Digital Circle Provision of Services to the CoLab

by charliewilson | May 12, 2023

Digital Circle Provision of Services to the CoLab

Provision of tech services, hosting and access to ethical tools

Funded with 9, 050 GBP through next steps

STATUS : ongoing

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Team

Ewan Findley, Aimee Fenech

Reporting Officer: Aimee Fenech

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Area

CoLab maintenance, Next Steps project

objectives 2023

1. Put together the invoice for existing services due for renewal in 2023.

2. Maintain services up and running, run updates, backups, troubleshoot as needed

– this includes Nextcloud accounts for Next Steps Project teams and other CoLab working groups

– keeping perma.earth up and running including troubleshooting, maintenance

– keeping slack up and running or an alternative communications tool

– keeping up existing email addresses used by colab communications

3. Increased digital tool awareness for CoLab participants.

OUTCOMEs 2023

We have developed a secure and resilient way to manage our team’s logins, account credentials and passwords so that we can manage this as a team through our asynchronous part time working patterns.

We have new exciting offerings in the form of FOSS applications that we need to make widely known through the CoLab and associated networks so that we may all benefit from this.

We’ve successfully provided fast support to CoLab members who rely on digital circle services.

objectives 2024

1. Put together the invoice for existing services due for renewal.

2. Maintain services up and running, run updates, backups, troubleshoot as needed

– this includes Nextcloud accounts for Next Steps Project teams and other CoLab working groups

– keeping perma.earth up and running including troubleshooting, maintenance

– keeping slack up and running or an alternative communications tool

– keeping up existing email addresses used by colab communications

3. Increased digital tool awareness for CoLab participants

september 2024 update

We have a member of the team stepping back and another one being onboarded.

We continue to provide the CoLab with services including emails, web hosting, nextcloud and openproject for funded projects. After a review of the performance and user feedback we will be discontinuing openproject and will be testing a new tool in the coming quarter before we make the switch to leantime.

We have been assisting the communications offer and the communications and engagement team in their efforts to update the website.https://www.perma.earth/

resources created

contact links

digitalcircle@proton.me

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Impact and Evaluation Support for Community-Based Permaculture Projects

by charliewilson | May 12, 2023

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.

Outcomes 2024

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.

December update:

We have continued to work with Nutritious Trees project in DRC and Malawi Schools Permaculture Clubs to design their evaluation plans. We have been integrating with the Permaculture Impact project to develop data collection tools for these projects, which will be made available for other projects to use via PI. Examples are a simple food diary and food availability chart, both of which are suitable for people with low education levels and easily translatable to local languages by local project teams. We’ve also been working with MSPC to test a free digital data collection tool (Kobotoolbox) which can be used to collect data in the field via mobile phone or tablet (even offline and uploaded later).

We are pleased to have also started working with Anasi project in Uganda and ZimConserve in Zimbabwe, and also welcome Shegenerators in Kenya who we are in the processing of on-boarding. Following their application form and initial consultation, Anasi and ZimConserve have both been working on Change Pathways Maps for their projects.

resources created

contact links

contact@perma.earth

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Global Permaculture Movement Map

by charliewilson | May 12, 2023

Global Permaculture Movement Map

What is this project doing?

The aim of this project is to create an online map of strategic permaculture associations and networks worldwide.

We want the map to be accessible, and able to be updated and maintained by the community. In future phases of work, we hope to include local groups and projects on the map.

Who are the beneficiaries of this project?

People in the network globally
New entrants (individuals new to permaculture) that want to connect to projects, groups and organisations near them
Permaculture organisations, networks and groups that want to connect and collaborate, and attract new entrants.

How will it make an impact?

This project will allow greater self-organisation across the network and better ’self-knowledge’, leading to improved funding proposals, events and effective organising. It will also facilitate growth of the movement by enabling interested individuals to connect with their local networks, groups and projects.

How will this map be different to other permaculture maps currently out there?

Strategic and scalable. Initially our map will mainly be a strategic network building tool. We have put considerable effort into to understanding current permaculture organisations/networks worldwide. Thinking from patterns to details, we will map strategic organisations first, and intend to add local groups (and eventually projects) as the map evolves and people (users) respond and share feedback on it.

Up-to-date information. Our data will be checked and confirmed annually, so will always be up-to-date. Good processes for who/when/how the map will be updated are essential for providing a positive experience for diverse users at any time. This is one of our key design aims.

