Permaculture Convergence Aggregator

by charliewilson | May 22, 2023

Permaculture Convergence Aggregator

The Permaculture Convergence Website will provide a history of permaculture convergences in the world. It will capture resources and promote support services to permaculture convergence organisers.

Project Aims

Bring to life a website to celebrate past convergences and offer support to future convergences.

The grant helps to support the website development, cover domain, hosting and project costs, micro enterprise development and service design.

Funded with 5, 400 GBP through capacity plus

Funded with 12, 200 GBP through next steps

STATUS : ongoing

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Team

Capacity+ team: Kate Swatridge, Luis Tiago

Next Steps team (current team): Aimee Fenech, Ewan Findley, Xavier Bruzaud Grille, Candida Shinn, Daniel Mello Mattos

Reporting Officer: Aimee Fenech

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Area

Network Weaving, Next Steps project

objectives – Capacity+

We will to create a system that would make it easy for any individual, community or initiative to find accurate and up to date information about the various convergences we had until today online.

We will try to recover the lost information and provide a long term safe digital place to host that content.

We will also support the digital circle to spread its work and sustain in the long term for this digital infrastructure, finding ways of extra funding (donations ).

We will also continue to support the creation of new relations with those who are already in the movement.

We will continue weaving the work that the permaculture research convergence proposal group has done.

OUTCOMEs – capacity+

A website to catalyze collaboration in the international permaculture community, gathering online content of the permaculture convergences existing local, regional, and at a global scale. It will contribute as a online hub to support permaculture by mapping the diversity of content existing past convergences, has a historical hub and enableling new visions for future convergences.

objectives – next steps project 2023

1. Receive a handover from the previous team about work already done.

2. Put together a strategy on how to approach this project and define/update objectives for year 1.

3. Identify costs for the services needed from the Digital Circle during this first year.

4. Put together an MVP for the website.

5. Put together a micro-enterprise development strategy document.

OUTCOMEs – next steps project 2023

The website has been released.

objectives – next steps project 2024

1. Develop a Business strategy and implementation plan to continue the work beyond funding

2. Develop a Counseling prototype service within the micro-enterprise.

3. Maintain the website content including events and it’s infrastructure.

update september 2024

We have setup a partnership with the convergence research team, we will publish research and resource materials on our website: https://permacultureconvergence.org/ and open up an ongoing survey to keep collecting valuable data for the research team.

We have ramped up our communications effort to publicize our project and reach a wider audience and the CoLab using the linkedin channel: https://www.linkedin.com/company/pccolab/

Maintenance on the website and features enhancement continues with the addition of new events to the calendar and the history of convergence timeline.

resources created

The Permaculture Convergence Aggregator Website

Mass Mailer Comparison Study

Permaculture Convergence Website Strategy

contact links

digitalcircle@proton.me

Diversity and Decolonisation Community Pot

The diversity and decolonisation community pot supports diversity and decolonisation work within the CoLab using two methods of access: diversity stipends for participation of people from a diverse background to contribute to existing projects and diversity grants which cover training and aligned events.

Project Aims

For the diversity stipend: to provide funding assistance to individual CoLab members access to paid work within CoLab projects teams already in place.

For the diversity grant: to provide funding to groups working on training and education with the theme of diversity and decolonisation.

Funded with 15, 000 GBP through next steps

STATUS : ongoing

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Team

Aimee Fenech, Jyo Maan

Reporting Officer: Aimee Fenech

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Area

Diversity, participation and engagement, Network weaving, Next Steps project

objectives 2023

Support diversity & decolonization activities, training & participation in the International Permaculture Colab.

