The Nordic Permaculture Academy is promoting skilled Permaculture Designers through mentoring and accreditation in Applied Permaculture Design.
The Nordic Permaculture Academy is run sociocratically.
Vision, Mission and Aims of NPA 2025
(Reviewed and decided 2024-11-25)
- Vision – (The future we see)
- We live in a regenerative world where everyone can live by Permaculture Ethics.
- Mission – (Our part in achieving this vision)
- To develop and maintain a Nordic Diploma System
- To build capacity in the network of apprentices and mentors in the Nordic Permaculture Academy
- To mentor and support apprentices’ diploma work and pathways
- Aims and Goals
- Developing and clarifying the mentor domain
- Training new mentors
- All mentors design their pathways
- Mentor training for mentors and becoming mentors in March 2025
- Mentoring of apprentices
- Individual mentoring session
- Assessing designs
- Midway assessments
- Final Portfolio Assessments, Presentations and Peer Reviews
- Develop teaching material
- Publish the Design Toolbox
- Host three Diploma Gatherings
- Finland spring
- Estonia summer
- Sweden autumn
- Host online meetings
- MOGs 7th @ 7 pm CET
- Presentations online
- Onboarding meetings
- Develop internal/external communication
- Evaluate, improve and clarify the communication domain
- Functional and upgraded website including personal profiles
- Developing and clarifying the mentor domain
History of the NPA
The Nordic Permaculture Academy, was started in 2020 by four Nordic diploma holders and trainers in permaculture. Andreas Jonsson and Maria Svennbeck from Sweden, as well as Cathrine Dolleris and Karoline Nolsø Aaen from Denmark.
We started this work based on similar experiences. We had all worked our way through a Permaculture diploma process over the past 10 years, and we had all spoken to many others who had entered the diploma process after completing a PDC. From this we could observe a very clear challenge:
The step from being a certified permaculture designer with a completed PDC, to obtaining a diploma in applied permaculture design, is huge. And the path to obtaining a diploma is unclear. Very few of those who start the diploma process, complete it.
We just can’t have it like that! The planet needs several thousand Nordic motivated and driven advocates and living examples of permaculture, if we are to succeed in turning this tide!
The Nordic Permaculture Academy was therefore created with the goal of clarifying the learning processes for diploma students and to produce a designed Nordic diploma process that will meet the above deficiency in an effective way.
There are many who want to learn more and work further after completing a PDC. We can choose many paths within permaculture. One such path is to work towards a diploma in applied permaculture design. The purpose of a diploma is precisely that through conscious design we create the permaculture lifestyle that we and the planet around us need. It is an extensive learning process and solid practical work that often takes several years. In the end, the hope is that you stand as a diploma holder and have a lifestyle that builds up planetary and human resources according to the permaculture ethics.
For several years now, we have taken inspiration from various international permaculture movements and organizations, and several of us diploma holders have regular exchanges with other diploma holders and permaculturists mainly in Europe and the USA. We have a great inspiration in the way we work in the exchange with the British Permaculture Association, who are active and good at supporting people further along various permaculture paths.
The Permaculture Academy does some other things as well, but the main focus right now is on creating clarity and a greater awareness among diploma students, about their own possibilities for designing their own permaculture paths forward. Today, the permaculture academy has around 50 active diploma students from Sweden, Denmark and Finland. Most have chosen to be part of various diploma guilds, where they learn from each other in the various processes going forward. We meet at least every month, and have decided to have two larger annual meetings to exchange experiences, learn from each other and develop our Nordic way of working in permaculture. There is a great deal to be learned in the similarities and differences between the Nordic countries.
A meeting was held at Holma in Skåne, where around twenty people from Sweden, Denmark and Finland worked intensively over a weekend, developing and giving feedback on each other’s permaculture work. At the same time, we created new conditions for cooperation and connections for the future. A powerful co-creative way of working is emerging! We repeated this event and had fun learning moments at Makvärket later in the year while creating a solid community of practice.
Around the turn of the year to 2023 we decided to consolidate the NPA as its own entity. You can look at the bylaws here.