‘Ownership’ of the map database will be federated – meaning regional datasets can be stewarded by regional representatives. This could be at continental level but potentially national too. A distributed network is more resilient than a centralised one. In the meantime, the International CoLab will steward on behalf of regions until they are ready.

Datasets will be available to, and usable by, strategic permaculture organisations. We will also be exploring with the team at Murmurations the possibility to integrate with organisations’ CRM / contact databases.

Accessibility – we aim to make our map visible and accessible on any device and any browser, and usable even with limited internet bandwidth.

Data will be open source and distributed – meaning the data will be available to other mappers. This means mapped entities could be featured on other relevant 3rd party maps in future, without needing to collect data again. This will be via the pioneering Murmurations protocol. Murmurations is a protocol designed for data interoperability, meaning data can be easily mixed and matched for use cases beyond simple mapping.

Functionality. The map design is considering a comprehensive list of actors and potential users. Their main needs have been identified, and while the initial version might not include an extensive range of functions, there is a commitment to continue developing the map and add more functions over time. We’re hoping the map will help users to identify and contact potential partners to develop future projects. Our data profiles will be ‘rich’ both in terms of searchability, and also potentially integrate with other rich content elsewhere in e.g. stories, impact, funding collaborations.

Funded with 9, 000 GBP through next steps

STATUS : ongoing

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Team

Kate Swatridge, Andy Goldring, Maria Paez

Reporting Officer: Kate Swatridge

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Area

Network Weaving, Next Steps Project

objectives 2023

1. Review existing permaculture maps (and databases and surveys) (e.g. Permaculture Association Britain (PAB) database, Permaculture Global (Geoff Lawton), P. Convergence aggregator website database, The Next Big Step organisational survey, EUPN Europe map, etc).

2. Publish list of current maps, with notes on their uses and limitations, on an initial project webpage on perma.earth.

3. Identify expected map users and their needs.

4. Define who to be included on the map (in this phase of funding and in future phases). As part of this, collaborate with Outreach & Engagement project team to develop a taxonomy of permaculture movement for the purposes of CoLab.

5. Draft a high level specification for the map (to include purpose, audience, accessibility requirements, data fields, desired features and functionality).

6. On-board the new International Coordinator from PAB to this project.

7. Find and recruit mapping tech person to help deliver map as per specification (which can evolve as we learn).

8. Review initial mapping software review work done by Luis Tiago. Do further research of Free Open Source Software (FOSS) mapping platforms as required and select one. (https://ripess.eu/en/digital-solidarity-economy-an-ecosystem-of-free-software-platforms/ )

9. Identify data fields to be included on the map. Draft questions for the data collection form. Set up form.

10. Administer a pilot survey (using data collection form) to a mix of at least 20 regional and national networks or associations. Test questions and use data to create a very simple Pilot Map v1. To enable data testing as minimum, could also seek feedback from potential users and mapees, and may also test platform. This may or may not be on the desired mapping platform.

11. Complete a phase 1 retrospective and design phase 2 and phase 3 of the project.

OUTCOMEs 2023

So far, we have:

Researched existing permaculture maps, some other online maps and current mapping technology.
Developed a simple taxonomy of the permaculture movement.
Been defining who we expect to include on the map in phase 1.
Started a high level specification and design exploration giving consideration to overall structure, and where and how the underlying database will be updated and stewarded.
Welcomed and onboarded to the team the International Coordinator from Permaculture Association Britain.

objectives 2024

1. Develop and launch a pilot map prototype.

2. Design feedback approaches and implement updates and suggested improvements based on the feedback received.

3. Establish a clear database and data input strategy.

4. Define, test and implement a system/process to work with map stewards.

5. Create and implement a strategy to increase map visibility and visitor engagement.

6. Scope future requirements and secure funding for continued map development and maintenance.

7. Create and implement strategy to acquire more organisations listed on the map.

september 2024 update

The map is published on map.perma.earth along with supporting pages, a directory and an individual profile page for each entry. We are still refining all of these. Currently there is only a small dataset published to enable testing and development. We have not launched it publicly yet. We have established a data collection, validation and upload process, which utilises the Murmurations protocol, meaning our permaculture data is interoperable and open source.

