Over 50 participants joined us on Thursday 16 May for a Seminar on Social Permaculture, held at Il-Kappella tal-Madonna tal-Anġli, Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq. The seminar was organised for people working with vulnerable adults, from people with mental or physical disabilities, to migrants, elderly people and people with drug or alcohol addiction. Participants learned about social permaculture principles and practices to create resilient and sustainable communities. Social Permaculture involves more than natural ecosystems and agricultural or gardening practices. Its ethics and principles can also be applied to other aspects of human life, such as education, health, buildings and governance.
On the programme we had a presentation by Dr Suzanne Maas (Friends of the Earth Malta) and Fr Mark Ciantar (Inteko), a keynote speech by permaculturist Kinga Milankovics (Hekate Conscious Ageing Foundation), testimonials from organisations that participated in the Social PEAS permaculture pilot training in Malta (Komunità Santa Marija, Sedqa and Aġenzija Sapport) and two panel discussions about the link between social permaculture and mental health, and care and rehabilitation work, followed by a lunch prepared by the staff and service users of Komunità Santa Marija.
The seminar was part of the Social PEAS (Social Permaculture: Empowering an Active Society) project, which was created to develop permaculture training for professionals working with vulnerable adults. The training course, including reading material, quizzes and short videos, is available on the online Social PEAS platform https://www.socialpeas.eu. Upon completion of the course, participants can take an online exam to get a certification of competence issued by ICEP, the Institute of European Certification of Personnel. The platform also contains a Best Practice Manual and Programme Guide, with lesson plans and resources for the training course.
We would like to thank all participants for joining us and contributing to the lively and hopeful discussions, in particular the local organisations we piloted our training course on Social Permaculture with: Komunità Santa Marija, Sedqa and Aġenzija Sapport. We also thank our European partner organisations in the Social PEAS project: Friends of the Earth Cyprus (project lead), INTRAS, Hekate Foundation, Promimpresa and ICEP, who were visiting Malta for the final project meeting. To commemorate a fruitful collaboration and successful project together, the project partners planted an olive tree together at the Friends of the Earth Malta community garden in Floriana.
The Social PEAS project is co-funded by the EU.
