Who we are

Plan Africa is a new entity established to represent the dire need for sustainable design and livelihoods for  Africa. Our long term goals are food security and strong regional economies on the continent. One of the ways in which we aim to achieve this is through this website and database detailing organic farming and permaculture projects; which is easily accessible for information or contacts, for people to ask for help, or simply to connect with other like-minded people and organisations. We are also attempting to create and map the continent’s sustainable development and farming projects in order to create a comprehensive geographical picture that details each project found in an area and its aims, objectives, production, methodologies and available resources. This website and database is a non profit initiative designed to gather collate and share information on sustainable development in Africa and is not for financial gain for any party. It aims to allow people working in sustainable development and livelihoods opportunities to be aware of other initiatives and to provide assistance and support to each other and to enable us to identify what resources projects need in order to achieve our dream of a sustainable and abundant Africa.

We are a growing network of Permaculture design practitioners throughout Africa and are open to anyone who:

• has completed their Permaculture Design Course (PDC),
• has not completed their PDC but has practiced permaculture for more than two years,
• is a practitioner of sustainable organic agriculture for more than 2 years,
• is a practitioner of Holistic  Management (HM) for more than 2 years or is a practitioner of Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) for more than 2  years
• is a member of PELUM.
• is part of a school food program that practices sustainable organic agriculture
• has completed the Integrated land use design (ILUD) course under RESCOPE or SCOPE

THE STEERING COMMITTEE
J J Nzira – South Africa/Zimbabwe
M W Nyika – Malawi/Zimbabwe
N P Heinamann – South Africa
B O’Connor – Zimbabwe/Zambia
K L Mashingakize – Zimbabwe
C A Manjate – Mozambique
A Sharif – Iran

Objectives

• to assess the current sustainable living situation in Africa
• to create a forum for the discussion of issues regarding sustainable development in Africa
• connect Permaculture practitioners and sustainable farmers throughout Africa
• establish what practicing Permaculturists need in order for them to increase their productivity
• develop a plan for creating food and nutrition security and food sovereignty in Africa
• mobilise funding and resources to meet these aims

African Permaculture Institute

At the Plan Africa meeting held in Lusaka in March 2009, the notion of forming the African Permaculture Institute (working title) was discussed. It was strongly felt that Africa must develop its own organised body that takes responsibility for the integrity of the African teaching and curriculum development process. This could be achieved by creating an African board to standardise the accreditation process to meet the African reality.

The API must be driven by Africans for Africans, with the curriculum and certifying body linked to international standards appropriate to Africa. The API will be managed by a peer review process to create a standards body that can endorse African certificates.

The core functions of the API will be to:

• Issue internationally recognized certificates
• Issue diplomas
• Register permaculture institutions
• Endorse institutions and trainers/teachers

In order to be accredited organisations and teachers will need to submit their curriculum for review. Teachers and Organisations will also need to submit the names of people graduating from the Permaculture Design Course (PDC) that they have trained.

The API and the African Curriculum will be discussed at the 9th International Permaculture Conference and Convergence in Malawi. 2-6 November 2009.