OUTCOMEs 2023

Stipends provided in 2023:

2 Stipends to work in the Tepla Gora Eco-Market Team
1 Stipend to work on reviewing diversity course within the Learn Team
1 Stipend for individual to manage the Diversity Grant within the Next Steps Project Manager function

Grants provided in 2023:

3 person team to work on Stories to Decolonize Permaculture
2 person team to work on online training course material – Designing Work Spaces for All
2 person team to work on digitizing the In-person Workshop around Inclusion in Workplace to online workshop

objectives 2024

Support diversity & decolonization activities, training & participation in the International Permaculture Colab.

september 2024 update

The grant has not attracted many applications from eligible applicants and within the remit. We will seek to address this next year. The coordinator role will also be redesigned to make it a more attractive position.

resources created

Designing Work Spaces For All online course

Form for Stories to Decolonize Permaculture

MVA – Inclusion Practice Labs Outline

contact links

contact@perma.earth

Welcoming and Community Garden Conversations

Welcoming and induction in the CoLab community using different modes of engagement (eg one to one, on-boarding, events etc). Monthly onboarding calls, adhoc one to one calls, mid-yearly events to promote and highlight projects and initiatives in the colab and the wider network.

An invitation to come to the table, weaving projects and connections for resilience, collaboration, and scaffolding.

Please note that from 2024 the Welcome Gardening Project also encompasses the Skill Mapping and Community Platform Facilitation projects.

Funded with 15, 000 GBP through next steps

STATUS : ongoing

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Team

Jyo Maan, Aimee Fenech, Daniel Atwell

Reporting Officer: Jyo Maan

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Area

Circle incubation and nourishment, Diversity, participation and engagement, Network weaving, Next Steps project

objectives 2023

1. Co-design facilitated calls in line with the frequency outlined in the higher objectives:
– Monthly onboarding.
– Mid-yearly community weaving.

2. Offer adhoc one-to-one calls to members of the CoLab when needed e.g. if they express a wish to become active quickly in one or more circles or working groups.

3. Raw meeting recordings, chat history & any notes accessible through a shared drive for half yearly community contributors gatherings.

4. Digestible artifacts, eg. Pre-call welcoming email with the Communications Coordinator: who we are, what we are doing, what you can expect and what we expect of you and after an onboarding call: what now, who to talk to, where to go, skills mapping update request.

5. Closing triangles – matching people coming in with spaces and people in the ecosystem to help them orient themselves e.g. project / person looking for funding refer to Tanya in the funding circle, add person to the channel and show them how to find the funding opportunities database.

6. Brief follow up some months in, how are people doing, are they active, if no, why not, what additional support could be available?

7. Retrospective of on-boarding and engagement process to turn learnings into process improvements ongoing and annual.

OUTCOMEs 2023

1. Co-design facilitated calls in line with the frequency outlined in the higher objectives:
– Monthly onboarding.
– Mid-yearly community weaving.

2. Offer adhoc one-to-one calls to members of the CoLab when needed e.g. if they express a wish to become active quickly in one or more circles or working groups.

3. Raw meeting recordings, chat history & any notes accessible through a shared drive for half yearly community contributors gatherings.

4. Digestible artifacts, eg. Pre-call welcoming email with the Communications Coordinator: who we are, what we are doing, what you can expect and what we expect of you and after an onboarding call: what now, who to talk to, where to go, skills mapping update request.

5. Closing triangles – matching people coming in with spaces and people in the ecosystem to help them orient themselves e.g. project / person looking for funding refer to Tanya in the funding circle, add person to the channel and show them how to find the funding opportunities database.

6. PARTIALLY MET: Brief follow up some months in, how are people doing, are they active, if no, why not, ~~what additional support could be available?~~ – additional support aspects have not had the time to follow.

7. Retrospective of on-boarding and engagement process to turn learnings into process improvements ongoing and annual.

objectives 2024

1. Promote and participate in Conversational Community Gardening. – present in research, education, digital and human technology, on-boarding & engagement.

2. Welcoming and induction in the community using different modes of engagements.

3. Maintenance of existing community database and making this accessible to the community.

4. Community platform facilitation.

september 2024 update

The welcome gardening team holds monthly onboading calls for new colab members and existing members who have been inactive for a while. We offer one to one calls for members who wish to discuss their engagement within the CoLab in more detail.

During this year we have been testing different engagement patterns to bridge the gap between entering a new space and becoming active and engaged in the CoLab activities. In the beginning of the year we organised camp fire meetings and we are now moving into other types of activities such as producing videos to highlight membership benefits and illustrate how the CoLab works.

Our work also includes taking care of the CoLab slack workspace and making the community skills database a useful and used resource in the CoLab ecosystem.

resources created

contact links

Welcome Gardening Web Page

Communications, Outreach and Engagement

The Communications, Outreach and Engagement project is quite broad and wide-reaching.

