Global South Permaculture Network

by | Sep 1, 2022

Global South Engagement

Research is working to grow as a network and provide value for the researchers and permaculture practitioners that constitute it. It is also attempting to reestablish PIRN (or an alternative to it) as a hub for researchers interested in sharing their findings and ideas. In the interest of fostering diversity and uplifting the voices of the marginalized, it was determined that extra effort would be needed to engage people from the Global South to help the network bloom into a welcoming, diverse, and inclusive space.

Funded with 450 GBP through capacity+

Status : completed

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Team

Christina M. Sayson, Philipp Grunewald

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Area

Diversity, Participation & Engagement, Capacity+ project

objectives

The PCColab will benefit by having its circles widened/deepened by the increased engagement of members/new members from the Global South whose voices may not have been heard before. It has been my observation that despite efforts to change this, the PCColab is still very much a Global North-dominated space, where White voices are the ones most frequently heard. In making the conscious effort to reach out to those of the Global South, we would be saying, “You’re welcome here. You can participate. It isn’t just about us, this space is yours too.”

Permaculture researchers/practitioners will benefit from connecting to each other at the international level and by accessing opportunities to work as part of the Permaculture CoLab.

OUTCOME

A list of Global South permaculture researchers and practitioners willing to participate in co-leading the reinvigoration of an international permaculture research network and its initiatives
Meeting interested individuals: eliciting their interests, motivations, opportunities and barriers.
The scheduling of at least one meeting with a group of these researchers and practitioners to co-ideate the next steps they would like to take to grow permaculture research networks at an international level
The development of a concrete Global South Engagement Plan based on the matters discussed in the meeting or meetings described above
Integrate all of the above, if appropriate, with Philipp’s work on reinvigorating international permaculture research networks

POSSIBLE FUTURES

POSSIBLE FUTURES is a series of dialogues conceived between the Global Regeneration CoLab (GRC) and the Permaculture CoLab in an attempt to address the lack of representation of Global South networks and communities within both CoLabs.

It is being organised together with GRC and/or Permaculture CoLab members Lua Couto, Anna Denardin, Sahana Chattopadhyay and Samantha Suppiah – with support from Naomi Joy Smith. I am a member of the GRC Activation (core) Team, and Naomi Joy Smith is part of the Capacity+ team within Permaculture CoLab.

Funded with 575 GBP through capacity+

Status : completed

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Team

Samantha Suppiah

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Area

Diversity, Participation & Engagement, Capacity+ project

Objectives

The event itself will comprise of panel discussions and breakout conversations around the Global South’s common histories, our visions of the future, and regeneration through pluriversality (i.e. beyond diversity and inclusion) – through embracing a concept of “many worlds within one“. Confirmed speakers include Chief Ninawá, indigenous leader of the Amazon’s Huni Kuin peoples, and Red Constantino, of Agam and global anthologies.

This seeks to deliver a better understanding of our often unseen and unheard histories, through which we can see more clearly our contemporary human world.

Post-event, we will be producing various types of content in different languages to further the visibility and importance of spreading these discussions into public discourse. Our core partners are to be credited with each piece of content, further exposing both CoLabs to more of the Global South.

OUTCOME

Outreach – visibility for both CoLabs
Building understanding between the Global North and the Global South
Helping to address key issues within CoLab around diversity
Collaboration with a well-known international institution, TED

Much value will be found for those from the Global South – rich dialogues build a strong sense of solidarity and community in understanding our world, realising the need for global regeneration through healing, identity-building and community-growing as real, long-term actions for deep climate adaptation. Permaculture principles and design will be a key outcome of this eventual work.

There is huge learning potential for those from the Global North too – all are invited to listen and absorb. To practice observing the hidden narratives and issues that are suddenly visible through POSSIBLE FUTURES.

CoLab Ecosystem’s Event Economy

This is a Three Phase project to design and catalyze an event-based economy for the Permaculture CoLab and our broader social ecosystem; to increase both quality and quantity of engagement, build relationships across aligned movements and organizations, and develop members’ capacities.

The Three Phases are:

Organizing and Facilitation of multiple event formats

Training and Coaching to increase delivery of events by & for CoLab
Coordination and Evaluation of CoLab ecosystem’s event economy

Funded with 15, 000 GBP through capacity+

Status : Completed

Team

Naomi Joy Smith, Keala Young

Area

Diversity, Participation & Engagement, Capacity+ project

objectives

We want to design and run a solid project that accelerates Capacity+ goals by creating openings for various stakeholder groups to participate, meeting 4 core social needs: playing, learning, working & strengthening connections.

