Salina Duncan, representing Garden of Hope in Jocotenango, Guatemala has been awarded the prize in Community Development. Backed by a team that includes two local women: Francisca Maxima Perez, a native and medicinal plants expert, and Maria Jose Gomez Lima, an artist and human rights activist, Salina will oversee expansion of the garden to include new herb and medicinal plant beds near the visitor pavilion, greater accessibility for wheelchairs and those with limited mobility, improved soil fertility, adding a seed and herb workspace with room to store teacher supplies, and the improvement of a covered outdoor working space for classes by adding two walls against wind and rain, along with a raised wooden floor.
Duncan is a PINA diploma candidate in Community Development with home connections in the mid-Atlantic region of the US. Jocotenango is part of the urban complex around Antigua in the central Highlands region of southern Guatemala. See and read about their design here.
The Garden of Hope team competed against three other finalists, two from the Twin Cities region of Minnesota, and one from the Island of Maui. Learn about those projects here. We thank all those who contributed their creative ideas and hard work to shine a spotlight on the power of permaculture to improve the life and health of communities
In addition to the award in Community Development, PINA granted four prizes in Media and Communications to two promising video producers for short films. Delvin Solkinson, a Canadian designer now living in New York, submitted a dozen short clips for consideration, and PINA staff are now working with him to develop a series of high-quality video shorts, based on the best of these, which we will post to our YouTube channel and elsewhere as they are completed.
Solkinson has spent many years traveling the world to meet and work with leading permaculture figures such as Bill Mollison, Rosemary Morrow, and Looby McNamara, as well as the American permaculture icons Doug Bullock and Starhawk. He has also developed a unique card deck of Permaculture Principles and Design Strategies to support teachers.
PINA granted the 1st and 4th place prizes in Media in support of Delvin’s work.
Second and third place prizes went to Salina Duncan for a proposal to make two short introductory films about Permaculture in local languages where she works. This will enable native speakers of Kaqcikel and Guatemala Sign Language, many of whom do not have fluent access to Spanish or to translation, to learn basic concepts in permaculture, and will provide invaluable support for the Highland communities served by the Garden of Hope. When these films have been completed, PINA will publish links to them as well.
We thank all our members who participated in the Contest voting. These choices are an expression of your and our ethical commitment to People Care and to spreading the good word about permaculture design.