It has several aims;

To enhance communication within the CoLab and associated networks. To connect individuals and organizations. To try to create a sense of belonging.
To do engagement research into network weaving practices and processes, from the local level to the international level.
Focusing on network weaving, in particular offering cross-network training and knowledge sharing events.
To do outreach work from the CoLab to the wider permaculture audience. This will bring attention to the work we are doing in the CoLab and the resources we offer.
To prototype bringing in national and regional networks in order to support the CoLab and the wider permaculture movement. Aiming to bridge projects across bioregions through resources and cross-community engagement.

Funded with 21, 000 GBP through next steps

STATUS : ongoing

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Team

Kate Swatridge – research, outreach
Charlie Wilson – comms, copywriting, reporting officer
Hans Ryding – research, outreach
Aimee Fenech – training & supporting, outreach

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Area

Network weaving, Diversity, participation and engagement, Next Steps project

objectives 2023

Objective 1: Identify our audiences and prioritize audiences for the first part of the work as a prototype. Until August.

Objective 2: Put together a persona/s for the identified prioritized audiences. Until end of October.

Objective 3: Collate information from around the colab about services, circles and projects in order to update the website – to be used as a basis for the outreach package – ongoing work until end of year.

Objective 4: Collate information about current outreach. Until end of year.

Objective 5: Collate feedback and consent from relevant teams on updates to the website pages, including circle pages, services, resources and onboarding. Until the end of the project.

Objective 6: Writing monthly newsletters. Releasing new and edited webpages (projects, services, resources, etc.), on a half yearly basis.

OUTCOMEs 2023

Objective 1: This was completed. A taxonomy was created.

Objective 2: We identified several personas and which were the most important to target. Persona pages have been created on the website speaking to each persona with a different “voice” and offering them different links. These need to be reviewed and finalised.

Objective 3: A major overhaul of the website has been completed. This took a major part of our time and budget for the year. It was realized that the website was going to be a major tool for outreach work and that it needed a lot of work done on it. This work will continue in the second year of the project but to a lesser degree. Services pages have been added. A resources page has been added. The circle pages are up to date. The projects pages have all been updated, with new projects added.

Objective 4: I am not sure that this objective was met. It will be added to Year 2 objectives.

Objective 5: Consent was obtained and updates were given from teams. This was sometimes a difficult task with a lot of chasing up needed.

Objective 6: The monthly newsletters were all completed and sent out on time. Many new web pages have been released. Some of them will be added to the resources tab below.

objectives 2024

Objective 1: Enhance communication within the (CoLab) network and externally to connect individuals and organisations.

Writing monthly newsletters.
Releasing new and edited webpages (projects, services, resources, etc.), on a half yearly basis.
Add adhoc events and job openings as request in #colab-communications-engagement.
Quarterly roundup of NS project updates.
Representation in the General Circle monthly meetings (good for weaving).
Video to introduce CoLab.

Objective 2: Engagement research into network weaving practices and processes across from local to international – focusing on pinpointing needs.

Picture forming – What is the objective of this exercise? – Who is engaging (with CoLab) and how are they engaging (from inside / outside). How and what are we measuring? How do non-engagers (with CoLab) engage with one another and with resources (more generally) (so that we can work out how to help them engage with CoLab resources). What are the needs of different users? Output useful to this team and others.
Plan work according to outcomes of picture forming and needs and according to budget allocation.

Objective 3: Outreach work from CoLab to the wider permaculture audience.

Review persona work from year 1.
Collate information from around the colab about services, circles and projects in order to update the website – to be used as a basis for the outreach package – ongoing work.
Collate information about current outreach.
Collate feedback and consent from relevant teams on updates to the website pages, including circle pages, services, resources and onboarding.
Finish work on the website started last year (review and implement).
Write outreach pieces to be published in permaculture magazines / social media and network websites & mailing lists. (what’s our aim? Increase membership, join mailing list, or increase engagement with resources).
Mail out to target organisations by persona type. (collate email list, draft copy of email, possibly translate to eg. Spanish).
Publish and curate resources from NS and other working groups artefacts.
Set up Outreach Database (and use for prioritising, categorising, tracking etc).

