IPEN really became active in the first half of 2017, and has so far:

  • Undertaken a first global survey of permaculture teachers to establish needs, gaps and priorities, across different languages and cultures – Summary Results of IPEN's Survey here;

  • Produced a selection of Case Studies on successful projects with high positive impacts in regeneration, agroeclogy and permaculture with more steadily being produced with the aim of having 20+ case studies and good practice covering key areas of permaculture education and demonstration by Spring 2019

  • Been adopted as the Education Working Group for EuPN, the European Permaculture Network (EuPN: Europe's network of national and regional permaculture associations and organisations) - the emergence of EuPN followed on from the very successful European Permaculture Teachers partnership project, an excellent example of international education collaboration

  • IPEN is partnering a) with other EuPN members to seek funding to start a European Regenerative Leadership Programme in 2019 to support permaculture pioneers and leaders in Europe including its young pioneers; b) with Ecolise members to seek funding for a collaborative platform and programme for community led learning on sustainability and climate action. 

  • Developed plans to identify, promote and support iLAND Centres as permaculture learning & demonstration projects engaged in significant education activity (particularly in countries where English is not the first language) including developing an initial iLAND Working Group - see iLAND Centre pages here
  • Developed a Phase 1 project plan to address priority needs and gaps in permaculture education identified by the survey;

  • Built an initial contacts database, which is steadily growing;

  • Delivered funded tasks within the Information for Action on Climate Change project, coordinated by PIRN (Permaculture International Research Network) including plans for piloting Climate Action Training;

  • Is collaborating with Ethical Consumer Research to seek to develop Ethical Lifestyle Training in 2019;

  • Secured £13,500 funding (from Ecoforest Garden Trust), 50% of this will directly support demonstration permaculture projects (iLAND Centres); IPEN was also selected as a winner in the Young Project category for the 2018 Lush Spring Prize (£20,000)

  • Helped plan and organise a 1/2 day Permaculture & International Development taster event on 18th April 2018 (in London), and supported a new Permaculture for Development Workers course delivered in September 2018, led by Chris Evans and Gisele Henriques;

  • Participated in the formation of ‘Permaculture CoLab’ with IPEN's website needs providing a pilot project for effective international collaborative working within the CoLab structure, with the design and development IPEN's new website in 2019 being a first pilot project for CoLab's Digital Circle to establish effective ways of working that benefit the global permaculture movement;

  • Presented a session on IPEN to engage input from a wide audience and contributed to related sessions at IPC2017 India - see ipen_ipc_2017_presentation.pdf - and participated very actively in the 2018 European Permaculture Convergence and Australian Permaculture Convergence

  • Identified a range of funding opportunities for support of a) IPEN core activities, and b) collaborative projects with partners.

Planned or potential future activities include the following:

  • Create a strong and diverse global IPEN core team with a large active network of contributors (i.e. through Working Groups) and supporters.

  • Build and maintain an interactive online platform for permaculture educators and learners (aiming to launch in 2018/19).

  • Translate, adapt and create teaching resources across languages for the majority world, including core curriculum guides for existing courses and new courses - IPEN is working as part of Colab to develop a permaculture translation network.

  • Help to establish international Diploma and Teacher Training systems for those countries where no Diploma or Teacher Training system exists, to complement and learn from countries with well-established Diploma and Teacher Training systems.

  • Promote and support best practice models for post-course/ PDC follow-up and develop ways to monitor and improve the effectiveness of permaculture education.

  • Support the formation of independent teachers’ guilds.

  • Determine and agree an appropriate long-term structure and legal status for IPEN in 2019.

IPEN's initial work plan for 2018/19 can be seen here

ipen_ipc_2017_presentation.pdf