By designing guidelines and resources for events across the CoLab ecosystem, and then deliberately training CoLab members and prospective contributors in this system, we will ignite an organic increase in engagement and capacity building, driving forward a bulk of Capacity+ deliverables by applying focus on this key question: how, when and why we meet with whom, and what formats are available to work with?

DESIRED OUTCOME

A scaffolding for increasing engagement, which looks like:

Co-hosting 8 events including the first two quarterly Open Space events (see definitions below); a Live Presentation of our work after 21 weeks; a CoLab Social, a Network Social, a Deep Dive, a Meet & Greet, and another Presentation that we will support (to be selected in Oct).
2 Trainings: one for members of CoLab in how to use this system (the pilot, and we will appreciate your feedback), and a second for any prospective contributors to create livelihood options through the facilitation or organization of events and workshops using the formats provided (includes resources in how to use Open Collective and the Calendar system).
Recommended events hosted by entities in the CoLab ecosystem.
We will hunt for events that Capacity+ can consider using training funds toward for members, and wherever possible we will work to arrange group or network discounts.
A Calendar that shows events happening in the CoLab ecosystem; indicates whether attendance can be financially compensated, who is running the events, and who they’re for.
This will become a resource for CoLab to deliver more events and workshops in future as a source of revenue, and we will work with the Website Team to embed this on our own website. We also aim to feed the information into #newsletter channel to inform our subscriber list of future CoLab events by email.

CoLab Permaculture Design

The CoLab has been experimenting with its current form over the past 3-5 years. The reports from 2020 show that there are barriers to involvement with the CoLab, and other tensions within it. This is a good time to practice the core Permaculture Principle of “Accept Feedback & Apply Self-Regulation” in the CoLab ecosystem.

Building on their investment in understanding the CoLab, we are proposing to lead a Permaculture Design Process to support the CoLab to collaboratively develop the next iteration of a design for itself.

Funded with 5170 GBP through capacity+

Status : completed

Team

Jillian Hovey, Philipp Grunewald

Area

Diversity, Participation & Engagement, Capacity+ project

objectives

Will be a learning journey of applying permaculture ethics, principles, and design methodologies to the needs and yields, elements and functions of the CoLab. This process will hold space for what wants to emerge, and support permaculture thinking, tools and skills to become more of a fundamental literacy & practice in the Permaculture CoLab. The intention is to “Accelerate Succession” and co-create more conscious, healthy and regenerative patterns and pathways for the Permaculture CoLab, which will support the CoLab in becoming more effective at delivering its Vision, Mission, and Aims (VMAs).

DESIRED OUTCOME

– An integral aspect of healthy systems is to have feedback loops so that the system can learn and grow in increasingly regenerative ways.
– To practice permaculture and regeneration, it is important to co-create environments where we can learn to collaboratively accept and apply feedback and self-regulate, and support the CoLab to evolve and become more effective. In doing this, we can co-create the next stages of understanding of the ecosystem that will support the value flows that will support Earth Care, People Care, and Fair Share.
– A Permaculture Design process for the CoLab, can hold space for these learning loops in a permaculture framework where we can learn together in a collaborative design process. This can stimulate and include existing and potential CoLab members to bring more of their intelligences, passions, and possibilities, to a mutually-designed and regenerative Permaculture CoLab.

CoLab Social Mapping

Picking suitable and ethical software to create a mapping prototype for people and organizations involved in the CoLab, creating a mapping tool with Colab member and organization information to serve as a collaboration resource to all members.

Funded with 2400 GBP through capacity+

Status : completed

Team

Pushpak Parmar, Tanya Medukha

Area

Network Weaving, Capacity+ project

Objectives

Research work aligns with Mapping prototype funding priority. The research and design process sets up the necessary groundwork for mapping tool utilization in creation of the mapping prototype which would clearly display members and organizations and what they bring to permaculture CoLab.

DESIRED OUTCOME

An ethical preferably open-source tool which can be effectively used to create a mapping prototype.
A layout which would utilize the mapping tool to create a representative snippet of the mapping prototype.
A UX research study done by interviewing active members of CoLab.
The final mapping prototype which acts as a visually cohesive representation of the Colab network.

Global South Engagement

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objectives

OUTCOME

Related

POSSIBLE FUTURES

Team

Area

Objectives

OUTCOME

Related

CoLab Ecosystem’s Event Economy

Team

Area

objectives

DESIRED OUTCOME

Related

CoLab Permaculture Design

Team

Area

objectives

DESIRED OUTCOME

Related

CoLab Social Mapping

Team

Area

Objectives

DESIRED OUTCOME

Related