permaculture

[Skye <skye@tortuga.com>]

Permaculture Design Course with an emphasis in Community Development

August 28 to Sept 11. San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico

This is a two-week, residential Permaculture Design Certificate Course
(certified by the Instituto de Permacultura de Mexico AC), however the
emphasis of this course will be slightly different. 

The usual design component of a Permaculture Certificate Course (ie do a
design for a piece of private land) is largely irrelevant in this
situation. As the whole area is "ejidal" (held in common by all members
of the community - the "Tragedy of the Commons" is working beautifully
in Mexico). So, there is no private land to be deigned, there is only
the whole community.

The proposal is that the design component of this course strongly
emphasize whole community design, based on a mixture of processes from
PRA (Participatory Rural Appraisal), Community Research (Loka Institute,
USA) and "Development Planning for Real" (Neighborhood Initiatives
Foundation, UK). During this part of the course the participants will
develop, trial and evaluate participatory processes within the context
of their communities. Using these processes, they will develop a
community-wide, and community-supported design, and plan of action. 

In addition to a Permaculture Design Certificate, participants will have
the opportunity to experience the reality of rural life in the arid
areas of Mexico. This is a special opportunity to work with the rural
people of this region, and to get to know the hardships and problems
they face. Be warned, this experience could radically change your
perceptions of how things really are, for most of the people on this
planet.

For further information, contact Gina Bisaillon,  
palodulz@mpsnet.com.mx

-- 
Skye - Apdo # 391,  Patzcuaro, Michoacan, CP. 61600 México. 
fax  (52) 01 (434) 24743
http//www.ciceana.org.mx/permacultura
Profesor y diseñador en Permacultura
Director del Instituto de Permacultura de México A.C.
Talleres de desarrollo humano, planeación participativa y 
economía comunitaria.