IPEN is working to enhance and accelerate the development of permaculture education internationally, rather than seeking to regulate or manage it.
IPEN aims to make small changes for the greatest possible effect.
The idea for IPEN emerged at the 12th International Permaculture Convergence (IPC) 2015 in London, when experienced permaculture educators from across the world considered the question of how to increase the coherence and effectiveness of permaculture education globally. Workshops at the 13th IPC in India in 2017 supported and confirmed the need for IPEN.
The intention is that Tutors and Learners will benefit from better access to a wide range of high quality learning resources for teaching and learning, including translations to multiple languages. Where permaculture is less established, pioneers will benefit from better support and examples of how pioneers have succeeded elsewhere. IPEN is aiming to be an independent organisation by the end of 2019, when it has proven its worth and when network members can determine the right status for it to adopt.
In the meantime, to enable it to get underway and start working to create benefits for the movement, IPEN has been set up by Steve Charter and Lachlan McKenzie, who were both involved in the 2015 IPC discussions, as a member project of the UK Permaculture Association (this does not mean it is coordinated by the UK Association) with the support and encouragement of numerous active and experienced permaculture educators from around the world. We are very grateful to the UK Association for hosting our initial IPEN webpages before this site was launched, and their moral support for IPEN.
IPEN is also extremely grateful for the support of the Lush Spring Prize for social and environmental regeneration (IPEN was a 2018 Young Project Category Award winner) and the Ecoforest Garden Trust, which provided initial seed funding to help get IPEN started.