High Altitude Mountains and hilly region
- J&K Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh
Agricultural Plains and Arid Desert
- Rajasthan and Punjab
River Delta and Coastal Region
- Gujarat and Kerala
Our Approach
Community Applied Research
We address community based problems by engaging the local community as a resource.
Social Entrepreneurship
We do not receive any external aid or charity but work to create money through social entrepreneurship
Youth in volunteer action
We engage young people to be role models of volunteer action for the issues that they relate to and are compassionate about
Focus Areas of Work
Internship experiences
The EDUCARE life!!
To give you all a bit of a back story to myself my name is Ethan Donovan and my mother Rachael Donovan moved to India to work with EduCARE in 2011. I have been a part of and known EduCARE for a long time now and watched the organisation develop and grow. But only this
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Falling in love with India
Did the time fly or did it crawl? I honestly can’t tell. The last six months have not always been easy. I’ve cursed India, I’ve loved India, but in the end I’m leaving EduCARE feeling pretty good. I didn’t always embrace this experience, but about half way through my internship my attitude started to change
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An experience in India
Being part of EduCARE weaves some sort of spell – It constantly requires you to grow and change. Unexpectedly, several things have left a lasting impression on me. In no particular order: Cows, dogs, birds, spiders, leeches and slugs. Enough said. Girl’s Club While working on the field for a grassroots organisation in particular, it
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Feeling free and alive, a feeling of belonging to nature.
Gajner has got a treasure, a treasure that not a lot of people take care about. It is unique, huge, beautiful, amazing. I am talking about the desert and the wildlife sanctuary. My experience in the dessert started during my first week as an EduCARE intern in Gajner. Léa Monin, the SWASH coordinator when I
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Lessons learned from EduCARE
Even after 1.5 years of EduCARE, I have laughed, cried, been thoroughly stressed, and also overjoyed many times in what feels like a blink of an eye throughout my internship. Now that it is time for me to move on, reflecting on what I have learned has showed me that I am leaving EduCARE as
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EduCARE India –the good, the bad, and the disgusting
Seven months ago I remember saying to a fellow intern, “wow, time is going by so slow,” and he responded, “wait until you start working.” He was right. The past few months in Educare have flown by and it has been an amazing experience. For someone like myself who didn’t join Educare as an internship
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Coordinators Retreat in Rajasthan
The retreats for Coordinators were developed during 2015 as an opportunity for the management team to come together and talk about changes that might have come about in the organisation, what they want to change, issues they face, their job roles, etc. This was the third Coordinators retreat of the year, but it was my
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Community Cook off!
After 2 months of intense nutrition work with the community, the cooking competition in Chenni successfully finished one part of the project, opening the door for more workshops and raising of awareness amongst the girls and women. Everything started months ago when, after one more dinner with a family, I could not walk home because
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Protesting in Harike
During the whole time I have spent in India or any country, I have never experienced anything like what recently occurred in a rural town of Punjab. It was the biggest and most extreme protest I had ever seen. It all started because someone had ripped pages out of a holy book. People started protesting
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Colourful and exciting India
If there is one thing to know about India, it’s that they love a good festival and celebrating in style. Luckily, we got to experience every first hand and on a quite a personal level. We started small and by the second day, it turned into one of the most intriguing events in my life
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Trekking to Triund
I have a tradition of sipping a freshly brewed coffee on the brisk mornings of a hike to take in the sun rising over the beautiful view in front of me. However, after a cold and unexpected trek to Indrahar pass with Mr. B, Rachael, Daikin, Jakob and fellow interns, all I needed to wake
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Camel safari in Thar desert
One of the nicest aspects of volunteering in EduCARE’s Gajner office is the seemingly unlimited options for travel on the weekends. Situated in a central location in Rajasthan, Gajner has access to more interesting places than imaginable. A short overnight train or bus can bring you to the blue city of Jodhpur, the white city
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Leaving Dal Lake
September 30th, 2015 is a day that we, the Naddi interns, won’t forget. Everything had to be removed from the office/intern house of Dal Lake on this day, after months of waiting for the new houses to be built. There, some facilities are still not available and the shower room has apparently no wall to
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An amazing trek for my holidays
“I’m not going to make it, I’m not going to make it,” I kept thinking to myself as I focused on my feet while trekking uphill. I didn’t want to look up because I knew it would be hours of uphill until we reached the pass. In fact, there was so much uphill I couldn’t
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Burning to leave
I have been in EduCARE long enough to see two dozen interns come in my life and leave it. Most likely forever. No hard feelings there, just a cold fact. The life of every EduCARE intern flows more or less the same course: confusion, understanding, hard work, leaving party. In between, the glances at the
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Coming full circle
Sitting on the rooftop of the Gajner intern house, I hear religious melodies travel across the desert’s horizon by speaker. The horn of a passing train blows in the distance, as below, the engine of a tuk tuk shakes in anticipation of its next customer. Looking up, the moon illuminates a slowly dimming sky. Looking
