Thanks to generous donations and fund raising, Permaculture Australia’s 2025 Permafund grant round has been launched..
Considering the time and effort needed to write and submit an application, the closing date for applications has been extended to midnight AEST on 31 August 2025.
In the spirit of fair share, this year community organisations in Australia and the regions of Australasia, South-East Asia and the Pacific Islands are invited to apply for seed funding grants of AU$2,000 to support their environmental and permaculture education projects.
Applications for funding over AUD $2,000 will be considered and assessed on merit.
The 2025 Grant Application form and Grant Guidelines are available for download here.
Successful applicants will be notified at the end of October 2025. Applications received by 15 August and needing urgent response will be considered promptly.
Thanks to the generous donors to Permaculture Australia’s Permafund, our small grants program is ready to launch another round of grants. This time we are calling for applications from groups in Australasia, South-East Asia and the Pacific Islands.Â
A Sumatran Farmer teaching a PDC
We need your help to spread the word to any groups within the region, or any Permaculture teachers who may know of eligible groups amongst their past students. Please share this notice and our contact details with them.
We hope that by funding small projects we will help to build the capacity of Permaculture groups in our region while they do important work to improve the natural environment. By publicising the successful projects in our newsletter and social media, Permaculture Australia members and supporters will learn more about groups active in our region.
This work can include the provision of information or education, or the carrying on of research about the natural environment or a significant aspect of the natural environment as well as running on the ground projects which will improve the natural environment.
The Permafund grant program is only for projects that benefit or protect the natural environment, which includes regenerative agriculture and permaculture education.
Please read the 2025 Grant Guidelines carefully before deciding if your organisation is eligible to submit an application. To see the types of projects that have been funded in the past please look at articles on our website.
The 2025 Grant Application form and Grant Guidelines are available for download from the Permaculture Australia website as Word or Pdf documents here.
Story by Permafund’s Louise Learmont – by Farm Sahel in Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso is a land-locked country in Africa, one of the world’s poorest and least developed countries, ranking 134th of 137 according to the World Bank/UN Human Development Index. With just 3 months of rain per year, the Sahel region in the north is the driest, having suffered from deforestation and degradation over the last few decades. The region is also faced with terrorism.
For this project, 50 smallholder women farmers of Binde region were provided with composting and agroforestry training to plant 500 tangelo trees alongside annual crops. The main emphasis is the need to obtain a yield, enhance food security, generate income for participants and knowledge share with husbands and neighbouring communities.
Project Team Workers
5 hectares of land had been donated by the chief of the village for the project aiming to help restore this degraded land, improve and revitalise soil health and equip farmers to better face climate change.
Farm Sahel trainers & workers
A 2024 Permafund grant of $2,000 was used to purchase the 500 tangelo plants as well as have trainers oversee the project. Before planting the tangelo trees, the holes were dug and filled with compost the women farmers had made using organic matter from crop residues, kitchen scraps, dry leaves, cow manure and ash.
Due to unusually excessive rainfall at the end of 2024 the planting of the trees was delayed until April 2025 to ensure the success of the project.
Farm Sahel had already successfully installed solar powered water wells, so ongoing watering of the trees is possible. Also, women farmers have been trained to make their own biological pesticides using neem kernels, onion, chilli, garlic and neem oil, for use should the trees succumb to pests and diseases.
Adding compost to holes
Preparing to plant & water source
Men digging holes and women weeding
Alongside the tangelo trees, watermelons trail the ground, helping to reduce evaporation plus chilli and basil are grown alongside as insect repellent plants. In the future they would like to increase the biodiversity of the tangelo orchard by planting papaya trees. Food crops already being grown include cucumbers, onions, lettuce and cabbage.
Spacing trees in melon cover crop
Women ready to prepare holes for planting
Tangelo trees ready for planting
Carefully planting tangelo tree
This project has come about due to the dedication of the founding Executive Director Madjalia Seynou, winner of the World of Difference award by the International Alliance for Women.
Families involved in planting
Madjalia grew up in Burkina Faso and knows the difficulties young rural women of Burkina Faso face, growing up in remote regions in polygamous family communities. Madjalia, whose father was a teacher, was able to receive an education and furthering this by becoming an accountant and migrating to New Jersey. She speaks of her childhood remembering how her father would allow 19 students to live with them during weekdays to avoid walking the 5-6 km to school daily.
Through her leadership, FarmSahel has provided smallholder women farmers with the resources, training, and support needed to improve food security, increase income and lift their communities out of poverty; all whilst improving soil fertility, emphasising community-based participatory methods, addressing climate change and promoting regenerative agricultural practices.
