Get
a diploma in applied Permaculture design
The
Diploma formally recognizes and accredits a persons permaculture
practice.
The
Diploma is not a taught course like a permaculture design course, it
is a scheme for supporting an extended period of self-directed
learning based around the
projects
and activities that you are involved in and that you set yourself.
You
plan and carry out your own course of self managed study, taking on
projects of your own choosing and carrying out the permaculture
design process with these projects.
You
document your work and put it together in a portfolio. This work is
assessed by diploma holders and accredited by the Permaculture
Association in one of the Baltic countries.
If
you want to extend your studies and your practical skills in
permaculture, you can apply to have this recognized and formally
certified by attaining a diploma in permaculture design from the
Baltic
Permaculture Network
in cooperation with the
Nordic
Institute of Permaculture.
After
your work is approved and you have delivered your final diploma
presentation, you will be awarded a Diploma in applied Permaculture
Design.
The
process for attaining a Diploma in Permaculture design is based on
self-managed planning and learning. The amount of time you need to
work to earn your diploma varies, but a minimum of 2 years of work
after you have received your PDC certificate is needed to apply for a
diploma with 10 documented projects.
Below
are guidelines for the process and the different categories / areas
from which you can choose to focus your diploma work. The guidelines
are
intended
to provide inspiration and framework for the diploma work but they
are flexible and the process is open to alternative methods and
content.
Background
As
a Diploma holder you are responsible for ensuring that the concept
and practice of Permaculture remains intact and continues to spread.
Your
knowledge should be up to date.
The
diploma is first and foremost a kind of license the Baltic
Permaculture Network gives to formally confirm that the diploma
holder can:
– Be
a representative for the Permaculture movement to the public on their
own
– Provide
quality assurance of PDC courses held, and arrange PDC & other
Permaculture courses on their own
– Is
recognised as a high level source in Permaculture matters.
– Provide
quality assurance for projects, and conduct professional design
consulting on their own
– Will
be Tutor for time (2 new Diploma Students) after the Diploma
Therefore,
as a part of the requirements to receive a diploma you have to
demonstrate a thorough understanding of the Permaculture ethics,
principles, and methods, and that you can convey them; that you have
produced a comprehensive portfolio of 10 designs and that your
designs reflect your understanding. The portfolio should be as
diverse as you are. 2 out of the 10 designs should cover the field
you would like to work in after you are awarded. And 1 out of 10 has
to be a site design. The diploma is awarded to individuals, not
places or projects.
Geographical
context
The
main focus area of the diploma system is to build an advanced
practice and understanding of permaculture in a Baltic context.
If
possible, one out of the ten designs should be in a different climate
zone. For so small countries like the Baltics: The seaside is already
different from the interior.
Diploma
Categories
The
diploma categories below show the various areas of design you can
include in your diploma portfolio. You can choose to do your work in
multiple categories, and each design included in your diploma
portfolio, may belong to one or more categories. The Sector you would
like to work in after you are awarded with the Diploma should be
covered with at least 2 designs.
- Site Design. (Stand-alone design project)Project design / Professional design consulting. At least one out of your 10 Diploma projects has to be a site design.
- Site Development.Several designs, implemented on the same site and evaluated over a longer period of time.
- Education and/or Training.Design for and work with Permaculture training and education.
- Administration.Design of, and work with, organizational and management practices in line with the Permaculture ethics.
- Architecture.Project design / Professional design consultancy in architecture using Permaculture practices and in line with Permaculture ethics.
- System establishment and implementation.Design, establishment and evaluation of systems and methods that are instrumental to Permaculture design and implementation.
- Trusteeship.Design, establishment and maintenance of legal structures for the conservation of land ownership for Permaculture purposes.
- Community development or Social development.Design, establishment and maintenance of ecovillages, permaculture in local communities or communal farms, within a bio-regional context.
- Research.Creation of new research that significantly contributes to the development of Permaculture.
- Finance or Economy.Design, establishment and maintenance of economical systems, which can be a real alternative to the conventional financial system. Alternative currency.
- Media and Communications.Design and work in mediation and dissemination of permaculture, which significantly contributed to raising public awareness of the permaculture community, practice and/or concept.
- Manufacturing (Tools).Design and preparation of relevant technology, manufacturing processes or tools that significantly contribute to the design and/or implementation of permaculture systems.
- Farming and farming systems.Design and implementation of farming systems, including ecosystem-based farming of annual vegetables, Regenerative farming, Carbon farming, Forest gardens, Agroforestry systems and Sustainable forestry using permaculture.
- Business.Design and establishment of new businesses and business models or adapting existing businesses in line with the permaculture ethics and tools.
- World.All other projects that do not fit into the previous categories.
The
Diploma process
1.
