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  • From: "Marsha Hanzi" <hanzibra@svn.com.br>
  • To: "permaculture" <permaculture@franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: research on pc projects needed
  • Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2001 12:25:46 -0300

Title: Re: research on pc projects needed
From a "third-world" perspective I would like to confirm ALL that was written here.  Countries which lack cash and machines ( and are therefore " third-world") often have excellent human resources and creativity  , with local projects well under way which may not use the name "Permaculture"  but  do much of the same thing.
 
Although agreeing that Permaculture promises a lot more than one sees on the ground, I would like to contribute to this discussion suggesting ( and this is our strategy here in Brazil, and I am repeating what I said in another thread) that one of the major functions of permaculture  is its multi-disciplinary vision, it has an organized overview which ofen lacks in specific local projects.  Besides teaching people to have this overview, I think that one of our major functions in international aid is in networking, locating what already exists and linking that up, locally and internationally.  Of course that is impossible in a two-week or a two-month visit, and it is CERTAINLY impossible if you don´t speak the language.  Permaculture pioneered ( or lifted from other sources?) a lot of techniques, but it is no longer unique in this, and I think in many cases was left behind by oither institutions and projects which have developed certain areas much better than we ( alternative technology, ecological agriculture, alternative housing, etc.)even in apparently poor countries. There is a lot of arrogance in the movement, because the course makes us feel omnipotent ( I know-- I was there!!!)  Reminds me of a PC teacher who came here and, in the year 2000, said that " Bill Mollison had appointed him to make a Permaculture network in Brazil(of course with him having the power to decide who would be part of that network..)"  when a  local network was already in place and vibrant since 1993 (  won´t name names here...)
 
I am particlarly interested in the ramifications of the New Paradigm ( also another thread being repeated here)and how that reflects in new structures. In its holistic, multi-disciplinary  systemic approach, Permaculture is one of the best tools I know of for helping people and institutions move into New Paradigm thinking   and acting .  In this I think we can help the aid agencies who are vaguely fumbling in this direction-- so the suggestion below of frequenting Australian aid agencies before going overseas is most interesting-- and the best transformation for the Third World could be from there, by transforming the vision within the agencies...(It is unfortunate that Lisa Mollison is trying to pull Permaculture back into Old Paradigm structures ( control, hierarquies, fear , fragmentation etc.)If she were to succeed ( but she won´t!), we would have to change the name of what we do, because Old Paradigm Permaculture is an oxymoron...)
 
In a practical vein, tropical Permaculture is extremely well anchored here in Brazil, and we are dedicated to training these young idealistic people who would like to do this kind of work(and also others in other regions of Brazil).  They can have real-life experience in alternative communitites and in other  projects in places which will not be harmed by their lack of experience( and lack of the language).  The results until now have been most positive, as we have been able to fill in that first serious gap between new knowledge and hands-on experience in a Third World situation ( although I personally don´t think Brazil is third-world-- it is just being thoroughly robbed by its own government and by trans-national corporations).
 
As to documentation, I would ask what do we actually document in Permaculture?  The number of gardens built?  The number of ecovillas constructed?  What is there to measure, exactly?  How do you measure a design system? I think we can measure parts of what is included in Permaculture ( kilos of carrots etc.)but how can we measure that leap when people begin to have a holistic view and discover that they are powerful ( one of the biggest contributions)?  I DO think we can measure them somehow, and am most interested in seeing the form used , as suggested below. 
 
For those who are interested, our drylands polyculture program is full steam ahead and being documented, comparing results to  neighboring fields.  That is one sort of documentation of the agricultural model as recommended by Permaculture which we can offer to aid agencies,( in another six month´s time)..And as we are also going into depths with the farmers about other aspects of the rural property ( water catchment,   budgeting, etc.) the project is taking on more and more the profile of a Permaculture project( whole-farm planning) and not just an agroecological one...
 
So I would suggest that the function of foreign teachers coming in as part of an aid program could be to help  already-exisitng local programs take the next step, adding new insights-- for example   a workshop on alterntive money systems is  very powerful! -- as that would be a contribution which continues when the teacher leaves.  But again , it is my experience that if the teacher does not speak the language, he/she is terribly dislocated, has difficulties in penetrating the actual situation and making a real contribution.
 
