GROW: Growing coherence of the International Permaculture Movement through Collaboration

by aimee | Oct 5, 2026

Enhancing

Growing coherence of the International Permaculture Movement through Collaboration

Current Projects

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GRP1 collective impact

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GRP2 ethical software

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GRP14 diversity

Project objectives:

RESEARCH

Conduct research to support & communicate the collective impact of Permaculture through collaboration with universities and other stakeholders such as grass roots projects, associations and research networks.
Conduct Ethical digital products research and development producing research outputs and usable tools
Hold practical spaces to address, transform, coordinate and weave stronger strategic relationships within the permaculture network to broaden access and impact of commons resources

TRAINING & CAPACITY BUILDING

Design and deliver capacity building permaculture e-learning program for CoLab & allied networks on an annual basis
Carry out permaculture enterprise activities including incubation support, promoting and enhancing already existing services for innovation and business development
Conduct research and capture new funding opportunities into the funding opportunities database to increase and update opportunities available to permaculture projects in different domains.
Develop and deliver funding readiness training to CoLab members and Allied Networks
Development and publication of educational material to support permaculture projects to measure and communicate their impact
Ethical digital tools awareness and literacy training to support CoLab members and the extended permaculture movement

DIGITAL SERVICES

Tech support & hosting fund to cover digital services and hosting costs provided by the Digital Circle Services to: Permaculture International Research Network / eupc.community / Permaculture Impact & others which may qualify as movement assets
Tech support & hosting fund to cover digital services and hosting costs for the CoLab and it’s circles including web hosting and other support software.

MOVEMENT & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Continuing to develop existing outreach channels, growing capacity and usefulness to the rest of the CoLab, and the wider permaculture movement and increase impact reach of already existing resources
Increase communication capacity within circles and working groups through training and shared responsibility
Welcoming and induction in the community using different modes of engagements (eg one to one, on-boarding, events etc)
Community workplace admin & maintaining application of the active space policy
Financial administration, Project management, Monitoring & evaluation for the funded project and Fundraising for the continuation of this work

EMERGENT, DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

Leave room for emergent activities that emergence in line with CoLab VMAs – Emergent Festival a community led event over 6 months per year
Diversity & Decolonisation Community pot to:
enhance the diversity of the Colab as a collaborative space by supporting members who otherwise would not be able to engage and enable development and delivery of diversity training resources for the Colab and the wider movement.

Establish Research, Education and Training Circle

by Alejandra Garcia | Jun 15, 2026

Establish Research, Education and Training Circle

To bring forth the Research, Education and Training Circle fleshing out what the circle mission, aims and activities for this up and coming circle. Centering around bringing together existing resources by building on permaculture research and furthering permaculture education and training, building on the valuable work already done in this domain all over the CoLab, making this a cohesive effort working with and collaborating with other Circles, projects and working groups to make this happen.

Team Objectives – Specific Measurable Achievable Relevant Time-bound, in line with the International Permaculture CoLab vision, mission and aims and within the scope of this grant

We have come together to bring forth the Research, Education and Training Circle fleshing out what the circle mission, aims and activities will be, we have some ideas around this and have already had some conversations and circle meetings.

We will become an established circle like the Digital and Funding Circles, creating opportunities in research, education, and training domains. We will bring together existing resources by building on permaculture research and furthering permaculture education and training, building on the valuable work already done in this domain all over the CoLab, making this a cohesive effort working with and collaborating with other Circles, projects and working groups to make this happen.

We are asking for your support to help fund a part of the incubation process which requires a large number of volunteer hours.

Funded with 1000 GBP through emergent festival

STATUS : ON GOING

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Team

Rory Fogerty

Jyostna Maan

Aimee Fenech

Ntsikelelo Colossa

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Area

Emergent festival, Grow project

Objectives 2026

Establish Research, Education and Training Circle to build on the valuable work already done in this domain all over the CoLab, making this a cohesive effort working with and collaborating with other Circles, projects and working groups to make this happen.

This will be measured by polling the CoLab Circles after 6 months to gauge reaction. This reaction will steer the project

outcomes 2026

resources created

contact links

contact@perma.earth

Mapping coherence: an audio archive of Permaculture Convergences

A podcast series that wants to inform, share, and create an archive about Permaculture Convergences and how the very existence of the CoLab is linked to those in real life events that try to keep the momentum in an ever changing fast-paced world. Our team will interview various key figures in the Permaculture movement with the objective of sharing their journeys, collecting testimonies, and offering once more the case for coherence in the global movement.

Funded with 999 GBP through emergent festival

STATUS : ON GOING

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Team

Charlie Wilson
Alejandra Garcia
Anton Oussik

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Area

Emergent festival, Grow project

Objectives 2026

Produce a podcast series documenting Permaculture Convergences and their relationship to the CoLab through interviews with key figures in the movement. The project will deliver seven edited podcast episodes in mp3 format, each published with a brief bio on the CoLab website. It is achievable within the capacity of our 3 members working group during the Emergent Festival timeframe, based on pre production, postcast sessions and post-production plus website update. The series is relevant to CoLab’s work and its VMAs as it contributes to strengthening shared understanding of permaculture convergence history, practice, and coherence across the wider movement. All episodes and associated materials will be completed and publicly shared by the end of the Emergent Festival. And could be use for future outreach by the CoLab circles.

outcomes 2026

resources created

contact links

contact@perma.earth

Rehoming the Permaculture Map and connecting the movements

This project will open a conversation with organisations aligned with permaculture to explore how existing maps and datasets can be linked. By doing so, it supports collaboration, reduces duplication and makes the movement and its allies more visible and accessible worldwide. Ultimately, it helps communities see the many initiatives driving change, all in one shared map. This builds on important work already developed for the existing Global Permaculture Map and involves moving it to a platform where hosting costs are covered, helping reduce ongoing expenses while ensuring long-term sustainability.

