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Planet Organic professional regional-scale training in organic agriculture, permaculture design and sustainable land-use management

EARTHSPIRIT Nature Connection Workshop
Golden Bay, Nelson Province

Permaculture Design Course Febuary 2011
Tui Community, Golden Bay

Rural Living Skills
(for permaculture graduates)

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Grounding Vision - Empowering Culture
how to build & sustain community together ; a Manual of Participatory Tools for Social Change Facilitators
Written by:  Robina McCurdy Published by:  Earthcare Education Aotearoa

Introduction
This facilitators’ manual is a sharing of many tools which Robina has created for particular community/group situations - discovered what worked well and what didn’t, and used them again and again, improving on them each time.  Her approach is based in PRA (Participatory Rural/Rapid Appraisal), although none of the tools in this manual are classical PRA tools, however the philosophy of equal participation and the power of community working in synergy stands behind them.  They utilize all learning modalities (visual, auditory, kinesthetic) but are most suited to kinesthetic (learning by doing) learners, who are commonly not catered for in formal learning situations.  They are developed simultaneously for the ‘underdeveloped’ and ‘overdeveloped’  world, so should be applicable and adaptable to a diversity of cultures.

Each chapter contains templates which are for drawing up or laying out on a large scale – the size which the whole group can walk around and engage with. The template is also intended to be scaled up to double size (A4 to A3) to use as a tool for recording for the information that emerges through doing that particular activity.  For individuals using the tool, the scaled up template can be directly written onto.  Each chapter also contains written and/or diagrammatic examples of the processes being described, and photographs work in action in Robina’s facilitation sessions.

Who is this manual for?
This manual contains a range of participatory tools that enable any group of people who have common intent to shape a collective culture based on the principles of sustainability.  It is a treasure chest for:

•     project managers of land development, business projects, and organizations;
•     professional facilitators, for inclusion in their ‘toolkit’ of  primary processes;
•     people living in or working with community groups of common purpose;
•     partners in life and/or work;
•     individuals who want to clarify and empower their life and vocation.