The answer – lots! It’s been a busy few months with some great projects being worked on behind the scenes that you’ll hear about very soon. We also said goodbye to Dylan, our previous staff member, and several of our 2018/2019 Directors. A *huge* thank you all for your fabulous work over the last year or so.
And with goodbyes, that means we have also welcomed some new faces including two new Board of Directors being voted in at the AGM – welcome to Ian Lillington and Kym Blechynden… Read more
NOW THAT YOU have done your permaculture design course, you might consider practicing your permaculture through permaculture’s own media.
Permaculture Australia (PA), Australia’s national permaculture association that manages the Permafund grants program and Accredited Permaculture Training, is now looking for people to join its communications team. The team implements PA’s third action — networking permaculture people across the country.
Our media is the means by which we get the permaculture message out to the world. Online is often the first place people seek out information about permaculture and its organisations like Permaculture Australia.
Practice your skills
We are looking for people who have or are willing to be mentored in these skills:
writing blogs about permaculture including covering events, permaculture people and ideas
making photos for publication on PA’s website and social media, including video if you have that skill
willing to use their existing, or to learn, website support skills using WordPress software
networking PA information on its blog and social media (Facebook/Twitter/Pinterest/Instagram) including the accredited training, Permafund, International Permaculture Day and other topics
producing and distributing PA media releases
assisting members promote their courses, goods and services on the PA website and through social media.
Our needs
Permaculture Australia’s is a collaborative team interested in people who can:
work cooperatively in a team environment in which dialog and discussion lead to decision making…
be relied upon to do the tasks they volunteer to do
be relied upon to participate in monthly Skype meetings
be guided by the permaculture design system’s three ethics.
The commitment is not great, however reliability in attending regular online meetings and carrying out your tasks are. The role is for those with a level of commitment to permaculture and its evolution.
Interested in this opportunity to help make permaculture better?
Complete the form below to register your interest or email us at hello@permacultureaustralia.org.au
No Fields Found.
Report compiled by John McKenzie, PA director, December 2014
News from the Directors
The 2014 AGM for PA was in August when new directors were elected.
Meet PA Directors:
Taj Scicluna (Melbourne)
Annaliese Hordern (Nimbin)
Morag Gamble (Crystal Waters)
Guy Stewart (Nimbin)
John McKenzie (Melbourne).
Departing are Drew Barr (Melbourne) and John Champagne (Bega). Drew and John both did a huge amount and are greatly missed but fortunately both are continuing in their committees, Drew on Accredited Permaculture Training (APT) and John on PermaFund, so they’re still deeply involved.
Interested in being involved with PA?
Anyone interested to be involved either at Board or on committees is welcome to contact the secretary — Taj on 0450 375 528
[button_link url=”http://permacultureaustralia.org.au/about-us/2014-2015-pa-directors/” target=”blank” style=”blue” title=”” class=”” id=”” onclick=””]Meet PA directors 2014-2015[/button_link]
PA Annual report 2013
The PA Annual Report for 2013 is available on the PA website. This is the first time a PA Annual Report has been available for public distribution and it’s another step on the journey of PA being more open and accountable.
[button_link url=”http://permacultureaustralia.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/PA-Annual-Report-2013.pdf” target=”blank” style=”blue” title=”” class=”” id=”” onclick=””]Download PA Annual Report 2013[/button_link]
presenting an update on PA’s journey of formation and to reference the discussions on this from the Cairns APC in 2010
holding the 2015 AGM for PA at APC12.
[hr]
PermaFund – Small Grants 2014
On International Permaculture Day the Permafund Committee notified seven community organisations that their request for a Permafund $1000 grant had been approved.
This year they were all international projects:
a small community nursery for bamboo production in Haiti, for AEE Haiti
support for a community training centre for rural skills in Cambodia, for Ockenden, Cambodia
resourcing a farmers & NGO network, in dryland Tamil Nadu, for FRSD in Madurai, India
an irrigation installation at a farmers training centre, for THREAD, in Orissa India
a food garden for an orphanage, for Umaja Orphanage, Kenya.
