3/4/22, 3:27 PM Community Structure | IPC

Community Structure

The structure of a community is paramount to its successes and failures. Having a good structure
will support the IPC participants - to live, build, be and play as a cohesive network.
There are 4 main elements to the IPC structure. These are the;
Participants - the life force of the community;
Organizational Elements - legalities, activities, communal processes;
Physical Elements - space uses of land, village and farm;
Production Elements- work, products and services.

Participants

The core, the life force of the IPC, is its people, whom are free and freedom loving individuals who
care for the miracles of life and whom understand the importance of such communities in the
larger social fabric of human civilization. The strength of the whole lies in the relationships and
interactions of those people. Such persons should have a voluntary interest in collaboration and a
desire to live differently than the modern consumerist pattern. Individuals dedicated to listening
and working with nature and each other to create a vibrant tribe and home to us all.
To allow for flexibility of involvement and intentions we distinguish between Tribe Members, Part-
time Tribe Members, Vacation Investors and visitors. These distinctions are mostly to do with the
amount of Shawoho (Shared Work Hours) - the engine of our internal sharing economy, that a
participant is taking on, however the distiction can sometimes also refer to how often they are
living in the intentional community.
The visitors fall into two categories; those that participate in Shawoho such as Woofers/Work
exchange and those that don't, such as friend or family visits or vacationers using our services -
for example some bungalows or camping. The later will be charged a fee per day which depends
on the type of visitor and what they are using from the community.
The Tribe Member and the Part-Time Tribe Member are the core of the community and they share
many of the same general privelages and responsibilities. A Part-time Tribe member is one who is
committing to a minimum of 3 months per year of Shawoho where as a Tribe Member is
commiting a minimum of 9 months in most years. Since a Part-time Tribe Member may not be
engaging as much in Shawoho during any given year, their benefits are equally reduced by the
amount of time they are away by default. When not residing within the community, their vote
counts for .5 of a vote. Note that anyone undertaking Shawoho less than 2 months a year are
considered visitors. Vacation Investors are a catergory of Participant distinct from the rest. Please

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refer to the Vacation Investor (https://www.communityearth.org/otherpages/vacationinvestor) page

for those details. Also you can refer quickly to the differences between Participant types using the
Participant Distinction Chart (https://www.communityearth.org/pdf/participantdistinctionchart.pdf).
Some of the general privileges and responsibilities of an International Permaculture Community
Participant is to;
Choose a piece of land they can steward as their home / personal space of 900 meters
square;
Have the right to assist meetings of any of the production elements within the community;
Have the right to vote on any issue that interests them within the community;
Take on the responsibility of completing the minimum Shared Work Hours (Shawoho) per
month/year;
Have the right to share in the harvest and goods produced by the community;
Have the right to monies (paid out monthly) made by the collective works of the community
participants, minus expenses, through the 'Share the Wealth dividends' plan;
Have the right to divest of their participation from the community and reclaim their stewarded
land fee once a new participant has been approved by the community and paid their own
membership in full;
Participate in numerous enriching community activities and services offered through
Shawoho.
More details about participants can be found in the IPC Membership Contract
(https://www.communityearth.org/membership/general), including the application process for
future Participants. Please contact us if you have further questions about the privelages and
responsibilities of Participants.

Organizational Elements

Organizational elements pertain to the way we interact with each other and the land, the wider
community, other intentional communities and the world at large. All the legal issues, protocols
and processes are all part of the organizational elements as are the way we live and work
together. These can often be nearly invisible structures, such as the ingrained habits and
perceptions within a culture that inadvertently foster predictable patterns and outcomes. A natural
and peaceful flow within the community manifests when such organizational elements work well
together creating invisible 'ties that bind', which contributes to building healthy relationships.
There are a few models of success that we can glean 'best practices' from, such communities like
Twin Oaks, Crystal Waters, The Farm, Dancing Rabbit and Findhorn to name a few. Each of these
success stories are similar in spirit but different in application and our organizational elements
pulls what we feel are the best mix for our collective vision.

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Community living is not for every one, nor is it an easy ride. Communities often flounder due to
economic and social friction between members. Our community aims to address these issues in
unique ways (social contracts). We will flourish by creating strong economic and social ties
between members. There will be much emphasis on communication within the community and
processes will be in place to ease social tensions that may arise.
What works and doesn't work for us will be observed as we grow. Organizational elements can be
tweaked over time through our collective decision making process to best suit our collective
needs. If you would like to know the reasoning behind certain decisions thus far, feel free to
contact us and talk about them.
Our intention is to live collectively in such a way that villagers are encouraged and able to
contribute their skills, gifts and interests, to create a solid, diverse, and thriving social
environment. The social dynamics at the IPC are thus born out of the organizational elements that
we, as a community agree to, and take responsibility for. Therefore, to join, each person must
understand and agree with our Organizational elements before becoming a participant. These are
embodied in our Membership Contract (https://www.communityearth.org/membership/general).