The proceeds of fundraisers and donations to Permafund are gratefully received and so far have supported seed funding grants for 93 community projects in Australia and 16 other countries. Donations over $2.00 are tax deductible in Australia and can be made here.
In the spirit of fairshare, the 2025 Permafund grant round opening shortly will focus on applications from Australasia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands.
Mkulima Sasa, a Syntropic Agroforestry education and demonstration centre near Lake Victoria, Kenya, has significantly expanded its impact thanks to an AUD$2000 grant from Permafund. This funding facilitated the growth of demonstration farms, enhanced training programs and the installation of a rainwater harvesting system.
Key Achievements:
Enhanced Irrigation & Demonstration Plot: A new 30-metre plot, irrigated by the harvested rainwater, now showcases the power of syntropic agroforestry. It features 60 diverse trees (soursop, avocado, orange, pomegranate, grevillea, banana, palm) arranged in two lines, with a rich understory of vegetables (kales, cowpeas, African spider plants, sweet potatoes, cassava) and ground crops (sesame, groundnuts, vetiver grass).
Empowering Local Communities: Training sessions, including practical demonstrations, were conducted for diverse groups, including people with disabilities, youth, women, and men. Participants learned the principles of Syntropic Agroforestry Management.
Seed & Seedling Distribution: Mkulima Sasa provided trainees with seedlings and seeds, fostering a culture of exchange and enabling them to establish their own syntropic systems at home.
School Outreach: A 20-metre demonstration bed, featuring 40 trees and ground crops, was established at Mirando Junior School, engaging 20 students. Staff members were also trained to act as future instructors.
Growing Interest: The project has generated considerable interest, with increasing numbers of people visiting the demonstration farms, seeking information and requesting assistance in establishing their own systems.
Observations & Future Directions:
While the adoption of syntropic agriculture is currently far less than traditional monoculture practices, Mkulima Sasa remains optimistic about its future growth.
Strengthening security through improved fencing around the demonstration sites is a priority.
Ongoing mentorship and follow-up support for trainees are helpful for ensuring the long-term success of their syntropic systems.
Permafund thanks Andronico Otieno of the Mkulima Sasa Regenerative Agriculture for providing timely and comprehensive project updates.
Your donations make projects like this possible. Contributions to Permafund over $2 are tax deductible in Australia and can be made here. Thank you for your support.
Last year Permafund funded a project in Zanzibar, Tanzania that combined a permaculture course with a mangrove restoration project. The applicants, Up with Community, demonstrated a good understanding of the ecosystem services provided by mangroves (including erosion control, flora and fauna nurseries and climate change mitigation including blue carbon). Permafund liked the integrated learning approach that combined Permaculture principles with the restoration of the natural environment.
Mangroves are particularly vulnerable to human threats including pollution, tourism, aquaculture and agriculture. Although rates of mangrove destruction have slightly declined this century their destruction will probably be complete by the end of it. Up with Community have planted 1000 mangrove seedlings in a degraded area. We are now working with them to help them succeed and see what we can learn and apply elsewhere.
Any reforestation is a fraught process that often has a high failure rate. Reasons for this include a lack of addressing the cause of deforestation (e.g. climate change, salinity levels), failure to monitor and protect seedlings and saplings (eg herbivore predation) failure to monitor and protect mature trees (e.g. from firewood collection).
We view efforts to counter this depressing scenario as particularly worthy. But we only want to support approaches that work in the applicant’s location. Six months in we’ve found that their implementation of directly planting seedlings is showing an unusually high success rate – a reported 80% compared to 20% for usual long-term survival when hand planting is used.Â
As is typical we’ve surveyed the research around the applicant’s domain of interest.
The effectiveness of mangrove restoration varies wildly. Costs can range from $65 to $810,000 per hectare! Approaches can be active (e.g. hand planting, dropping propagules from drones or planes) or passive, such as digging channels to maximise settling of floating propagules (mangrove seeds). Finding appropriate technologies for things like site analysis can quickly become complex. Big, well-funded organisations deploy experts – geologists, ecologists and hydrologists to name a few.
Up with Community lacks these resources, so Permafund is in dialogue with them about the applicability of current research (especially passive restoration – see MANGROVE ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION in GUIDE: LESSONS LEARNED) and the advisability of partnering with existing mangrove initiatives in Tanzania.
One such initiative Permafund already checked out is Blue Carbon Tanzania. While their website showcases an all-African staff and brightly clad locals planting seedlings, it fails to mention its ownership by the UAE-based Blue Carbon, a company that has drawn significant criticism from environmentalists. So we won’t be recommending that one. As I mentioned, reforestation is fraught!
