4 Facilitator’s Handbook for Permaculture Workshops
Who facilitates Permaculture workshops?
Ideally, qualified, hands-on Permaculture trainers: A
Permaculture trainer is usually someone with both practical
experience of Permaculture and specialized training in how to
teach the Permaculture Design Certificate course to others.
Such facilitators would be the most qualified to teach the
complete contents of a Permaculture workshop.It is equally important for them to have strong intercultural communication
skills and a good grasp of local community practices, to ensure that courses
are culturally appropriate and fully responsive to local needs.However, Permaculture is relatively new to Indonesia and few certified Permaculture
trainers meet these criteria and teach here on an ongoing basis; still fewer Indonesians
have had the opportunity to attend a Permaculture certification training course
overseas.Fortunately, there are many people throughout Indonesia who do have hands-on
experience in aspects of Permaculture and related approaches, such as grass root field
workers, extension agents, eco-facilitators, and other innovators. These people often
have a good knowledge of, and relationships with, the communities with whom they
work and live. Such people may be equally or even more successful in applying the
Permaculture workshop to facilitate community learning experiences. They are also in
a good position to empower course participants to create lasting, culturally appropriate
solutions to the complex social and ecological problems their communities are facing.Whatever your background, a vital aspect of facilitating an Permaculture workshop
is practical work and demonstration. During a Permaculture workshop participants will
be getting their hands dirty building practical demonstrations; they will be learning the
best practices by doing them. Therefore, as a Permaculture workshop facilitator
you need to be able to lead by example, both in the field as well as in a
classroom.If you know Permaculture techniques and want to share them with others, but still
have limited experience in teaching groups, take small steps to gradually build up your
capacity and confidence.Use the guidelines in Section 2 to organize a 1 hour introduction to Permaculture; then
move on to several short classes, a 1 or 2 day workshop, an in-depth 12-14 day course,
and beyond – perhaps in partnership with an experienced instructor whose knowledge
complements your own.