Well hey and thanks for the warm welcome!
I would be happy to elaborate a little on my project. It is a decentralised incubator so perhaps most of your skepticisms don't apply! Let me note before I start this tangent, that I was drawn straight to the Sidi Kaouki project when I first came to this platform and it's just this interlapping of interests that had me convinced I am in the right place. I would love to be involved sometime down the line.
So, while I am wholly committed to the project I am about to share with you all, I'm also very open in sharing all that I have schemed and learned in the trust that we are working together to benefit society and ecology - so hopefully it is of use to you
On the one hand, I have set the intention to write a blog for each major chapter of our development on this website, so a lot of the more formal/clear information that I have 'documented' can be found on this first post.
The other answer to documentation, aside from our trello board (where we now employ interstitial journalling), is that as a first iteration we are building a database which is currently open for anybody to add to or draw knowledge/inspiration from. It's a massive documentation of data, on its way toward becoming an open-access directory.
The goal is to remove the barriers which keep common citizens from taking action in their communities and empowering them with accessibility, tools, support, training and finance when it is relevant. Hence the first step is to create a directory of sorts, pointing to valuable information.
As a global body (at least in time the idea is to transcend borders), we act as an 'incubator' modelling a sort of 'venture capitalism' which I think of as venture relationalism (term pending).
I mirror your insight into remodelling the collective space of home and work, and we also want to be as self sustainable as possible every step of the way. So, we have recently acquired some land in Gujraula, near New Delhi, to offer as a co-working space and to rent out in Air BnB, looking to attract nomadic entrepreneurs and grow our network. This won't be a place for residencies as your model has, though I like the idea and may try it down the line. Instead the idea is to create edge between our projects and the wider, global community of social entrepreneurs.
In this building, which is designed to showcase sustainability in many forms, we will open a rooftop cafe, growing plenty of our own food on the roof, and connecting in the emerging organic food distribution system of this area while supporting local farmers to transition portions of their land to an agroecological model. Our site will also have an auditorium space for workshops and presentations; we intend to invite locals in for monthly film screenings and hire the space out to companies who come to the industrial area for business -- this is filling a void that one local has identified.
So, basing ourselves here in the beginning, we will then flesh out the following model;
Client A has an idea (based, at first, on one of our 5 key tension areas: education, healthcare, organic farming, waste and alternative energy), yet she has no business background and limited funding. She has heard about us from school or family, so she gets in contact.
We assign her a non-specialist coach. This member of our team has gone through a training programme which identifies key tools and frameworks that can fit different situations. This person is hired if they have ideally both a background in entrepreneurship or management, and communication (NVC, deep listening, etc). We supplement their business knowledge with a course and this team (the leaves) connect to a stem (a professional advisor), meaning that the flow of knowledge is providing continuous training for our leaves while not overloading the stems.
Meanwhile, our root system plugs away at the level of government and investors. They seek grants, organize citizen resistance, make visible the struggles which emerge from data collected from our Clients' pitches and shuffle the legal backbones of the small projects we are supporting.
Our network (The GRDN) would be financially self sufficient through the business of co-working spaces and sustainable tourism ventures, potentially even an investment in alternative energy. Yet we receive stakes in the companies which bloom under our coaching, so that revenue can build into supporting more projects and expanding into other communities. Eventually we will be able to pay local representatives who wish to start a GRDN chapter in their area. This person will collect relevant cultural data for the directory, host events to bring citizens together over empowerment and manage a team which can grow into a version of our prototype leaf-stem coaching model.
However, we continue to apply for grants to distribute to project applicants based on criteria influenced by Effective Altruism. We use our core team to siphon donations into the most effective local projects which are still being ultimately led by and developed by locals, who obviously have the most intimate understanding of their community's needs. Yet we can choose to put a portion of this funding into courses / trainings for these local leaders, equipping them with long-term benefit (rather than taking over when they reach the limit of their existing abilities).
I think this covers the main structure, if I've left anything out or you have further questions (I hope!), then we'll continue the discussion. But I am very interested to hear your feedback @alberto and @matthias or whoever else. If this is something you think you'd like to co-create then I'll gladly invite you into the Trello board; currently it is mainly myself, with a partner in India who is making connections with businessmen and politicians of the area and overseeing the co-working site, with our friend Trisha who has been helping me to categorise the directory. I'm sure some of you will have great suggestions for entries into the directory, don't be shy to add anything as the google folder is open for editing
(Here's that link again.)
PS Permaculture works anywhere that there's an ecosystem! I guess I'm more of a pollinator for now but social permaculture happens a lot online and wherever the workshops are ((everywhere)).