In the end, why travel? After all, each of these countries has its own slums, its own collapsed farms, its own third world embedded in apparent affluence.  ( My sister was director of a program  which collected food for the hungry-- in the rich United Sates! I Was absolutely shocked when she sent me the statistics of the extent of this hunger...)The inspired young people could travel in instead of out... But-- needing adventure-- Brazil is at their disposition!
 
Marsha
Instituto de Permacultura da Bahia
Brazil
 
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, April 23, 2001 9:32 AM
Subject: Re: research on pc projects needed

Hi Rick + Naomi...
Must be some parallel thought going on here!

You wrote:
We work with an aid agency on sustainable permaculture aid projects. One of
the issues that came up at our last meeting was the lack of documentation
and research into the effectiveness of permaculture techniques.

I think this attitude may be more common among aid agencies than we think. Over years of work with an agency, I have come across a skepticism regarding the effectiveness of permaculture as a tool in aid. I know that. a few years back, an agricultural adviser with AusAID (the Australian government's aid funding body) publicly ridiculed permaculture at an aid organisation meeting. He said "Permaculture is not a suitable technolology for overseas development" and likened it to Farming Systems Research of the 1970s.

Were there the documentation you mention, then answering critics would be simplified.

Rick and Noami write:

Many case studies are documented in the various global permaculture
publications and in the International Permaculture Conference Proceedings
papers. However we do agree that there is a broad lack of research and
quantitative data reports on such projects.

Articles in the permaculture press are valuable as descriptive journalistic pieces. They are generally not, however, analytical articles which ask questions about processes and outcomes. They therefore lack that hard, enquiring edge which is needed to make a realistic assessment of things and which is needed to effectively answer critics. In fact, a great deal of permaculture writing is self-congratulatory, fails to address negatives (how else can we learn?) and make comparisons. This feels good in the short term but takes us nowhere over the longer term.

At the risk of being accused of negativity to permaculture development aid, may I make a few observations based on experience in permaculture since 1984 and in overseas aid since 1995?

1) There is no funding that I know of to successfully carry out in-depth monitoring and evaluation visits of permaculture development aid projects. This is one of the reasons that hard data is difficult to find.

2) Much permaculture aid is short-term stuff rather than the long-term which is so critical to training local people to take over the management of projects and to ensuring their sustainability (as much as that is ever possible). Little thought is given to making projects sustainable.

3) There exists a 'workshop' mentality with permaculture aid. That is, it is believed that by conducting a workshop or two, what is taught will continue to be implemented. Our experience in the South Pacific indicates that this is untrue.

There's an interesting story about an Australian permaculture team that went to PNG for a project. As I received the story, they went to Port Moresby markets and demonstrated a solar cooker. Locals, interested in the seemingly useful contrivance, asked why they hadn't seen such a device before. Well, maybe they hadn't, but the organisation seemed to be suggesting that small scale appropriate technology such as the cooker was new to PNG. In fact, a little research would have disclosed the existence of appropriate technology in the country since the late 1970s.  Anyone who visits the UniTech campus in Lae, on the PNG north coast, can visit the Appropraite Technology and Community Development Institute, spend time in their excellent library, buy there publications - including the excellent manual on appropriate technology and small scale village agricultural development, the Lik Lik Buk (a must for rural development workers) visit the technology workshop next door and see the buildings they designed. And why have solar cookers not taken off? Maybe it has something to do with the extent of wet season cloud cover, the cost  and simply finding the materials to make a solar cooker from.

4) Generally, a Permaculture design Course, without any follow-up study or prior experience, is an inadequate qualification for working in overseas aid.

While working for an aid agency in Sydney, I don't know how many  times young hopefuls - really well intentioned people - walked into the office and asked to be deployed to one of our aid projects in Melanesia. When asked about experience and studies, all they had was a design certificate. Usually, they had just completed one and, fired up and enthused,  were consequently ready to put it into action (called by some the 'permaculture eureka' effect).

The design course is all too often an information-shovelling effort where a knowledgeable teacher downloads content into the heads of students. Actual skills development is another matter. The students I saw had no skills in, or even knowledge about, techniques commonly used by development field staff and which we use in Melanesia - Participatory Rural Appraisal, Participatory Technology Development, community food security assessment. Nor did they commonly have any knowledge of project management.