Current map can be found at https://map.perma.earth/

Details of the previous project that produced it can be found at https://perma.earth/project/global-permaculture-movement-map/

Funded with 872.76 GBP through emergent festival

STATUS : ON GOING

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Team

Aimee Fenech
Anton Oussik
Maria Paez

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Area

Emergent festival, Grow project

Objectives 2026

• Migrate the map to the CoLab website to reduce project costs and ensure long term sustainability of the project by the end of the project.
• Convene organisations and networks hosting their own maps to discuss how we can use Murmurations protocol effectively, enabling 1 map – many ways of displaying it – each network maintaining their own dataset. This reduces maintenance overhead for the team and forge close knit collaborations within the permaculture and aligned movements. Some candidates EUPN, GEN, ECOLISE, Transition Movement, Agroecology Map.
• By the end of this project we will have some clear next steps to move this project forward as an important asset to the permaculture movement and everyone involved.

More information about this project can be found here: https://map.perma.earth/about/ & https://perma.earth/project/global-permaculture-movement-map/

outcomes 2026

resources created

contact links

contact@perma.earth

Permaculture Business Lab

Permaculture has a well-developed body of knowledge for designing land and ecosystems, but far less exists to guide the design of permaculture businesses and organisations. Last year, the Mapping Permaculture Business Models team began to address that gap. We interviewed successful permaculture business owners, developed a set of archetypes inspired by nature, and built a framework that uses the eight forms of capital and value flows as a more living model for understanding permaculture business design. We then formatted this into a guide and visual model which can be found here

This year we return to deepen that work. First, the core team runs collaborative design sessions to refine the archetypes and the business model framework, working through how the three permaculture ethics are embedded in the model and how the eight forms of capital actually flow through it. Second, we bring the expert practitioners we interviewed back into the room to collaboratively engage with the work, dig into the findings together, and develop a deeper shared understanding. Third, we reformat the existing research into more practical and digestible resources, including design activities that people can use to apply the framework to their own contexts.

The goal here is to move from theory to practice and to bring the findings into helping permaculture microenterprises survive and thrive. Our name ‘The Permaculture Business Lab’ reflects this intention to open into a space for shared learning and experimentation

Bonus goal: Mentorship and Q&A spaces for CoLab members: to develop a model for opening up mentorship routes discussed with the practitioners last year and hosting Q&A and mentorship time available for CoLab members who want to go deeper.

Not Funded

STATUS : CANCELLED

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Team

Siobhan Vida Ashmole
Ntsikelelo Colossa
Camille Burkhard

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Area

Emergent Festival, GROW project

Objectives 2026

1. Collaborative Design Sessions: Refining the Framework and Archetypes

Specific: The core team holds dedicated design sessions to refine the permaculture business model framework and archetypes, focusing on how the three ethics are embedded in the model and how the eight forms of capital flow through it.
Measurable: Revised framework and archetypes documented by July 2026.
Achievable: Existing material provides a strong foundation; team has the capacity to work through it within the timeline.
Relevant: Strengthens the integrity and depth of the research already done and makes it more applicable to real permaculture business design.
Time-bound: Design sessions completed within the GROW Emergent Festival 2026 timeline.

2. Collaborative Session with Interviewed Practitioners

Specific: Invite the permaculture business owners interviewed last year into at least one session to engage with the refined work, deepen the shared understanding of the designs, and explore what mentorship for CoLab members could look like.
Measurable: At least one session held with at least two to three of the original practitioners; notes or recording produced.
Achievable: Permission for re-engagement was already obtained and relationships exist.
Relevant: Grounds the refined designs in real practitioner experience and opens a mentorship pathway for CoLab members.
Time-bound: Session held before the end of August, following the internal design sessions.

3. Reformatting into Practical, Digestible Resources

Specific: Reformat the existing research and refined designs into more accessible outputs, which may include practical design activities, a visual summary, or a recorded session, with Q&A and mentorship time made available to CoLab members.
Measurable: At least one new practical resource produced and shared in the CoLab community space
Achievable: Team delivered on high quality resources last year and has the capacity to do this.
Relevant: The existing guide is not easily read; more digestible formats extend the reach and usefulness of the research to CoLab members and beyond.

Time-bound: Outputs completed and shared by the end of the festival period.

outcomes 2026

This project was cancelled and not carried out.

No work was done towards the set objectives.

resources created

contact links

contact@perma.earth

Enhancing

Growing coherence of the International Permaculture Movement through Collaboration

Current Projects

GRP1 collective impact

GRP2 ethical software

Project objectives:

RESEARCH

TRAINING & CAPACITY BUILDING

DIGITAL SERVICES

MOVEMENT & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

EMERGENT, DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

Establish Research, Education and Training Circle

Team

Area

Objectives 2026

outcomes 2026

resources created

contact links

Related

Mapping coherence: an audio archive of Permaculture Convergences

Team

Area

Objectives 2026

outcomes 2026

resources created

contact links

Related

Rehoming the Permaculture Map and connecting the movements

Team

Area

Objectives 2026

outcomes 2026

resources created

contact links

Related

Permaculture Business Lab

Team

Area

Objectives 2026

outcomes 2026

resources created

contact links

Related