Registration
You
register as diploma student through the Permaculture association in
one of the Baltic countries. To become a diploma student you have to
have a PDC certificate approved by a Permaculture association and be
a member of the association in your country or in one of the Baltic
countries. At the time of registration you should also share your
reasons for getting a diploma, including why you choose to get a
diploma through the Baltic diploma system.
2.
Learning Pathway
We
recommend that you choose a tutor, choose the categories you wish to
work with, and that you make a plan or design for your diploma with
your tutor’s help, to get an overview of the pathway to receiving
your diploma: “learning pathway”. In order to become a diploma
holder, your diploma work must be reviewed and approved by a diploma
tutor that has been approved by the Baltic Permaculture Network. By
choosing a tutor and making a plan for your diploma work early in the
process, you can ensure that the work you do can be the basis for a
diploma.
3.
Be part of a diploma guild
We
also highly recommend that you seek out other diploma students to
create (or be included in the already formed) Diploma Guilds, where
you can get support and share ideas with others.
4.
Presentation on the website
We
also recommend that you present yourself and your work as a diploma
student on the Latvian Permaculture website and the website of the
Permaculture Association in your country. This is recommended to make
it easier for other diploma students to get in touch with you for
collaborations.
5.
Tutor and Guild meeting
In
the time you develop your 10 designs you have to participate at 4
Tutor and Guild meetings. These weekend gatherings will happen at
least twice a year at different location in the Baltic's.
6.
Review
After
at least two years of work, when you find that your 10 projects &
your diploma portfolio is completed, you can request for your work to
be assessed to see if your diploma portfolio meets the requirements
for a diploma in permaculture design. Your diploma tutor will approve
the diploma portfolio, and then a second diploma tutor will be
selected. Either you or your diploma tutor can propose the second
tutor. This tutor must be approved by the Baltic Permaculture
Network. The review carried out by the second tutor ensures that the
quality of the work lives up to a high standard. The second tutor may
be from a non-Baltic or Nordic country. The review time for both
Tutors have to be at least 3 months, so they have the chance to go
deeply in your work and documentation. If you would like to be
awarded in the same year, it has to be before the beginning of May
that you can present your work at the Latvian Permaculture Festival
witch is normally held in the second weekend of August.
7.
Publication
When
both tutors find your work to be complete, you send it to the Latvian
Permaculture Association, at least 1 month before the Latvian
Permaculture Festival (second Weekend in August) where you intend to
make your final diploma presentation. It will then be published on
the Latvian Permaculture website. Your Diploma work (10 projects)
will be published at the Diploma holder database.
8.
Presentation
The
final step before you can get a diploma is to present your diploma
work at the Latvian Permaculture Festival, which takes place once a
year, normally second Weekend in August. One or two out of these ten
projects has to be presented. Depending on the number of diploma
presentations at the Festival, you will receive at least 45 minutes
to present your work and a subsequent 15 minutes of questioning by
any diploma holder on place, and then by others present at the
meeting. If there are not too many diploma presentations, you can
have more time.
9.
Approval
The
final approval of the work is done at the Permaculture Festival
meeting by the diploma holders present, preferably by consensus and
by at least 2/3 majority.
10.
Diploma
Congratulations
! You got your Diploma in applied Permaculture Design.
What
will you get out of a diploma?
- You will demonstrate that you have a sufficient level of permaculture design skills, that you have an in-depth understanding of permaculture and that you can apply the ethics and design principles of permaculture to guide your choices in different contexts, from your design work to the way you live and work.
- You will be able to assess which design tools, among the various alternatives that best suit each individual design, thus creating design solutions that are holistic, effective, and adapted to the location and situation.
- You will be able to evaluate implemented permaculture designs based on the ethics and methods of permaculture. Permaculture is holistic and interdisciplinary and should permeate all the work on the design.
- You will be able to clearly convey your designs to others. You should be able to determine which forms of presentation and what documentation best meets the needs of customers and other stakeholders.
- You will be able to run Permaculture Workshops / Seminars and PDC courses to spread permaculture knowledge and know-how to the world .
Diploma
requirements and expected content
- Description and analysis.
The
diploma work is expected to contain a brief description of design. A
design can be done on paper or digitally and submitted in digitally
format. It can be a PDF, Word document, a film, a presentation, a
picture book, etc. Questions that should be answered are which
diploma categories it covers, the problems that were resolved with
the design, the design tools you used, and a reflection on your
design process. More guidelines for documentation and content in your
design work can be found under the heading “What does a design
entail?” found below.
- Evaluation based on the Permaculture ethics
- Evaluation of implemented design based on earth care.
Description
of designs should describe how they regenerate the four natural
resources of water, air, soil and energy, and the organization that
ensures the regeneration.
- Evaluation of implemented design based on people care.
Descriptions
of the designs, should contain information on how the design
contributes, and caters to, the care of people, both those directly
influenced by the design and other people on the planet.
- Evaluation of implemented design based on fair allocation of resources / fair share.