We have been planning how we will get more entries on the map, designing feedback processes and exploring future funding possibilities for this project.

resources created

contact links

contact@perma.earth

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Practical Solutions Research and Development

by charliewilson | May 12, 2023

Practical Solutions Research and Development

Research, document and develop practical solutions to major challenges of our time including water shortages, loss of biodiversity, food production and strengthening local economies.

Research & document a case study over three years producing an annual report of solutions trials and results.

Funded with 31, 600 GBP through next steps

STATUS : ongoing

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Team

Aimee Fenech, Anton Oussik

Reporting Officer: Anton Oussik

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Area

Prototyping, Grassroots Permaculture Project, Next Steps Project

objectives 2023

Split budget across our four main themes following the seasons:

1. water shortages (spring/summer)

– optimizing irrigation practices
– maintenance/repairs to irrigation system
– documenting & optimizing water catchment systems already in place

2. strengthening local economy (all year)

– document, participate and promote local exchange practices
– collaborate with local initiatives including the seed-bank, permaculture initiatives

3. food production (spring to autumn)

– optimizing and document farm harvests from main crop, foraging and wild foods

4. biodiversity (quarterly)

– put in place scientific survey practices to document changing levels in biodiversity
– document creation and effects of micro climates through changes in water management

OUTCOMEs 2023

See the attached reports in Resources Created below.

objectives 2024

1. water shortages (spring/summer)

– optimizing irrigation practices
– maintenance/repairs to irrigation system
– documenting & optimizing water catchment systems already in place

2. strengthening local economy (all year)

– document participate and promote local exchange practices
– collaborate with local initiatives including the seed-bank, permaculture initiatives

3. food production (spring to autumn)

– optimizing and document farm harvests from main crop, foraging and wild foods

4. biodiversity (quarterly)

– document creation and effects of micro climates through changes in water management

– increase plant diversity by planting perennials in different parts of the land

Outcomes 2024

During the summer months we have repaired irrigation pipes across the olivar in collaboration with our neigbour this optimizes the watering during the dry months.

The water butts used for storing rain water from the spring was used for the bee friendly garden behind the house and was thriving all summer despite record temperatures.

We helped out a neighbor populate his new water deposit with fish because our non-human fed population is high.

We have opened our fig harvest to neighbors as are compost fed and rain watered tree produced a lot of surplus produce.

We have started a collaboration agreement with our neighbour to run an olive pruning course in Q4 and offer it to residents at a discounted price – more on this in the next quarter.

We have renovated a store room installing electricity and laying tiles which can now be used as extra accommodation for students or volunteer who visit the farm. It still needs to be painted and new doors and windows which hopefully will be completed in Q4.

We have spent all our budget for this year and will be billing now are releasing the yearly report in the next quarter.

December 2024 update:

We have completed the cutting down of overgrowth weeds to create a layer of organic matter to keep the soil moist and covered but without competing for water.

In Q4 we had meetings with the neighbour about hosting an olive pruning course, this will likely be delivered next year. We have started work on the olive tree pruning and maintenance which is done by hand saws and a rechargable hand held eleectric saw. This exercise is likely to continue until end of January. The cut off prunings (young shoots) will be given to the neighbour to feed his goats. The bigger wood will be dried for firewood.

Unfortunately the olive harvest failed, this triggered a collaboration with a friend who has an olive grove in Italy mirroring our methods of cultivation and we have managed to supply our clients through this agreement. We also started the orange harvest and finished the fig harvest which was a long one this year.

On the land we have seen some boar damage but luckily not on the irrigation pipes.

The solar panels grant has been approved but we are still waiting for the Ayuntamiento (Local Council) to release the permits for the work in order to proceed with the installation.

resources created

Finca Verde Report Year 1 Quarter 1

Finca Verde Report Year 1 Quarter 2

Finca Verde Report Year 1 Quarter 3

Finca Verde Report Year 1 Quarter 4

contact links

info@fincaverderegen.com

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Inclusive Organisational Technology Research

by charliewilson | May 12, 2023

Inclusive Organisational Technology Research

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 : ongoing

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Team

Research: Aimee Fenech, Meyi Lekuona

Consultant: Andy Goldring

Reporting Officer: Aline VaMo

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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://www.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 “Research and Design in Inclusive Organizational Technology” (IOT) 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 IOT 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.