In South Africa, ecovillager and permaculture teacher/designer Alex Kruger shared that after Bill Mollison’s lecture tour in 1991, the permaculture movement started very slowly and was “terribly middle class and quite pale” for some time because the entrenched economic disparities from the apartheid era still form barriers to participation. Indeed, two of the biggest permaculture NGOs (which were founded by women) have found traction by addressing issues highly relevant for local citizens: Jeunesse Park started “Food and Trees for Africa” to address sustainable development through food security and food systems, educational efforts, and climate change action. Leigh Brown’s organization,SEED, incorporates permaculture into school curricula and building outdoor classrooms. SEED is also developing urban models of permaculture in lower income areas of Cape Town.

Pattern 5: Mentoring is key to building women’s leadership