Report on the 9th International Permaculture Conference and Convergence (IPC9)
Introduction
The International Permaculture Conference and Convergence (IPC) is a biennial global but grassroots gathering that has taken place in Africa this year for the very first time. The 9th IPC was a series of four events that took place in Southern Africa from the 18th of October to the 30th of November 2009 and were coordinated by the Rescope Programme from the warm heart of Africa, Malawi. IPC8 happened in Brazil in 2007 and IPC10 will take place in Jordan in 2011. The year in between the respective IPCs is left for regional convergences and conferences to take place. The four events that made up IPC9 were the International Permaculture Design Certificate (IPDC) course that took place in Zimbabwe in the last two weeks of October, the IPC9 Convergence that took place from the 2nd to the 5th of November in Malawi, the IPC9 Conference that was held on the 6th of November in Malawi and finally the IPC9 Site Tours that happened in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe in the last three weeks of November 2009. A brief report on each of the four events that made up IPC9 is given below with indications of where to get more information. Additional information is on the website www.ipcon.org.
IPC9 IPDC
The IPC9 International Permaculture Design Certificate course was hosted by Fambidzanai Permaculture Centre in Harare, Zimbabwe from the 18th to the 29th of October 2009. 37 participants from 19 countries attended the two week course that was taught by an international team comprising of Joel Glanzberg of the United States, John Nzira of South Africa and Kudzanai Lewis Mashingaidze of Zimbabwe. The course was a key part of the process to define a Permaculture Curriculum for Africa. Feedback from many of the participants contained glowing praise for the spirit at the course many of whose graduates went on to attend the Convergence and Conference in Malawi.
The graduation ceremony for the course was officiated by the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Management in the Government of Zimbabwe, Honourable Francis Nhema, who made an impassioned plea for a return to all things natural. A video of his inspirational closing speech is available from Fambidzanai Permaculture Centre and attempts will be made to get it onto the conference website. Further information about the IPC9 IPDC is available from the Director of Fambidzanai Permaculture Centre, P.O. Box CY 301, Causeway, Harare, Zimbabwe or email Kudzanai Lewis Mashingaidze at or .
IPC9 Convergence
The IPC9 Convergence took place from the 2nd to the 5th of November at Kumbali Lodge in Lilongwe, Malawi. 170 participants from all five continents converged in Lilongwe and spend the first two days of the Convergence learning from each other under the theme Designing solutions for a sustainable future. The sub themes were Plan Africa – Food and Empowerment, Education and Training; Green Economics, Health, Gender and Climatic Change.
The outcomes of the thematic discussions at the Convergence include the following:
v A commitment by many participants to take the Plan Africa initiative forward. Data collection for the initiative started at the Convergence and the main aim is to give the ecologically sustainable thrust in Africa a major push.
v The development of a curriculum for training in Permaculture in Africa. The development of the African Permaculture Institute received support and was felt to be overdue.
v The potential role of Permaculture as an effective tool for addressing many of the global challenges ranging from Climatic change to HIV and AIDS was highlighted in many of the deliberations
The third and fourth days were organised using open space technology to allow the participants to follow their energies to work on issues of their choice. The outcomes of these discussions will soon be available on the web site and the main proceedings of the convergence were made available to the participants on CD. Key people to contact about the open space deliberations are John Wilson at and Mada Siebert at . Wesly Roe and Margie Bushman are working to have the information from the convergence uploaded onto the web site. They can be reached on and respectively.
IPC9 Conference
The IPC9 Conference happened on Friday the 6th of November again at Kumbali in Lilongwe, Malawi. More than 300 participants attended the conference which brought together famers, government officials, teachers, children, extension and development workers among other stakeholders. The Permanent Secretary for Nutrition and HIV and AIDS in the Office of the President and Cabinet for Malawi, Dr. Mary Shawa officially opened the conference. In her speech, Dr. Shawa expressed support for Permaculture which she said was a useful tool for achieving human well being.
The speakers at the conference included Dr Terry Leah from Newcastle University in Australia, Nicholas Heinamann and John Nzira from South Africa and a drama performance on the promise of Permaculture capped the proceedings. An appearance by Bill Mollison live on the screen via satellite link was very special. Another highlight was the tree planting that the participants did at the Kumbali staff village. The conference also included a variety of informative displays put up by the participants who came from 35 countries.
IPC9 Site Tours
The tour started in Lilongwe on the 7th of November with 17 participants and ended in Harare, Zimbabwe on the 30th of November with 9 participants. Transport was by an overland truck owned and driven by Andy Kibby and some of the food was very ably prepared by Kingston Zimbiru. The following are the sites visited in their chronological order:
· The Green Home of Pastor and Mrs Joseph Chawawa in Mchenzi location, Lilongwe, Malawi. Visited in the morning of 7 November and guided by Mrs Chawawa. Impressive and inspiring. Email ; telephone +265 999 371 627.
· The Never Ending Food home of the Nordins in Chitedze, Lilongwe. Visited in the afternoon of November 7 and hosted by Stacia and Kristof Nordin. Very educative. www.NeverEndingFood.org;
· Luwawa Forest Lodge, 250 km north of Lilongwe. Visited in the afternoon of the 8th November. Hosted by George and James Wardlow. Lovely environment. www.luwawalodgemalawi.com;
· Karonga schools. Visited 3 of 24 schools in the morning of the 10th. Hosted by Dennis, Kenneth and Leiza, the schools visited were Mwaulambo, Malungo and Masoko primary schools. We saw very good work going on in the schools guided by fairly well motivated teachers. Further information phone +265 995 660 843 (Kenneth’s mobile number).
