Maliera permaculture communities of practice

Farmers Alliance for Restoration was created in order to support farming communities in the transition to regenerative farming practices. Farmers live and work on the frontline between Nature and Humanity, and this transition is essential to develop the eco-social resilience that will be beneficial for current and future generations. Our approach was inspired by the recognition that all development is local - it must be owned by the community for the change to be appropriate to the unique needs and circumstances of that community and to be truly sustainable over the long-term; and that training and support in the use of permaculture is the most powerful way to empower communities to be their own best resources.

In order to keep each project as local as possible, each project is delivered through an organization that is based locally to the benefiting community, with FAR-EA’s support. They recruit 100 farmers, who then select 30 farmers to be the leads for the project. The lead farmers meet twice, once to select their own indicators of success and once to co-design the curriculum - which will include items of specific interest to them alongside a full permaculture design course (pdc), and general information about nutrition and community-building. They then participate in a three-month training program, which is followed by 18 months of practical support as they redesign their farms as model farms and recruit neighboring farmers into communities of practice. The final 3-month Consolidation Stage includes workshops to revisit the training, share more about their experiences, and ensure that community structures are in place to support community collaboration going forward. 

Our system for Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) provides a well-proven structure to incorporate the farmers’ chosen indicators, using independent agents to capture baseline, mid-term and endline data.