72-Hour Permaculture Design Certificate

Our Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) course offers a comprehensive introduction to Permaculture principles, applications & design practices and meets the international standard as the 72+ hour foundational course for Permaculture practitioners and teachers.

Participants have many opportunities to put theory into practice by doing hands-on, creative activities at Bontle Bahao, where Permaculture principles are actively practiced and promoted. We do an in-depth site analysis, and participants create designs of different areas on the homestead.

Topics covered include:

  • edible landscaping,
  • food security,
  • medicinal herbs,
  • natural building,
  • energy conservation technologies;
  • land restoration techniques;
  • food forests,
  • plant guilds, and gardens for self-sufficiency;
  • patterns in nature and culture;
  • principles of natural systems;
  • water harvesting techniques
  • biological pest control.

Our Facilitators

Tichafa Makovere - Lead Facilitator
Tichafa grew up in a marginalised farming community in Shurugwe, Zimbabwe. He has developed a career in education over 30 years, including 20 years as a successful headmaster in Zimbabwe, Malawi and Botswana. In June 1994 he took a PDC at the Fambidzanai Permaculture Centre in Zimbabwe sponsored by the SCOPE (Permaculture in Schools and Colleges Outreach) Program. He took the Training of Trainers Course and become the official lead facilitator for the SCOPE Program in 2001. His activities as a SCOPE, and more latterly ReSCOPE, have included: Drawing up 1-week and 2-week programs for SCOPE have included facilitating at both 1-week and 2-week workshops; producing training materials and handouts, making follow-up visits to schools; participation on the curriculum, training.

In November 2008 Tichafa travelled to Ethiopia and took up the role of Resident PC Facilitator and Farm Manager for Strawberry Fields Eco Lodge in Konso, where he has to date facilitated a total of 17 PDCs. He subsequently went on to spear-head the formation of the Permaculture in Konso Schools Project working in partnership with various NGOs as well as SFEL itself. In June 2010 Tichafa formed his own independent consultancy.

Show moreShow less
Linda Gabriel - Co Facilitator
Linda undertook a mentorship in Germany with Sabine Sellner a German landscape architect and permaculture designer who once lived for 6 years in Zimbabwe; and then did an intensive training with Tichafa Makovere in Mozambique, a Zimbabwean permaculture guru who has provided expertise in permaculture design in many communities throughout Africa.

For the past 15 years Linda Gabriel has worked as an arts organizer and performance poet with a focus on women’s creative activism and resistance to violence throughout Africa. After Linda obtained her BA in South Africa she worked organizing major festivals such as Harare International Festival of Arts in Zimbabwe, Sauti za Busara in Tanzania and Arts Live in South Africa.

Politically and economically Linda believes that communities need to be empowered to grow their own food in abundance and move away from food hand outs.

Show moreShow less