Permaculture Eco-arts school and earth Architecture

The objective is to help design and build a unit of permaculture eco-artisan school, residential vocational training centre for unemployed rural youths of ages from 16 to 35 years to undergo a two year skill development training in the vocational arts and ecological earth architecture. We want the school plan to emphasize sustainable architecture and cost effective construction. Thus, we want the building to fully integrate earth architecture and passive solar design. You will spend the rest of your term training these youths in your area of the permaculture arts and the built environment. The permaculture eco-art school is conceived as an informal school, an artisanal vocational development centre that brings together international workshop participants, local permaculturist, artisans and less privileged youths from the region for skills transfer. The training will be provided by residents teachers and by hosting guest’s projects and by both international and local practitioners in a self-growing school complex. That means, in the beginning there are just a few buildings. After students learned some permaculture and construction techniques they will test their acquired knowledge and skills by building the next part of the school or some functional buildings for the community. Thus, the students are challenged to solve real problems, work together, to learn, build and create. Upon graduation, a cohort of trainees can move on to work on commission as building cooperatives or work individually to source and build sustainable houses. Some of the graduates will be offered employment as teachers of the next generation who join the workshop school. Specifically the Eco-arts school will be a residential skills learning centre of a self-sustaining type. The construction of the centre will be carried out in phases to include accommodation for students, staffs and international visitors; a multipurpose hall that serves as kitchen and presentation hall; a commercial centre; fablab; such as metal shop, workshop, fabrishop, and earth construction studio; and a permaculture demonstration farm. For example, demonstration farms will be of the subsistent type to grow fruit trees, crops and animals such as bees, chicken, sheep and goats for use by the school. Interchangeable term: Permaculture Eco-arts school, Eco-artisans School, Vocational Centre for Permaculture Arts and Earth Architecture Centre. It is an Associate Position; what does that mean? As an Associate Member of Permaculture Eco-arts school you will be receiving a monthly stipend based on a percentage of the funds you generate for this site. You will have free accommodation and will keep 20% of the participation fee for your workshop, during your stay at the site you will receive 20% of any profit from the accommodation units you build and any other national or international projects you organize at site, such as conferences and workshops. The other 80% will be re-invented in the development of the site. Using our workshop director modal, by Site Development Associate, will have free accommodation and will keep 30% of the profit from the accommodation from the units you designed and 70% reinvented in the development of the site. By association, we imply that this is not a formal employment, but one with free housing and potential stipend, according to your efforts. The size of the stipend comes from the successes of your and Permaculture Eco-arts school’s effects to promote the project site. We are building an environment using permaculture ethics and principles to expand food production and distributing adaptive technologies, good healthy nutritious locally tasteful fruits and vegetables. My team currently realized the interest of other communities thus we envision expanding to support small-scale sustainable businesses in the region and give opportunities to Gambians in their villages. Key methodologies are participatory community education about environmental protection, climate change and other negative impacts on livelihood. I was sponsored to the UK where I had attended permaculture and transition conferences which boost my aspirations and been motivated by these networks, supported to reinvigorate me back to Gambia to initiate further grassroots awareness and transition projects building on the previous efforts to catalyze and reciprocate community led solutions by setting up small transition initiatives.