Permafund uses permaculture principles to holistically assess and evaluate the projects we fund, usually on a one-off basis. We track projects and collect lessons learned which are shared with others and added to the body of permaculture knowledge.
In the coming months, we will report on the progress of Up with Community, whether more passive and holistic approaches have been incorporated and if the overall effort resulted in a successful outcome.
Your donations to Permafund make community projects like this possible so thank you very much for your support. Contributions to Permafund over $2 are tax deductible in Australia and can be made here.
Domestic and sexual violence against women is a global scourge in every country and in places like Kenya, support networks can be difficult to find. Agatha Amani House is an NGO and Kenya’s first women and children’s safe house for those fleeing abuse. Their mission is to empower victims to heal from their trauma and help them become self-sufficient.
Permaculture is central to Agatha Amani House achieving that aim.
They were successful in applying for a $2000 grant from Permafund to present a 6-day workshop that included as a practical exercise, the beginnings of establishing a Food Forest. 18 participants were selected including 10 women from the shelter and 8 from the community.
Early preparation included getting local permaculture experts in to assess the site and come up with a spatial design. Soil samples taken revealed a lack of nitrogen, phosphorus and zinc with a low reading of organic matter. The main topics covered in the workshop included soil preparation, water harvesting and planting guilds.
This project was completed in 2023 and a more recent report outlining the ongoing progress of the Permaculture Farm was received.
Early learnings were the need for an increase in mulch materials to combat the severe dry periods for water retention and soil build-up. Also, small animals were included in the Food Forest system with their manure increasing the volume of compost that was able to be added.
The farm is not just a source of nutritious food, it embodies a sustainable healing space that helps women and children rebuild their lives, cultivating hope alongside the crops. The farm does more than nourish bodies….it nourishes souls.
At Agatha Amani House the wish is that the farm becomes a beacon of hope that spreads through Kenya and beyond. It’s another example of permaculture flourishing where the need is great.
Your donations to Permafund assist projects such as this and emphasise our 3rd Ethic of distributing surplus resources with a financial leg up to projects already operating and run by local people.
Permafund Grant Update Report from November 2024
Permafund Grant Update Report from December 2024
PROJECT STATUS UPDATE REPORT
PROJECT NAME: PERMACULTURE FOOD FOREST WORKSHOP & FOOD FOREST ESTABLISHMENT FOR AGATHA AMANI HOUSE-ABUSED WOMEN SHELTER-KENYA.
The project continues to progress and to yield day by day. For the last 2 months, we have been receiving a lot of rain and thus our vegetables and trees that we initially planted are blossoming well. Our farm officer together with the women hosted at Agatha Amani House has been taking care of the food forest; maintaining it, adding more plants and also being in charge of harvesting the yields. The food forest has been a great source of improved nutrition; vegetables and herbs for the hosted women and their children. It has also acted as a learning hub, as we have been using it for field visits. People visit to see the food forest and also to learn about permaculture. The workshop participants have reported great success on their farms too.
Before Establishment of GardenAfter Establishment of Garden
We have been selling the surplus vegetables to the neighbours and the nearby market. We normally make food baskets with all the varieties we have in the farm or sometimes we sell as per the customer’s orders.
Through the continued assessments done on the food forest, it has been noted that our farm; soil needs a lot of watering during the dry season, more than how we have been watering there before. This was noted through the planting of some red cabbage that took way more than the 3 months to mature. We are currently working on better watering schedules and water conservation activities in the farm.
For preservation of our surplus, we made this small solar drier. Preservation of our food forest produce is one of the central problems we have been facing as we would like to save the food for the dry seasons when food is scarce. Drying these products will help solve these problems, while also making an important contribution to improving the population’s income and supply situation.
Solar Drier made by the women of AGATHA AMANI HOUSE
Among the key learnings from the workshop, we have been very intense in practising what we learnt. The project has been keen on applying the principles of permaculture in the entire design and in both food forest phase I and phase II, Climate Change; Building resilience and mitigation, Water Harvesting and conservation, Soil Fertility Building and Care of Trees and seedlings among others.
Next Steps
There is a need for another workshop, as a follow-up on the previous one together with additional topics and activities such as the construction of a dam for water harvesting, more shed nets for the dry season plus Increased crops and trees including cover crops.
We also look forward to learning more on how to use the solar dryer and how to use and package the dried vegetables and fruits. This will also involve learning on how to do value addition to most of the products that we produce at our food forest. Hence making us more sustainable at the shelter.
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