5) In general, monitoring and evaluation of permaculture projects, even in developed countries, is lacking. There seems to be little mention of it in permaculture design courses and little application of it as part of the overall permaculture project management cycle.  Yet, without a realistic assessment of our work, how do we learn? How do we improve? One of the notions we adopted for our work in the Pacific was that of 'continual improvement' based on monitoring and adjustment - through formal analysis, participant questioning and informal discussion - and, at suitable intervals when funding allowed, through evaluation of the program to date.

6) Permaculture has to move beyond the herb spirals and banana circles mentality to create a niche in the aid industry where it works from its strong points. To do this, permaculture has to shed its aversion to self-reflection, its dislike of the consideration of negatives and the defensiveness of some of its adherents. It needs to become self-critical. It must also shed the damaging
'permaculture missionary' attitude of some of its more enthusiastic proponents which can be e real turn-off to development professionals.

7) Permaculture needs to leave emergency and humanitarian intervention to the agencies streamlined to provide this - the Australian Defence Force and the emergency agencies such as Medicine Without Frontiers, Red Cross/ Crescent, World Vision and so on. Permaculture is at home in the development phase following an emergency when infrastructure is being rebuilt, not in the emergency response phase for which it has little experience, no Australia-based or in-country back-up (including an administrative and communications component), little knowledge about field security in conflict situations, little financial back-up and little experience working with those whose melieu in this area.

This is not to say that permaculturists should not participate in a broader team in emergency/ humanitarian aid.

Rick +Noami write:

Does anyone on this list know of any formal research into the effectiveness
of permaculture strategies, or documentation of projects that could add to
our current knowledge?

We applied for and received funding from an agency research body to produce an evaluation - a documentation - of our program in the South Pacific and to produce some training manuals suitable for use by Melanesian field staff. These latter include a manual about basic introductory agricultural techniques for people using slash and burn farming (includes mulching, soils etc).

Rather than produce the research (carried out through the 'action research' methodology) in conventional data-heavy format, we wanted it in a form understandable by Melanesian aid workers as well as by people in developed countries. Consequently, we are producing it as a narrative, in everyday English... more as a journalistic document but heavy laden with factual stuff. All these products are nearing final draft and will most likely be made available free as PDF format printable documents from a website planned for the program.

Rick + Noami write:

We believe (with a passion) that permaculture systems work if well designed
and considered, it would be great to have more documented evidence of this.

Absoloutely! Permaculture provides that broad appreciation of a situation.

May I recommend that permaculture people interested in overseas aid:

- volunteer in Australia or wherever they live with a suitable non-government aid organisation to gain understanding of how aid and its agencies operate and to build up some experience in project management

- enroll in one of the permaculture advanced courses for aid workers - Permaculture Education at Nimbin and the Seed Savers Network at Byron Bay offer courses - maybe Rick + Naomi do too?

- learn participatory techniques for working with communities

- if your interest is agriculture, then learn about human nutrition and health. water supply and irrigation and sanitation as well as developing practical food gardening skills in your garden or in a community garden

- read books such as:

a) STRIKING A BLANCE - a guide to enhancing the effectiveness of non-government organisations in international development (Fowler A, 1997; Earthscan; London)

b) A BASIC GUIDE FOR DEVELOPMENT WORKERS (1995, Rubin F; Oxfam; UK)

c) CHOOSING RESEARCH METHODS (1992, Pratt B, Loizos P: Oxfam; UK)

d) BASIC ACCOUNTING FOR SMALL GROUPS (1992, Cammack J; Oxfam; UK)

e) GARDENING FOR BETTER NUTRITION (1978, Pacey A; Internediate Technology Publications; London)

f) GETTING READY - a guide for international NGO, permaculture and community development workers (1998: Permaculture and Development Team; Sydney, Australia) - from Action for World Development: awdev@ozemail.com.au

g) BRIDGING THE GAP -  a guide to monitoring and evaluating development projects (Broughton B, Hampshire J; Australian Council for Overseas Aid; Canberra, ACT)

h) TWO EARS OF CORN - a guide to people-centred agricultural development (Bunch R, 1982; World Neighbours; Oklahoma, USA)

i) PARTICIPATORY LEARNING AND ACTION - a trainer's guide (Pretty N et al, 1995; International Institute for Environment and Development; London)

j) DEVELOPING TECHNOLOGY WITH FARMERS - a trainer's guide for participatory learning (1997, van Veldhuizen et al; Zed Books; London)
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