Physical Elements

Physical elements are the elements which are bound to the earth. The use of land is therefore its
domain. The land will be divided with a balance between agro-forestry, agricultural, naturally
reserved areas and the village land which will further be divided between private homes and
communal/collective spaces. The land will provide food security in every possible niche. The
designation of lands are broken down into the following 4 zones;
Village Zones
Farm Zones
Agroforestry Zones
Protected Preserve Zones

Village Zones

Personal spaces, community spaces, and cooperative spaces, all have physical elements that
must be considered before the time, effort and expenses are invested in making them.
The design and layout of a village impacts greatly on the efficiency of a community, on the psyche
and health of its members and on the interactions and relationships that people have to each
other and the environment. Permaculture design therefore is crucial and some over arching
considerations will include integration of natural resources within the landscape of the village, non
grid patterns, useful poly-culture corridors, ways to promote symbiotic village life relationships and
efficiency through well planned locations of the different physical, cultural and economic elements.

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We will explore different fundamental designs for extending the village (vertically and horizontally)
so we reduce the possibility of problems if our population density climbs and will look carefully at
waste streams, water patterns, people movements, product/good movement, electrical, etc.
Before any permanent structures are started on the land, the community will undertake a
Permaculture Plan which includes Village Design, which will stretch over a one year period. Any
future participants can get involved and the general public can offer suggestions to the design(s).
There has already been some visioning with this in mind and the following describes a general
feel that the core team is hoping for.
The concept of the IPC is not to build a subdivision but rather a more fluid mix of interconnected
communal and private spaces. Since there will be many varied communal spaces, personal
homes will probably not require large amounts of space or resources. Villager participation in the
design and building of their own homes is recommended and input from the rest of the community
will help ensure a nice balance between personal comfort and resource management. For some
villagers a home could be as simple as a hut or as small as a 2 bedroom apartment and for others
intricate stand alone houses may be in order. Either way, villagers have a personal space to retire
to when they desire to.
Dwellings will primarily be built on the periphery of communal areas for greater efficiency and
facility in sharing of resources. Residential Stewarded Land will be allotted based on a 1st come
basis and their sites chosen and drawn in from the participants input as to their general needs.
These include distance from community spaces, views, access to waterways and many other
attributes.
Easy accessibility to and within the community will be important. An access road or alternative
cargo/transit technology may be necessary to aid in the construction of the core of the village,
however it will become a car free zone with large walking/cycling paths.
The IPC village will include spaces for learning, sharing and growing, areas to explore and
discuss and places to create and exchange knowledge and techniques. These communal spaces
will reduce the need for large personal homes and keep the village centered around a core,
keeping many social functions within short walking distance or biking distance. Sound playing
structures, mini theater space, public courtyards and learning spaces, are some of the possible
physical elements in the village that promote communal/family dynamics. Cooperatives and
businesses are only limited to members imagination and capabilities. Some of these physical
structures may include a carpentry workshop, butterfly house, beekeeping operations, kitchen and
food transformation spaces, art studio, etc... . An extensive list of imagined spaces that future
villagers would like, has been started and can be view here: List of Physical Elements
(https://www.communityearth.org/otherpages/listofphysicalelements).
Civilizations are shaped in part by their technology. We will design our community in the most
efficient way for the enjoyment of its peoples and use appropriate technologies to reduce our
environmental footprint. All buildings will go through an eco-friendly analysis, weighing the pros

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and cons of certain materials in this climate and their availability. We will design and build in ways
to harness the waste stream in a useful way for and from each building.
We are aiming for a complete, vibrant, healthy and productive village with at least 50 participants.
It will also be a place of immersion into new social dynamics and of permaculture put into practice.
Guests can integrate into community life and learn about the relationships and production areas of
interest to them.

Farm Zones

Societies who feed their populations with the most wholesome of foods, while using techniques
that are healthy to the land to ensure sustainability, will in our opinion be the most resilient over
time. Therefore we will only grow organic produce. In our village, we envision a maximum of 200
adult participant residents and a handful of guests from time to time. There is a document that
Ivan Tattoli wrote about the carrying capacity of land to population size which is available upon
request and we have used this information to help decide our own balance between land and
population with a bend to the cautious side, so if we have 200 people we will have a vibrant
village and food sources that will be able to sustain them substantially.
Our community will strive to be self sufficient in foods first and if successful will expand to larger
plots to grow for sale to what we foresee as our primary market in the region: restaurants and
foreigners. Production Elements will also be using the produce to create their own products for
internal and external use, consumption and sale.
Farming has many physical elements to consider and often looks different in application based on
the techniques one incorporates on the lands. Some clearly defined elements that we will include
are vegetable plots and bio-intensive beds, greenhouses, swales, irrigation systems, harvesting
infrastructure, fencing, animals and of course the plants, bushes and trees that nourish us.
The staple vegetables and fruits of the region will be planted first to provide for our community.
Staples such as bananas, papayas, pineapples, beans, tomatoes, eggplants, cassava and rice to
name a few. These plots will be inter-planted in the first few years with larger tree species so that
we maximize our time and space in developing the agricultural aspect of the community.
There will be mixed orchards which will produce fruits that the community can use, transform and
sell easily. The trees will be trimmed for easy picking and fruit promotion. Such things as grapes,
passion fruits, citrus, water apples, caimitos etc... will be planted and maintained in a mixed
orchard setting. Some leguminous trees will be found in this area for greater shade, nitrogen fixing
and to improve the soil biodiversity.
Some animal husbandry may be maintained especially once orchards and forests are established.
We may have animals that assist in work load and providing fertilizer, that give products to eat or
be transformed for other purposes. The raising of animals will depend primarily on the dietary
wants and requirements of community members.

