S39A Permaculture enterprise seed fund

Sector39 are based in Wales, UK  teach permaculture and since 2016 we have extended our work to east Africa where we have built an
amazing network of projects, teachers, practitioners, publishers, net-workers as case study experience.

Farmers, trainees and pioneers are constantly held back for lack of basic investment, seeds, tools, work bare, such basic things constantly hold you back. Imagine being a farmer and not have a fork to turn your compost heap!

What we seek is seed funding, small amounts of money to invest in key people and key projects, acting in some ways like a credit union which can offer strategic support and timely interventions to new and evolving projects and their facilitators.

Repayments will be in the form of a time bank, projects and teachers we support will be expected to welcome visitors to their projects, keep records of their work and share their outcomes. This will be co-ordinated by the S39 Permaculture Academy  and disseminated via the networks we are active in. We need to rapidly build a body of evidence and pathways for funding so we can scale up permaculture education rapidly in coming months and years.

We do regularly apply to funding bodies but it is a very competitive environment and many funds are targeted and very specific outcomes, we that via GFM we can find funds which we can channel directly in the the places where they will have maximum effect

Beneficiaries are mainly East African subsistence farmers, and the community members we are supporting to become effective teachers. We are developing training hubs in Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, whilst reaching out to South Africa and beyond. We work directly with people we know, have trained with us and are active in the Sector39 Permaculture Academy. We are able to reach hard to reach people in remote areas and support them with very practical information, advice & networking. We can be sure that donations reach the right people and are used in the correct way.

I started this campaign last year and we have yet to find our target audience of donors and investors but we will keep trying as we know what have create a significant benefit through this fund.
[Gerald Jagwe, leading a workshop on wood pyrolysis and and biochar making, Nyumaanzi training centre, Northern Uganda 2018]

With your help we can utilize Africa's amazing mobile money system to get funds directly to people who will use them for the immediate benefit of their communities. Permaculture is a game changer, a life changer, literally. Small farmers receive no guidance or training, its the default activity if you dont have paid work, consequently basic training and induction into organic methods have a profound and lasting effect. Farmers generally copy each other and don't often innovate, there are many easily attainable opportunities being overlooked for the lack of basic information and support. We can help change this.

I believe permaculture has a huge future in Africa, it is very close to traditional thinking and is easily absorbed and acted on. With strategic investment and support I believe we can create a tidal wave of interest, making permaculture the predominant approach for homestead farm, kitchen garden and educational hub design.
Villagers, refugees from South Sudan to Uganda celebrate at the end of 6 months permaculture training with Sector39 , supported by Norwegian Refugee Council.

What is permaculture exactly? Please download a PDF  version of Small and Slow Solutions, also linked to numerous videos and other resources. If you have not quite understood permaculture and its importance yet, then this book is your way in!

Steven Jones, Llanrhaeadr ym Mochnant, August 2021