INTRODUCTION: Permaculture Workshops 37Further support can be offered in several forms:
- Seeds, planting materials, and tools.
- Breeding stock for animals.
- Small cash grants for project start-up capital.
- Transport assistance for compost materials.
- Books or training videos and other educational materials.
- Storage will need to be ascertained and/or developed.
- Encouraging work groups to advance home projects.
- Additional training.
- Positive local publicity for outstanding achievements.
- Awards for best community project.
Given such support, the most outstanding participants will create local models of
excellence that will encourage others to use Permaculture practices by example.
Remember, when people see it works it spreads.
Gardens and farms can be documented and used as references and demonstration sites
for future Permaculture workshops.
The most generative changes happen when participants begin training fellow community
members using their own working models. Special credit and encouragement should be
given to participants who choose to become teachers themselves.
Permaculture workshops become more effective each time they are run in a community.
As more community members put into practice what they have learned and more
demonstration sites are successfully implemented, it becomes increasingly easier to
prove to people what works and show the inter connectedness between various aspects
of sustainable design.
However, if no models appear or people lose interest, the facilitator and the supporting
organization should investigate where the problem lies, determine what went wrong,
and most importantly, how their methods can be improved