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Agroforestry Zones

We aim to plant and maintain mixed timber species, medicinal species and a large food forest
which will share boundaries with land that we have decided to preserve. Hundreds of species
would be maintained and labeled, however some plant and tree species will be grown in larger
patches or will be given more emphasis due to market opportunities for village sustainability.
Some of these species will be exotic fruits, traditional staple fairs and trees for promoting more
eco-concious lifestyles (such as the soap nut).
The final goal would be to establish a poly-culture that creates ecological services for the land and
for the community while healing the forest through bio-remediation. The maintenance and
expansion of a permaculture food forest should be well under way by the 7th year period. We
have no current plans to grow tree species for timber for resell purposes however selective
logging may be done in this area in the future to be used by the community. The food forest will be
implemented in small stages and in the early years could occupy a large portion of the communal
work load.
Experimentation and research will be encouraged for those interested and we have access to a
search-able plants database which one of our members already has in the works. For example:
such experiments as the domestication of jungle grapes and tapping of cohune flowers for sap
could have marketable implications as well as new understandings in the form of pure scientific
interest.

Protected Preserve Zones

Depending on the land we attain there may be the need for restoration of original forests involved.
The protection of such land will ensure that the community can thrive for generations to come so
long as the preserved lands are allowed to regenerate and flourish. This preserve will consist of
natural fauna of the area, with the intent to restore it into a state of primary forest if it is not
already. The conservation of water ways and biodiversity will be paramount, so that wild life can
continue to prosper and evolve.
From the point of purchase, a protracted observation period and a proper updated layout
inventory of current species and resources will be undertaken, followed by a permaculture design
strategy which will include understanding what grew in the original forests here and how to
reclaim some of the land for such purposes. Selective cutting to give a boost to the flora will most
likely follow. Pruning of existing trees and the introduction of species lost or beneficial to a diverse
and productive forest will commence.
Pathways may be made in this area and could be used for collecting medicines in a sustainable
manner. Most food producing species in this preserved area will be left for wildlife regeneration.
The protected forest will also keep the water table high and guard the springs that run into the
rivers.

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Production Elements

The primary purpose of Production Elements is to sustain the diverse needs of the community
members, and the secondary purpose is to produce certain goods or services that the community
can exchange with other communities or for sale to the world at large.
A diverse set of interconnected industries & disciplines will ensure a robust, healthy, creative and
wealthy populace. These production elements can touch all fields and include all sorts of
activities, be it agricultural, cultural, industrial, commercial and/or touristic. A list of suggested
Production Elements (https://www.communityearth.org/otherpages/listofproductionelements) has
been started.
Each Production Element can be set up in the form of a Project, Business or Cooperative. Note
that, if any type of production element generates income, these monies will be shared via the
'share the dividends' plan. See the Income Sharing Model
(https://www.communityearth.org/membership/economy/#l6) in the economy section of the
Membership Contract for details.
These production elements will be the method through which members can participate in the day
to day operations and mini industries in the community. Participants are free to engage in
whatever business, project or cooperative they feel most useful. In our Sharing Economy, each
participant understands and agrees to be responsible for a certain amount of work hours per
month. This ensures things get done, people profit from the collective labors and everyone
contributes. The sharing of the monetary profits may also act as an incentive but it is secondary, a
benefit of the collective effort.
This shared income model creates an invisible cohesion. By this token, it is in every villagers
interest to work well and produce quality goods or services for themselves, each other and the
surrounding communities. Through shared responsibility the community bonds will be maintained
while villagers can also explore their own interests, switching roles or putting efforts / time in a few
production elements at a time.
As people join with differing expertise more production elements will blossom. The wide range of
goods and services, allows for the community to fulfill many of the members needs and wants and
allows diversified income streams for the village into the future.

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Project Indicators
Actual & interested Participants 6
Angelito investors 8
Other donations $1,650 CAD

First Stage funds raised (USD)

$41,650 of $250,000 USD (17%)

Contact Us
Address of associates in Canada: 10235 Dewdney Trunk Road, Mission, BC, Canada, V4S 1L1
Address of Community (basecamp) in Panama: Casa Blanca, Colonia Santena, Isla Colon, Bocas Del Toro, Panama
Phone Number/Telegram/Whatsapp: (in Panama) 507-6981-2334
Email Address: [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])

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