Academic path

My original background is business administration which I took at Damascus University and completed by 1997, however this never never seemed to go in line with my own interests and beliefs therefore I spent years looking for a learning path that is truly fulfilling and can help dealing with this increasingly complicated world, which I eventually found in Permaculture. Particularly inspiring to me was the eco-village movement where communities live together in harmony with the earth and with each other.

After long time of reading about it, I officially started my permaculture education in 2009 with a PDC in Jordan provided by Geoff Lawton. Ever since, I have been trying to find ways to start some action in Syria where permaculture was not yet heard of.

The war in Syria started in 2011 and shook this part of the world so violently that I’m still recovering the effects of shock. Enrolling in this diploma program was for me one of the main tools to overcome the stress by simply moving forward. This diploma program has actually changed my life forever. I grew up tremendously going through the brilliant reading material and taking steps towards becoming an action learner. My current learning path is spreading over around 10 year, including very long pauses due to war circumstances, years that were full of transformations and achievements.

Under this program, I took over few projects that established my permaculture activism path and helped me build my capacities from almost scratch. I completed 10 e-portfolios, the last of which was submitted in 2019.

During pre-capstone year, my work was focused on personal development in two major areas:

Improving the technical skills related to application of permaculture on the ground. For this purpose I chose urban gardening and composting which are easily applicable and highly attractive.
Improving supporting skills like scientific research, use of thinking and problem solving tools

As I was still taking my first steps in this learning path, OPs then seemed quite primitive however the knowledge i gained from this year proved to be very handy during the capstone year, which spread over 3 years, where I managed to fulfill 3 main projects that had huge affect to my career and even personal life, including completion of the compost research paper, the book translation project, and continuing with my urban gardening project.

More detail on all projects can be found by going back to My portfolio.

At the time being, I’m on three major projects:

Organizing and manging a course on regenerative agriculture that involves around 100 agriculture specialists and extension workers in Syria.
Developing a small piece of land that I recently acquired to become my safe haven and demonstration site
Initiating a full fledged permaculture design programme with a small group of experts, so that we can eventually form Syria’s first professional permaculture group

I’m looking forward to documenting this work through my future Master’s programme which I intend to start with sometime in late 2022.

Nadia Attar