[Sdpg] ONLINE THE PROCEEDINGS OF 9th International Permaculture Convergence 2009 IPC9 Malawi NOW ONLINE!

Sun Jan 31 13:19:38 PST 2010

Dear all
The proceedings of the 9th International Permaculture Conference and 
Convergence (IPC9) are now on the website: 
<http://www.ipcon.org/>http://www.ipcon.org. Many thanks to Wesley 
Roe, Margie Bushman, John Calvert, Mada Siebert and to all presenters 
and to all those who assisted in the process of realizing 
this achievement. Enjoy the updated site. 

Best regards

Mugove Walter Nyika
IPC9 Coordinator

Report is being sent out to all IPC9 Presenters and Attendees

PS IF you have any reports/stories of the IPC9 you would like to 
share to be posted on the IPC9  Blog please contact Wesley Roe 
wes at sbpermaculture.org

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 fambidza at yahoo.com 
or klmashie at yahoo.com .

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:

		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.
		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.
		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 
spiritvaults at yahoo.co.uk and Mada Siebert at madalief at googlemail.com 
. Wesly Roe and Margie Bushman are working to have the information 
from the convergence uploaded onto the web site. They can be reached 
at lakinroe at silcom.net and margie at sbpermaculture.org 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. The conference also included a 
variety of informative displays put up by participants from all over 
the world.

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 
raofgodministry at yahoo.co.uk ; 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 
; NordinMalawi at gmail.com
		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 ; 
luwawa at malawi.net
		Karonga schools. Visited 3 of 24 schools in the 
morning of the 10th. Hosted by Dennis, Kenneth and Leiza. Very good 
work, motivated teachers. +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. 
sofsand at africa-online.net
		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. 
jwthanthwe at googlemail.com
		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. 
moetmwcharity at yahoo.co.uk
		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. panthunzi at africa-online.net
		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. bridgetoconnor8 at gmail.com
		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. sebtree at hotmail.com
		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. ulliwe at mweb.co.zw
		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. celuct at zol.co.zw
		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 . Lorraine at kufunda.org ; 
jackie at kufunda,org ; allan at 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. Fambidza at yahoo.com ; 
klmashie at yahoo.com

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 focuses on water and a 
lot more needs to be done in this area.
		Design for local self sufficiency in energy is also important.
		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: rescope at sdnp.org.mw ; zipscope at yahoo.co.uk
Website: www.seedingschools.org

Compiled by Mugove Walter Nyika, Blantyre, Malawi. December 4, 2009.
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