Impact and Evaluation Support for Community-Based Permaculture Projects

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.

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

resources created

contact links

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Practical Solutions Research and Development

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.

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

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Inclusive Organisational Technology Research

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.

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

 

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Digital Products Research and Development

Digital Products Research and Development

Research and development of digital products for the colab and allied networks.

Team

Aimee Fenech, Ewan Findley

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

resources created

contact links

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