Accreditation
The Permaculture Design Certificate course is an internationally recognized, seventy-two hour course. This course provides an introduction to permaculture design and is accredited by the Blue Mountains Permaculture Institute. Successful completion of the course entitles students to graduate with a Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC). The PDC qualification serves as foundation for further permaculture work and study and is a prerequisite for the Diploma in Permaculture Design, offered through The Permaculture Institute.
Course Curriculum
The Permaculture Design Certificate course covers a broad range of subjects to provide a comprehensive overview of permaculture approaches, from basic principles to applied design.
Topics include:
- Ethics/principles
- Climates
- Water
- Soils
- Plants
- Earthworks
- Windbreaks
- Aquaculture
- Patterns in Nature
- Zones
- Integrated Pest Management
- Design for Disaster
- Village and Community Design
Demonstrations, hands-on activities and site visits
The course has a strong practical work component and will include activities such as plant propagation, seed saving, soil structure and pH analysis, composting, pelleting, contour marking, swale construction, compost toilet construction. Participants will also get to visit local sites utilising permaculture principles including St Jude’s Organic Training Centre in Masaka.
Resources
- A nightly program of permaculture films will be screened throughout the course. A copy of Rosemary’s publication ‘The Earth User’s Guide to Permaculture’ will be distributed to international participants at the beginning of the course.
- Comprehensive hand-outs (in Buganda and English) will be distributed throughout.
- A DVD (in Buganda and English) outlining key concepts from the PDC will be produced at the course and remain as a permanent resource for local communities.
- Technology for participatory community video (PCV) workshops will be available for course attendees to create short videos demonstrating skills and techniques for their local communities
Who is this course for?
Permaculture principles can be applied at any scale to any site (rural or urban) in any climate. Since its inception in the 1970’s, thousands of people from every continent, with every level of education and working in every profession, have graduated from the course creating a dynamic worldwide network of permaculture practitioners, educators, and activists. As permaculture seeks to create links between disciplines, everyone can benefit from undertaking the PDC, from accountants to artists, teachers to tradespeople. The main criteria for participation is a passion to use permaculture’s core ethics and practices to create a more sustainable world, and applying this knowledge to one’s community whether it be urban, suburban, regional or rural. There are no prior qualifications required to take the course, although reading some of the major texts is recommended.
On this course, attendees will be a mix of paying participants from developed countries wishing to become accredited and gain experience interning on a tropical demonstration site and Ugandan participants subsidized by the fully-paying participants.
On this course, attendees will be a mix of paying participants from developed countries wishing to become accredited and gain experience interning on a tropical demonstration site and Ugandan participants subsidized by the fully-paying participants.
Permaculture Design Course Graduates
Upon satisfactory completion of this course a Certificate of Permaculture Design is issued. Graduates are then eligible to use Permaculture in the promotion of designs, teaching and landscaping and to attend the IPC9 convergence.
Opportunities for post-course permaculture experience
There are also opportunities for participants to stay on-site at the completion of the course and work on the implementation of a whole-site permaculture design at Sabina Boarding Primary School with the school and local community under the guidance of permaculture-accredited Project Managers. Volunteers pay US$100/month to cover accommodation and basic food at Sabina. Other voluntary permaculture internships in the East African region can be arranged by emailing ugandapermaculture@gmail.com prior to the course with an indication of dates and areas of interest.
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