Since 1960, the Tibetan people have been living in exile from their homeland, with 130,000 taking refuge within settlements throughout India. His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of the Tibetans, negotiated their establishment with the Government of India in an effort to preserve the dignity, culture and spiritual integrity of his nation. Today, these settlements face many challenges, as diverse and unique as their respective locales amid tropical, arid and/or cool climate Himalayan mountain settings. Among them are political uncertainty, economically tenuous agricultural practices, and migration of Tibetan youth in pursuit of life beyond the settlements. And yet, all share a common stake: how can settlement life become the foundation for successful living for both current and future generations of Tibetans.

In 2000, the Dalai Lama expressed a vision for emergent sustainable settlements, with the intention of improving the stability and quality of life for his people in exile and as preparation for their eventual return to their homeland. Soon thereafter, the Tibetans elected Professor Samdong Rinpoche as their first Prime Minister, who has since committed his government to pursuing this vision. The result is an ambitious portfolio of local, regional, and international collaborations focusing on many aspects of sustainable settlement development. This paper documents one such collaboration.

In the summer of 2004, the Prime Minister invited the author to India to co-facilitate a permaculture design training aimed to extend efforts of the Tibetan government towards organic agricultural practices within the settlements. Convened in Karnataka State, the event gathered 40 participants representing 12 agriculture settlements across six states, including farmers, settlement and agriculture extension officers, cooperative members, and project secretaries. This paper documents the intentions and outcomes of this event, outlines goals for future projects, and examines its relevance to sustainable community development initiatives with at-risk populations.

I bring to my work various writing, teaching, research, and leadership experiences. Having served as Chair of the Graduate Programs in Environment and Community from 1998 to 2002 at Antioch University Seattle, I am presently a Core Faculty member within Antioch's emerging Center for Creative Change. I teach a variety of graduate courses including: Ecological Sustainability; Philosophical Perspectives in Environment and Community; Theories and Practices of Social and Environmental Change; Reflective Practicum II, Topics of Environmental Sustainability; Tools and Techniques of Interdisciplinary Environmental Analysis; Permaculture Design Certification; Critical Inquiry; and Ethics and Environmental Justice. I hold a Ph.D. in Social Work from the University of Tennessee and an M.S.W. in Social Work from the University of Pittsburgh. My professional interests include social and environmental change processes, low-impact and ecological (permaculture) design methodologies, growing non-profit and for-profit partnerships, sustainable food systems and agriculture, international bamboo cultures, appropriate technology transfer, integrated biosystems and zero-emission business ecologies. A returned United States Peace Corps volunteer (Kingston, Jamaica, 1991-93), I have been involved in community organizing and sustainable development initiatives for some 15 years. Two of my recent publications are: Scherch, J. (forthcoming, 2005). Models of Sustainability. In John Nolt's (Ed.) A Land Imperilled: The Declining Ecological Health of Southern Appalachia. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press. Scherch, J. (2004). Riverton: Envisioning a Sustainable Community. In D. Fauri, S. Wernet & F.E. Netting's (Eds.) Cases in Social Work Macro Practice, 2nd Edition. New York: Allyn & Bacon.