The course will address the importance of understanding power relationships between Global North and Global South territories in order to contribute to environmental and social justice and how Mesoamerican Permaculture can provide some guidelines for this. The Mesoamerican Permaculture Institute (Instituto Mesoamericano de Permacultura – IMAP) is a non-profit organization based in Guatemala. It was founded in 2000 by a group of local people concerned by the serious environmental, social and cultural problems affecting the nation. They established an ecological education center to promote permaculture techniques, local biodiversity conservation, production of organic food, and a seed bank that strives to reconstruct the Mayan seed heritage.

Kalamazoo Valley is partnering with Transformational Connections to offer the Spring 2021 series of International Life Enrichment courses. Transformational Connections of Southwest Michigan is a Michigan 501c3 whose mission is "To provide volunteer opportunities in the developing world and foster life-changing experiences within ourselves, our community and those we are serving."  They have developed over 12 trips to the Lake Atitlan, Guatemala region, including study abroad courses through local universities.  Transformational Connections looks forward to travel to and with our partners in Guatemala in 2022.