NPA started in 2020 with Andreas Jonsson and Maria Svennbeck from Sweden and Cathrine Dolleris and Karoline Nolsø Aaen from Denmark joining forces as permaculture diploma mentors. Since 2023 Andreas and Cathrine have mentored the approximately 70 diploma apprentices in NPA between the two of them.
Creating 10 approved designs – which is the requirement for the Diploma in Applied Permaculture Design – can easily take a few years so the first new NPA diploma holders were celebrated at the gathering in Holma, Sweden, in November 2024 when Marie Cox and Mette Madvig got their Diplomas. See the report here: NPA Diploma Gathering in Holma in November 2024
The next new diploma holders were celebrated already in March 2025 at the NPA gathering in Karjalohja, Finland, where Marja Nuora, Erkki Pöytäniemi and Emma Skamris did their diploma presentations. So now 5 NPA apprentices have graduated as diploma holders!
As a diploma holder you are a skilled permaculture designer equipped to tackle the environmental and social challenges of today and tomorrow as a permaculture practitioner, teacher, consultant etc. One of the things a diploma holder can (and probably should) do is hold PDC courses. It is also possible to become a permaculture diploma mentor. However one doesn’t become a mentor automatically. If the diploma holder chooses to become a mentor, then it means stepping again into a learning pathway. NPA has adopted a mentor learning pathway which is very similar to the system developed in PAB (Permaculture Association Britain) where Cathrine is a Senior mentor trainee.
NPA started the 1st mentor training in September 2025 with Andreas and Cat as teachers and Marja, Erkki and Simon Gillesberg joining in. Developing the mentoring training is a big effort and step and it enables NPA to take diploma mentoring further. Erkki and Marja have already started with mentoring their first apprentices while Simon still needs to finalise his diploma first. This is the first time diploma mentoring training is arranged in the Nordic region and therefore an important step for both NPA and the Nordic permaculture movement in general! Educating more permaculture diploma mentors and thereby more diploma holders is an important part of advancing permaculture overall and specifically in the Nordic region. While permaculture is a global movement we also need to empower ourselves to develop permaculture in our northern conditions.
We foresee an organic growth of NPA where some of our diploma holders become mentors in NPA through our mentor training program. For the time being our mentor training is designed for our internal purposes and aims at training mentors who will function as mentors within NPA. Our aim is a high quality of mentoring and design assessments. A future mentor could also have her/his diploma accredited in an other system but being a NPA mentor always means being an active NPA working member. NPA is a sociocratic organisation – therefore new mentors that join NPA need to be approved by existing mentors.
What does this mean for apprentices? NPA apprentices who have already started, continue with their existing mentors as before but now the path forward is clearer if they want to become diploma mentors after becoming diploma holders. For new apprentices it means that there are more choices of mentors in NPA. Marja and Erkki joining as mentors also means it will become possible to have mentoring locally in Finland and in Finnish. But of course you are not restricted to choosing your mentor from your own country. On the other hand – while your assessment mentor remains the same for the whole diploma pathway – you can always consult the other mentors for some specific know-how they might have that is topical for you.