Two organisations had difficulty in arranging their bank account, a community garden program in Southern Mexico and a community gardening training program in a medical institute in Cuba. These were worthy projects and we’re still hoping they can resolve their issues and be able to receive this grant.
We would like to thank all who have donated to PermaFund in the past two years, their generosity has allowed PA to provide the small grants program and support permaculture initiiatives in some of the world’s poorest communities. We particularly thank:
Richard Telford
David Holmgren
Su Dennett
Caroline Smith and
Kerry Dawborn.
Permafund review — 2-4 January 2015 Hazelbrook NSW
Invitation and call for opinions. PA is holding an open meeting to review the fund’s progress and consider activities and direction for the coming year(s).
Our last gathering was in Katoomba in 2012 where the small grants program was initiated. Since then PA has distributed $11,000 in grants to 14 community projects in Australia and around the world.
This upcoming gathering in Hazelbrook will consider the impact and effectiveness of the small grants. We will hear from grant recipients, from PA members and from people active in permaculture and community development. The event is open and people are welcome to attend or submit an opinion for consideration. It will be a time for welcoming new ideas and involving new people. Cost for meals and accommodation is expected in the range $50-150 (Members) or $70-170 (non members) depending on venues. Payment will be on arrival but anyone thinking they may attend please lets us know ASAP to allow arrangements with venues.
APT training package and Agrifood Skills Australia
Agrifoods have commenced a project to include Permaculture qualifications in their Agriculture, Horticulture & Conservation (AHC) Training Package. This is the ‘scoping’ phase – describing jobs within the Permaculture sector and the associated skills and knowledge required, then mapping this to existing training packages to identify the gaps where new training components are needed. The development of the new components is expected to begin in early 2015.
To followup on APT issues contact Taj on 0450 375 528.
Networking with local permaculture groups around Australia
Networking permaculture groups and individual permaculture practitioners across Australia has been one of the roles of Permaculture Australia. Now, with Permaculture International Ltd having morphed into Permaculture Australia (PA), we’re getting serious about it. That’s why we’re sending you this, our first PA online newsletter. Along with our website and our association with Australia’s soon-to-be new permaculture magazine, PiP, we see the PA eNews as one of the main means of enacting networking opportunities Australia-wide.
Contributing to this eNews
So, here’s the idea. PA’s web services team are to pull together PA eNews on a regular basis. The actual frequency is still up for discussion but it could be every couple of months to start. All you need do is send us news, stories, photos and whatever you would like included leaving sufficient time to place it in the PA eNews under a proposed section ‘Local group’s news’.
Your material could be short commentary pieces that would fit the eNews format or it could be a couple of descriptive, introductory paragraphs linking to an article, photo, video or sound file on your own website. If you don’t have a website we can put it up as a blog post on the PA site. You can see that posting stuff in the PA eNews is a way to drive visitors to your website, your social media and to your organisation.
Here’s where to send your material, PA website support, Fiona Campbell: web@permacultureaustralia.org.au
Join us in compiling a new directory of Australia’s permaculture groups
People want to find permaculture organisations near where they live and, sometimes, further afield.
Would you let us know your group’s correct contact details if the address where this email has been received is incorrect?
You can pass that info to PA email support, Ian Lillington: hello@permacultureaustralia.org.au
Here’s to a productive and progressive 2014… the PA team
In this edition…
Permaculture Australia news:
PiP Magazine
Life membership for David Holmgren and Sue Dennett
New 2013-14 Board for PA
Permafund news
Permafund micro-grants now open for 2014
How to donate to Permafund and support awesome permaculture projects
Who is on the committee?
Other networking news
Accredited Permaculture Training news
re-acreditation
the committee
other education news
PA members courses and events listing
PA members directory listing
Networking event – the Australian City Farms & Community Gardens next national gathering in Hobart, 21-23 March 2014
[button_link url=”http://eepurl.com/LQmKf” target=”blank” style=”blue” title=”” class=”” id=”” onclick=””]View PA December 2013 eNews[/button_link]
You must be logged in to post a comment.