Impact and Evaluation Support for Community-Based Permaculture Projects

by | 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

Team

Kate Swatridge, Aimee Fenech

Reporting Officer: Kate Swatridge

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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Practical Solutions Research and Development

by | 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

Team

Aimee Fenech, Anton Oussik

Reporting Officer: Anton Oussik

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

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Inclusive Organisational Technology Research

by | 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

Team

Research: Aimee Fenech, Meyi Lekuona

Consultant: Andy Goldring

Reporting Officer: Aline VaMo

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.

resources created

CoLab vision, mission and aims

Form sent to CoLab members about available tools

Results of survey about available tools

Results of survey about working/not working gaps

Results of survey on Miro board

Results of survey in PDF format

Simple new user guide for the CoLab

Case study of the work process of this team

A permaculture approach: What is inclusive organizational technology?

Creating Inclusive Digital Content

Inclusive Writing in Permaculture

How do others do it? – 4 case studies on self organizing entities

Videos to explain the use of inclusive digital organizational tools

Wired Differently: Neurodivergence Training Objective Report

contact links

contact@perma.earth

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Digital Products Research and Development

by | May 12, 2023

Digital Products Research and Development

Research and development of digital products for the colab and allied networks.
Funded with 12, 000 GBP through next steps
STATUS : ongoing

Team

Aimee Fenech, Anton Oussik, Dominik Jais

Reporting Officer: Aimee Fenech

Area

Prototyping, Next Steps Project

objectives 2023

1. Identify CoLab / wider needs using information already available in the network, convergences report, previous meetings etc.

2. Document & Publish research already available & additional findings in the research phase.

3. Prototype new offerings, including installation, training and onboarding.

OUTCOMEs 2023

Some Digital products R&D happens in and around other work tasks, as and when small pieces of research into tools (eg best choices, alternatives etc) comes up.  As such it can be tricky to track time accurately. Future larger pieces of more focused research will be simpler to track and log.

objectives 2024

1. Grow the open-source tools database through research and documentation.

2. Record and release demos for tools used within the CoLab.

3. Support exploration into ethical digital tools for self-organised teams.

Outcomes 2024

We have been working on increasing the data in our opensource tools database which can be found here: https://baserow.app.perma.earth/public/grid/rZ9jGD4PZEPpZHc5pBd3txQRbZ3XVA7is3iHqnTwdRM

People can contribute to the opensource tools database here: https://baserow.app.perma.earth/form/GAfk4jdzSjmEmO7NRoszF7PPhQ\\\_-5mDskj_EpXGO9aQ

We made a start at the research project for this year you can read about it here: https://cloud.perma.earth/f/715264

resources created

Open Source Tools Database

Submit an Open Source tool to be added to the database

Software Demos

Fixed Hours Task MOU template

Open Source Alternative to Slack research

contact links

digitalcircle@proton.me

https://thedigitalcircle.org/

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