Objective 4: Prototyping to bring in national and regional/other networks to support the wider permaculture movements & the CoLab

Outreach prototype with Nordic permaculture (capped budget as per slack convo about this at 22 hours).
Outreach meetings with external community network eg. EUPN.

Objective 5: Network weaving and building on the work started with capacity plus in particular cross network training and knowledge sharing events.

Training to CoLab members who wish to represent CoLab / promote services.
Representation in the General Circle monthly meetings (good for weaving).

september 2024 update

Objective 1a. Writing monthly newsletters – This work is ongoing. The monthly newsletters have been published every month, on time. It has new sections promoting diversity, and both an engagement and events section.

Objective 1b. Releasing new and edited webpages – This work is ongoing. There are new “About permaculture pages” that have been added to the website. There are web pages now for Learn services, Funding services, and Digital services. The project pages are due to be updated this month (September). A page of downloadable resources has been added to the website. Other web pages receive reviews and updates when needed.

Objective 1c. Add adhoc events and job openings as requested in #colab-communications-engagement – These are included on the website, and now also on the newsletter.

Objective 1d. Quarterly roundup of NS project updates – These are ongoing and have been completed and published in a timely manner.

Objective 1e. Video to introduce CoLab – A script has been written and some content has been recorded. We are going to include several members of the CoLab in the video, and it will then be edited.

Objective 2. Research ‘engagement with network weaving practices and processes’ from local to international, focusing on pinpointing needs. A quick picture-forming exercise revealed that for this objective, we want to find good ways to reach permaculture people and projects on the ground so that we share the wealth of resources, events and services offered by the International Permaculture CoLab. We designed and published a survey to find out how permaculturists communicate. Analysis of responses is in progress, with a report coming soon.

Objective 3a. Review persona work from year 1 – This has been completed. The persona pages are active on the CoLab website and will be used for outreach work when sending emails etc.

Objective 3b. Collate information from around the colab about services, circles and projects in order to update the website – to be used as a basis for the outreach package. – This work is being done and is ongoing.

Objective 3c. Collate information about current outreach. – a document reporting the current situation was collated and subsequently a marketing strategy document was produced.

Objective 3d. Collate feedback and consent from relevant teams on updates to the website pages, including circle pages, services, resources and onboarding. – This work is being done and is ongoing.

Objective 3e. Finish work on the website started last year (review and implement) – This has been completed.

Objective 3f. Write outreach pieces to be published in e.g. Permaculture Magazine / social media and network websites & mailing lists. – This work is due to start in Q4.

Objective 3g. Mail out to target organisations by persona type. (collate email lists, draft copy of emails, possibly translate to eg. Spanish). – This work has been started. We have drafted a first email. We are working on a webpage for old newsletters that will be linked from the emails. The first emails will be sent out soon.

Objective 3h. Publish and curate resources from NS and other working groups artefacts – This work is ongoing.

Objective 3i. Set up outreach database and tracker (NextCloud sheets) – Initial version has been created, further updates are planned.

Objective 4a: Outreach prototype with Nordic permaculture – contact was made and the results were collected as a case study, however the outreach was not successful in getting any new customers or members. Primarily because we overestimated how developed the organisations were.

Objective 4b: Outreach meetings with external community network – participated in skillshare sessions on behalf of Pemaculture CoLab in a session about digital permaculture organised by EUPN – we are getting better at cross collaboration since then.

Objective 5a: Training to CoLab members who wish to represent CoLab is coming up in Q4

Objective 5b: Representation in the General Circle – this has been ongoing with positive feedback from other circles to the work done within this project.

Objective 6: Weekly co-working time and reporting – we have been maintaining a regular co-working time this year and expect to continue to do so.

resources created

Taxonomy of the permaculture movement

Updated history of the CoLab website page

Project pages kept relevant and up-to-date

New – downloadable resources page

New – digital services page

New – learn team services page

Updated funding circle services page

Events page updated

New – onboarding page

Updated home page with links to “persona” pages

contact links

contact@perma.earth

Impact and Evaluation Support for Community-Based Permaculture Projects

This project is offering support to several grassroots / community permaculture projects that want to improve how they evaluate their work and assess its impact.

