Projects and Stewardship Areas
Last updated: 21.08.2026
Most actual work within the Permaculture Network happens through projects and working groups.
People may initiate projects or join existing ones.
People may join existing projects where there is meaningful work to contribute and where the project can reasonably support their participation.
Projects are not required to accept unlimited participation if doing so would make the work unmanageable.
The people actively working on a project decide how that project operates.
If several people share responsibility for a project, they decide together how responsibilities are distributed.
Projects should have substantial autonomy.
The Network Circle should not manage individual projects or override decisions that properly belong to a project.
Projects
Projects may be short-term or ongoing.
They can be practical, technical, educational, communicative, financial, relational, or experimental, depending on what the network needs.
A project should be clear enough that people can understand:
- what work it is doing
- who is actively involved
- who is carrying responsibility
- what decisions belong to the project
Authority within a project follows the responsibility carried by the people doing the work.
Responsibility becomes explicit when a person agrees to own an ongoing task, role, or area of work and the relevant project recognises that responsibility.
Responsibility can always be returned.
Scope of authority
Decision authority belongs to the project or Stewardship Area carrying primary responsibility for the affected work.
Being affected by a decision does not automatically mean owning the decision.
An affected project or area has a right to be consulted where appropriate, especially when the decision has meaningful consequences for its work.
However, consultation does not automatically create shared authority or veto power.
Where responsibility is genuinely shared, the responsible projects or areas should decide together using the normal advice and consent-based decision-making principles.
Shared impact does not necessarily mean shared responsibility.
Shared responsibility exists when multiple areas are directly responsible for delivering the decision or carrying its main consequences.
Stewardship Areas
Projects are grouped into broader Stewardship Areas.
These areas help organize work at the network level without creating a separate governance seat for every single project.
They are not departments and they are not permanent governing bodies.
They are simply areas in which work and responsibility may emerge and be coordinated.
The current Stewardship Areas are:
- Digital Infrastructure
- Communication and Outreach
- Events and Gatherings
- Education and Learning
- Community and Membership
- Research and Knowledge
- Partnerships and External Relations
- Resources and Finance
Examples of work within the areas
Examples may include:
- Digital Infrastructure: website, hosting, development, integrations, technical services
- Communication and Outreach: newsletter, social media, public communication, promotion
- Events and Gatherings: convergences, gatherings, online events, related activities
- Education and Learning: teachers, tutors, PDCs, certifications, educational development
- Community and Membership: member participation, onboarding, networking, community activities
- Research and Knowledge: research, publications, documentation, knowledge sharing
- Partnerships and External Relations: partnerships, representation, cooperation with other networks and organisations
- Resources and Finance: funding, budgets, financial transparency, shared resources
These examples help show where work may belong, but they should not be treated as rigid boundaries.
The Permaculture Network currently has no independent funds.
Resources and Finance work should therefore remain lightweight until the network begins to generate or receive funds of its own.
Sponsored contributions, such as hosting or development support, do not create governance authority.
Assigning projects to areas
A new project should normally be linked to one of the existing Stewardship Areas.
This does not mean the area controls the project. It only means the project's work is recognized as part of that broader area of stewardship.
Some projects may connect to more than one area, but for clarity it is usually helpful to identify one primary area.
If responsibility is unclear, the involved people should first clarify who is doing the work, who will implement the outcome, who carries the main consequences, and where the relevant expertise is located.
The aim is to find the right home for the decision before escalating it.
Outlier projects
If a project genuinely does not fit into any existing Stewardship Area, it may initially operate as an outlier project.
An outlier project does not automatically create a new Stewardship Area.
New Stewardship Areas should only be created when recurring or ongoing work shows that the existing structure no longer reflects the actual work of the network.
Dormant projects
Projects should not need to be deleted simply because activity stops.
A project may become inactive or dormant where no one is currently carrying active responsibility, no meaningful work is taking place, and there is no clearly planned active period in the near future.
Inactive does not mean failed.
Dormant projects may be reactivated when people again take responsibility for the work.
Preserve useful project documentation where possible.
Evolving the structure
The Stewardship Areas are meant to stay lightweight and adaptable.
They should be revised only when the real pattern of work in the network changes over time.
An unusual or one-off project is not, by itself, a reason to create a new area.
Observe patterns before changing structure.
Governance should be changed in response to demonstrated needs, not hypothetical problems.
Recurring work, ongoing responsibility, or a demonstrated structural weakness may show that the Stewardship Areas should change.
The annual Governance Review is the normal place to check whether the Stewardship Areas still reflect the actual work of the network.