Description
of designs, should describe how they contribute to a fairer
allocation of resources / fair share.
Presentation
Requirements
Your
diploma work is presented in a design portfolio that you can choose
to do for instance as a written report or PowerPoint presentation (or
similar). Another possibility is to use video clips that showcase
your design work. Whether you make a written report or a movie, the
following materials should be included in your design portfolio:
Image
material and sources.
Attach
maps, drawings, photos, tables, and other relevant data that you have
used. What you include here depends a lot on the one or more design
categories / areas you choose to work with. It is important that your
inspirational and factual sources are reported regardless of whether
you made a film or a written work.
Describe
witch Permaculture Principles you have used and why. Explain as more
as better.
The
basic structure of the project documentations:
Use,
if possible, the following structure of each
Diploma project:
- Title
page / Cover
-
Picture (before & after)
-
Title of work
-
project number
-
period of time
-
Customer
-
Designer
-
Mentor
- Short
Summary
- present motivation, goals and result on half a page.
- has to catch the interest of the reader.
- Introduction,
Motivation, Goals
- 1-2 pages
- answer the following questions:
- motives / visions
- show goals
- Methods
and Resources
- description of workplace:- geographic location- climatic factors- terrain
- permaculture principles & elements used
- resources and plants used
- size depends on size of project
- Results
- before & after pictures
- description of implementation & of the results
- work journal
- size depends on size of project
- Conclusion
- on half to one page
- satisfaction with the project
- the good and the bad
- what would you do different?
- Bibliography
- summary of all cited resources
- Appendix
- maps and plans
- plant list, plants used for the project
- more pictures (documentation of the work progress)
Activities
and Engagement
If
you like you can describe all relevant activities you have been
engaged in during your diploma process and before: Courses you have
attended, permaculture meetings / festivals you participated in, if
you worked in the association in any way, events you’ve organized,
if you have been Voulunteering or worked at a permaculture site,
wrote articles or blogged about permaculture, etc. Include everything
you’ve done to spread permaculture and to broaden your own
perspective in permaculture.
Clear
and easy-to-read reporting.
It
is important that your design work is clearly presented, making the
results readily accessible for others to build on. Make sure that
your Tutors understand your documentation language.
What
does a design entail?
A
permaculture design describes a system that, based on the ethics of
permaculture, is more desirable than the present system. These
guidelines for design work in your diploma are pertinent but
flexible:
A
design should at least describe:
- which design process was used
- the current system and its shortcomings.
- resources or elements needed to implement the design.
- how the different elements of the design system relate and connect to each other and how resources are transferred in form and over time.
- what design tools and how the permaculture ethics were used.
But
a design is more efficient if it also describes:
- the choices you made in the process leading up to the final design.
- alternative possibilities and their consequences – pros and cons of the options.
- what interventions are to be performed, when, by who and by using what?
- the cost of implementing the design.
To
get a diploma, most of your design proposals should be implemented,
so it’s desirable that you also evaluate each design that you
implement by
- Comparing the result with the goals that you have set for the desired design system.
- Compare the design result with your establishment plan.
- Summary of the outcome of the evaluation, describing what you learned and how you have gained in knowledge and experience.
- Design a least one property, a farm, homestead, Balcony, piece of land, etc.
Timeline
Minimum
time between your PDC certificate and your Diploma presentation is 2
Years.
There
is no maximum time limit between your registration and your Diploma
but it is foreseeable that you will finish your Diploma after 4
years.
Should
it take a bit longer, new costs have to be discussed with the tutor
and his expenses has to be compensated.
Pricing
1.
|
Enrollment
and registration for the Diploma Pathway
|
10
€
|
2a
or
2b
|
supported
Course fee for the two-year course, 200, - € per year
supportive
Course fee for the two-year course, 300, - € per year
|
400
€
600
€
|
3.
|
Tutors/Guild
weekend at least 2 times a year: 4 x 25, - € for 2 years
|
100
€
|
4.
|
Selection
2. Tutor
|
100
€
|
5.
|
Print
out and hand over the diploma
|
15
€
|
The annual course fees in 2a or 2b depend on the country of origin and / or regular income.
You can find out more details when registering.
The costs for points 1 and 5 of the table go to the permaculture association in the respective
Baltic country of the registration of the graduate student.
Points two to four of the table go to the respective tutor.
The costs for the first year (260, - €) are due immediately upon registration.
These consist of: registration, course fee, and 2 tutor weekends.
It my be possible to pay these fees in installments, For this an exact examination is necessary and
can be discussed.
Refund policy
We
will not refund registration fees, or annual fees for years that have
been completed,
or
the current year.
We
will only refund payments for tutorials that have not taken place.
Diploma process
Contacts
(to find a Tutor)
Name |
Mobile |
Mail |
extra |
Thomas Krüger |
+37126406687 |
ThomasKrueger333@gmx.de |
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