We work with participating projects to identify areas that they want to work on, agree a pathway to do that work which will be supported by online materials and courses, 1-1 coaching, small group workshops and peer to peer learning through a community forum.
Understanding and assessing impact can help projects to improve their work, access more and better funding, and contribute to a collective evidence base of the impact of permaculture projects.

Previous work has shown that many community permaculture projects are aware that they should be measuring their impact and doing monitoring and evaluation but need help to get started. This project will help up to ten projects directly, and will use learnings to develop wider support in this area.

Funded with 9, 900 GBP through next steps

STATUS : ongoing

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Team

Kate Swatridge, Aimee Fenech

Reporting Officer: Kate Swatridge

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Area

Network Weaving, Prototyping, Next Steps Project

objectives 2023

1. Design the client support package (‘the offer’).

2. Define eligibility criteria for client projects and selection process.

3. Create application form.

4. Draft Terms of Reference / Commitment for client projects to sign up to.

5. Communicate (advertise) the offer and invite applications.

6. Select first three client projects.

7. initial meeting with each project, identify their needs. Seek commitment from their leadership team.

8. Research, plan and co-design a pathway for them, ready to start early 2024.

9. Identify stacking opportunities between the three projects and their needs.

10. Integrate individual pathways into a single workplan for Group 8 project team.

11. Design & setup micro-grant system. Criteria & what can be claimed for, how to apply, consent process, funds disbursement (10 payments over 3 years).

12. Project management, admin and reporting.

OUTCOMEs 2023

This project has not started yet, beyond some initial project planning. This was planned and is due to capacity constraints of the team. Work will commence in earnest in September.

This project will offer bespoke support to several permaculture projects that are wanting to start or improve their evaluation and impact assessment. This could include 1-1 support, access to online courses, and group workshops. More details to follow. If you are working with a project that would be interested in this service, please contact us. There will be an application / selection process depending on level of interest. The service will be free to projects but will require a time and enthusiasm commitment!

objectives 2024

1. Communicate (advertise) the offer and invite applications.

2. Start working with four to six new client projects by Sept 2024.

3. Continue working with existing clients throughout this year or until they feel ready to stop if sooner.

4. Document learning from engagements, and identify opportunities (for within CoLab and outside CoLab), in a project Learning Log, by Dec 2024 (To be continued in 2025).

5. Actively seek to integrate, learn from and cross-pollinate with other related initiatives, eg Permaculture Impact, Next Step MEL Research work etc. Ongoing.

6. Invite clients to apply for micro-grants, as and when needed.

7. Write up completed client engagements as case studies for perma.earth and Permaculture Impact websites.

September 2024 update

We are currently working with two client projects, one in Democratic Republic of Congo and one in Malawi, with others in the pipeline. Each of these projects is taking their own path to evaluating their work, and discovering and communicating their impact. With one client, we meet weekly online with ‘homework’ each week, with the other we work more organically via WhatsApp and a shared digital folder. We are using some existing evaluation and impact tools and resources, and creating new approaches as needed.

This project team is actively learning throughout the engagements and is documenting learning, innovation and challenges. We are working closely with the Permaculture Impact project.

resources created

contact links

contact@perma.earth

Permaculture Convergence Aggregator

Team

Area

objectives – Capacity+

OUTCOMEs – capacity+

objectives – next steps project 2023

OUTCOMEs – next steps project 2023

objectives – next steps project 2024

update september 2024

resources created

contact links

Related

Diversity and Decolonisation Community Pot

Team

Area

objectives 2023

OUTCOMEs 2023

objectives 2024

september 2024 update

resources created

contact links

Related

Welcoming and Community Garden Conversations

Team

Area

objectives 2023

OUTCOMEs 2023

objectives 2024

september 2024 update

resources created

contact links

Related

Communications, Outreach and Engagement

Team

Area

objectives 2023

OUTCOMEs 2023

objectives 2024

september 2024 update

resources created

contact links

Related

Impact and Evaluation Support for Community-Based Permaculture Projects

Team

Area

objectives 2023

OUTCOMEs 2023

objectives 2024

September 2024 update

resources created

contact links

Related