· Karonga museum. Visited in the afternoon of the 10th. Very interesting and informative. Hosted by Harrison Simfukwe. +265 888 861 014
· Chilala primary school, Chintheche area, Nkhata bay district. Visited in the morning of the 12th. Hosted by Caroline Wilkins. Small school but has done good work.
· Mua Mission, Lake shore road, Visited in the afternoon of the 13th. Very interesting Chewa, Ngoni and Yao culture museum
· Thanthwe, Monkey Bay, Mangochi District. Toured in the morning of the 14th. Hosted by June Walker. Very nice place.
· Mangochi Orphanage Education and Training (MOET), Mangochi district. Visited in the morning of the 14th and hosted by Patterson Majonanga. Wins the title of the most improved place.
· Sun and sand resort no till garden, Mangochi district. Visited in the afternoon of the 14th Hosted by Samuel Baruti. Good garden and camels. Contact June Walker.
· Pa Nthunzi garden, Blantyre. Visited on the 15th in the evening. Hosted by Chris Walker. Site for Rescope office. A great place to work at.
· Thunga and Nkaombe primary schools and Thunga Teacher Development Centre, Thylo district, Malawi. Visited in the morning of the 16th. Hosted by Chris Walker. Good work done including community outreach which was not visited.
· South Luangwa National Park, Eastern Province of Zambia. Visited in the afternoon of the 17th and morning of the 18th. Excellent views of Leopards, elephants, giraffe etc.
· Kasisi Agricultural Training Centre, Lusaka, Zambia. Visited on the afternoon of the 19th. Hosted by Bridget Oconnor and Doreen Mudenda. Permaculture production trial plot and lots of other work.
· Mr and Mrs Scott’s farm, Kafue, Zambia. Visited in the morning of the 20th. Hosted by Sebastian Scott and his wife. A newly developing farm.
· Mosi a tunya, Livingstone, Zambia and Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. Visited on the 21st and 22nd . Thee first of the two World Heritage Sites included on the tour. A wonderful site enjoyed by angels in flight.
· Africa Centre for Holistic Management, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. Visited on the 22nd in the afternoon. Hosted by Sunny Moyo and team. An inspiring place for grazing area management.
· Mr. and Mrs. Ngwenya’s homestead, Siphezini communal lands, just outside Bulawayo, Matabeleland South, Zimbabwe. Visited in the morning of the 24th. Hosted by Mr Ngwenya. An excellent collection of xerophytes. +263912129512.
· The Great Zimbabwe Monuments, Masvingo. Visited on the afternoon of the 24th. A historical wonder.
· Towards Sustainable Use of Resources Organization (TSURO), Chimanimani district, Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe. Visited on the 25th and 26th. Hosted by Ulli Westermann, Johannes Mufakose and Alias Mlambo. Great work in progress.
· Chikukwa Ecological Land Use Community Trust, Chimanimani district. Visited on the 26th and 27th. Hosted by Mai Idah, Baba va Mercy, Chester Chituwu and team. The most extensive Permaculture community visited. Very inspirational.
· Kufunda Village, Harare. Visited on the 28th and 29th. Hosted by Loraine, Allan and team. The best learning centre visited. Very inspiring. www.kufunda.org. ; jackie@kufunda,org;
· Fambidzanai Permaculture Centre, Mt Hampden, Harare. Visited in the afternoon of the 29th. Hosted by Monica. The place where it all began way back in 1988. ;
Photographs and video clips of the sites visited are available from the participants and some will be up loaded onto the web site. The site tour programme and list of participants are in a separate document attached. For further information about schools Permaculture programmes in eastern and southern Africa visit the website for the Rescope Programme: www.seedingschools.org.
IPC 10
Bids to host the 10th International Permaculture Conference and Convergence (IPC10) in 2011 were received from Cuba, Jordan and Nepal. The International Support Group facilitated a transparent process to select the host for IPC10 during the Convergence. The selection criteria were presented and several meetings were held. Nepal eventually withdrew their bid and in the end Jordan emerged as the host for IPC10 as the Cubans were not present to defend their quite popular bid. Congratulations to Jordan and better luck for 2011 for Cuba and Nepal.
Some learning points
- Permaculture in Africa is about putting food on the table. It is also about livelihoods and health and everything in between.
- Permaculture design in Africa has focused on water and a lot more needs to be done in this area for example by building more water harvesting tanks
- Design for local self sufficiency in energy is also important in the light of the deforestation that is going on across the continent.
- The future is here and it is in school now and one of the best things that we can do for the future is to equip the younger generations with land-use design skills and to empower them with an appropriate mind set.
- Africa is rich and has the potential to lead the world out of this mess. The barrier between Africa and prosperity is in the minds of its people. Education is therefore key in moving forward and the more home grown this can be the better. I believe that this scenario is also relevant to many other parts of the world.
Conclusions
IPC9 was a momentous occasion for Malawi, Africa, and indeed the world. The energy that ran through the events was amazing and to think that this was put together by volunteers operating on a zero budget until the last few weeks prior to the events was incredible. IPC9 was another lesson that showed us that anything is possible with determination and that small is not only beautiful but it can also be powerful. What matters are the inter connections between the small elements and you have a resilient system. The Conference and Convergence gave recognition to the work done by June Walker, among others, in promoting Permaculture in Malawi and across the world. Finally, it is no coincidence that IPC8, 9, 10 and possibly 11 are happening in the two thirds world. I think that this is where the keys to the future of our planet can be found. Please keep checking the website www.ipcon.org for new information that will be uploaded from time to time.
IPC9 Secretariat
The Rescope Programme, P.O. Box 32280, Blantyre, Malawi. Tel: +2651 831 373; Fax: +2651 831 363; Mobile: +265 999 788 373; Email: ; Website: www.seedingschools.org.
Compiled by Mugove Walter Nyika, Blantyre, Malawi. December 4, 2009.