permaculture

[Marsha Hanzi <mhanzi@yahoo.com>]

Our Permaculture Institute was founded in 1992, after a course with Max Lindegger and Lea Harrison.  Inspired by the ethics, for ten years we scraped along , self-funding with courses and consultancies.  I always resisted getting into the NGO hangup of having to cover salaries, etc, as I saw so many who lost sight of the objective while trying to raise funds just to keep going... But we never got anywhere as an institution, although more than 600 people have done full two-week courses with us, which I suppose is a good track record.

Three years ago we started the dryland polyculture program, which, ironically, was powered by my husband, ( who until then had not really gotten involved in my work) because he works with castor, which does very well in this model.  He got money from the firm to pay the first extensionist.  Soon after a student/colleague of mine with administrative skills took on the task to create infrastructure for the  Institute, with all the headaches that implies ( office, secretary, etc.)  If we had not had this kind of infrastructure,  the present scale of the polyculture project would be impossible ( some 500 families till now, but promising to grow into a nationwide program-our team will be in Brasilia next week for the third time to talk to the ministry of agricultural development and other agencies). 

Until now we have had funding from  a  private foundation which works for food security, the castor industry, and the ministry of environment, i.e. reasonably ethical sources (unless you would dismiss offhand government, industry etc.) At the moment the Brazilian petrol company is interested in contracting for Permaculture courses through their environment office ( powered by a friend, once president of the Institute). This is petrol, but  not multinational.

So we have managed to push forward a large project without having to take greenwash money. however, it is HARD WORK to keep this scale a project going- foundations give money for one or two years only, so it is a constant hassle to keep the funds coming in. I am relieved and grateful that someone has taken on the task and it wasn´t me...

So I think there is a decision to be taken here, about scale.  Small-scale, individual, backyad and community projects can carry on with local funding.  But if you want to grow- or start to grow- you have to get into another scale of funding.  But there are a number of ethical foundations around, mostly bequeathed by rich people. So one is not necessarily automatically condemned to get into the ethical conflict. (One of the best sources of funding here, for example, comes from the European protestant churches.)

I am happier and more satisfied with my work now, because it is actully in a position to make a significant contribution to the Brazilian agricultural model, at least in the drylands- our reason to get into Permaculture in the first place.

Marsha Hanzi

Instituto de Permacultura da Bahia

www.permacultura-org.br

 

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