Z

Results gathered in NextCloud sheet:
https://cloud.perma.earth/s/BkbxFzeAFpQoT3J

Futher tools researched and added to the following baserow database:
(link to come)

Objective 3: Description of working – not working – gaps

Survey was included in the form sent out to all CoLab members under Objective 2, results were harvested here:
https://cloud.perma.earth/s/rXgCDccSSN4k77r

Observe by Mapping, for ease of Analysis – Miroboard
https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVM_VWswI=/#tpicker-content

PDF for ease of sharing visuals
https://cloud.perma.earth/s/C5E5RQjjGtJxSEQ

Objective 4: Development of Simple New User Guide
https://wiki.app.perma.earth/books/international-permaculture-colab-user-guide

More translations underway

Objective 5: Document the above process as a case study:
https://cloud.perma.earth/s/RA4Yb47WpAScBqz (edited)

objectives 2024

Objective 1: Research and document the term INCLUSIVE

Objective 2: Research how others do it

Objective 3: Train on the optimal use of and document the use of open source digital Tools for collaboration

Objective 4: Research and share an article (in English, French, Spanish) on the topic: Simple English and Gender Inclusive Writing

Outcomes 2024

In the “Applied Permaculture in Communities” (APiC) project, we explore online collaboration tools for self-organized organizations, reflecting CoLab’s role as a digital and permaculture laboratory. Our goal is to develop or capacitate in ethical, inclusive technology that cares for people, the planet, and future generations by sharing knowledge fairly.

We began by defining key terms like “inclusive” and “organizational technology,” analyzing tools for self-organization inspired by nature. Insights are summarized in the outputs below.

Next, we studied four organizations—Transition Network, Eureka Idea Co., REPESEI, and Eixarcolant—to identify successful self-organizing practices. These include digital tools (e.g., WhatsApp, Telegram, Google Suite, Drupal) and social technologies (e.g., sociocracy, consensus decision-making).

In our third workpackage we explored more ethical, open-source alternatives that provide similar functionality. We produced video tutorials on six open-source tools, now available on the CoLab YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@permacolab. We’re considering a transition to an open-source video platform for greater alignment with our principles.

Lastly, we developed two practical guides on creating inclusive digital content and writing. These resources aim to enhance future permaculture communications by making them accessible to diverse audiences.

The APiC project offers tools and insights for inclusive, self-organized organizations. Year 2 has been a productive experiment, laying a solid foundation for future CoLab initiatives.

objectives 2025

1. Round off the case studies work with a conclusion chapter – noticing patterns, best practices.

2. Inclusive writing implementation, update core webpages (home, about, onboarding -journey); and encourage other teams to update their own pages using inclusive language.

3. Review year 1 & 2 output and rebrand with a new name: Applied Permaculture in Communities (APIC) and reference Greg’s work where relevant.

4. A community conversation about applied permaculture in community.

5. Toolkit for decision making in inclusive organisation.

6. Action guide for organisations wanting to become more inclusive i.e. steps to take, types of adaptions, impact on engagement findings, design practices to try. – based on research into the most effective inclusivity/ accessibility adaptions and the impact they have on engagement.

Outcomes 2025

Over the past year, the Applied Permaculture in Communities (APIC) team has focused on making the Permaculture CoLab easier to access, understand and join, especially for people who are often left out of online projects. We reviewed and renamed earlier project outputs under the APIC umbrella and drew them together in a new conclusion chapter that highlights key patterns, lessons and good practice from community case studies. This gives a clearer picture of what “applied permaculture in communities” looks like in real life and makes it easier for others to build on the work.

We have updated core pages on the perma.earth website, including the home, about and onboarding pages, to use more inclusive, welcoming and accessible language. We also refreshed several non-core pages, including the Funding Circle page, and created simple guidance so other circles can improve their own pages. Alongside this, we moved and updated the User Guide for the new Discourse platform and supported translations into Spanish, German and French, so that more people can find their way into the CoLab in their own language.

A key piece of work this year was creating an action guide for organisations and self-organising teams that want to become more inclusive. The guide gathers research and lived experience into a practical 34-page resource, with a self-assessment, a decision tree and 21 concrete adaptations that teams on limited budgets can try. It aims to help groups choose small, realistic changes that can have a real impact on who participates and how people are able to engage.

The team also hosted a community round-table conversation on “applied permaculture in community”, creating an artefact (recording and summary) that shares how people are already experimenting with these ideas in their own contexts. Together, the guides, translations, website updates and session designs form a set of tools for people who want to bring permaculture, community organising and inclusion closer together.

This phase of the project is now complete. The resources we produced are intended to be long-term assets for the wider permaculture movement. Future work could include forming or strengthening circles around inclusion and accessibility, testing and refining the action guide with more groups, and continuing to improve the platform and communications so that a wider diversity of people can participate in shaping permaculture’s next steps.