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Garmi Garmi, dealing with the heat of Punjab
Before I arrived in India at the beginning of June 2015, the news at home was displaying stories on a near daily basis about the insane heat waves across India. The south was experiencing temperatures nearing 50’C, Delhi was a toasty 44’C (112’F for my fellow Americans), countless photos of people guzzling water crossed my
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The monster in my stomach
First of all, I’m not pregnant. Gajner is not one of those places where young people go and parents are scared their girls will come back with a baby in the belly. No sex, drugs and rock n’ roll around, trust me. Still, somehow a monster came to live in my stomach when I arrived
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Why an EduCARE India internship won’t be what you expect; and why that’s ok
I find myself at the end of a six-month internship with EduCARE India. As I was saying my final goodbyes, finishing up the last monthly report and making travel arrangement, the Project Director, Mr B, asked me if this internship met my expectations. And I had to say no. Not at all. Any undergrad, recent
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Only in India
My intern flatmate Lea and I sat upon the marble wall fencing in the Birla Mandir from its gorgeously kept gardens below, looking out at the busy streets of Jaipur. Nightfall in big cities is always such a rush; I’ve almost forgotten the feeling after being in the village for so long. The streets are
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My international family
I am here above my past, above negative people, I am here in search of new learning, some good friends and exposure, I am here to serve people, understand myself & to deal with my fears, I am here to make a change, I am here to listen to every word so I can make
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Living in Beautiful and Messy India
While working on my project at EduCARE, I’ve found that many days are emotionally draining and challenging due to my interactions with the local culture. Yesterday was definitely no exception. I’m based in Gajner, a little village in Rajasthan, and my project is to implement a waste management system. I only started two months ago,
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Cluster Coordinator Retreat
Over the past 6-months, EduCARE India has seen a lot of development and improvement, and many incredible interns to help lead the way. Job roles have been given more clarity, more resources and tools have become available to interns and overall it has really strengthened the team dynamic across all clusters, from Himachal to Rajasthan.
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Working in India: you reckon yourself flexible enough?
“It happens, it will happen again. It’s complex, it’s India.” ~Mr B Hai, my name is Bruno. One of my strengths is that I’m flexible: I easily adapt to new environments, I am able to blend into unfamiliar cultures and lay contact with people unknown.” At least.. that is how I used to reflect upon
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Coping with Chaos
This past week, the Bikaner cluster had to say a tearful goodbye to a wonderful intern who has been staying with us over the past four months, Lachlan Alexander. A spunky Australian with a wonderful personality, great beard, mind full of creative ideas and wisdom and a huge heart. While Lachlan has been here, he
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Learning to adapt
Living in India comes with many challenges; I am constantly being pushed outside of my comfort zone and forced to adapt. Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines adapt as changing your behavior so that it is easier to live in a particular place or situation. I think the ability to adapt is the most important characteristic in
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Creating a successful internship
Living and working in Gajner has its perks and its challenges, especially when you are used to a big city like Toronto where you have unlimited space and privacy, and work and home life are completely separate. When working with EduCARE, it’s important to think of yourself as a role model and a leader in
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A different perspective on India
Traveling to a new country is always a different experience, but when coming to a developing country to live in a rural village and work in community development is an entirely new experience. I have previously lived in India for around 2 years, so I thought I new a lot about the culture and values
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Adjusting to India
India is an amazing place with diverse environments and dialects and a peculiar and strong culture. A lot of the aspects of the Indian life may barely show to the tourists passing by, but living and working several months in a rural location will definitely pull you inside the reality of the Indian world. Sometimes
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Implementing a Waste Management System in Gajner
I came to the Bikaner cluster to improve the way they manage waste in the village of Gajner. When I arrived I saw garbage everywhere; trash in the street, in the river and people throwing waste at their feet without consciousness. At first I had plenty of ideas but I soon learned that in this
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To chai or not to chai, there is no question
This is a love story. A love story that started on a cold February day in Naddi. First minutes of my internship. I just arrived in the place. My first time in India, and everything is new and exciting. The weather is grey and cloudy, but who cares I am in my new home for
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Four Tips for Living in India
Living and working in Gajner, a small Rajasthani village, has been amazing so far for me. It is a complex, incredible and intense experience. The surroundings can be a little startling at first, so being prepared can help you overcome the cultural shocks and quicken your adjustment. Here’s a list of ideas to begin your
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Every word counts
Working in unprivileged contexts has always been a challenge to me for many different reasons: The sense of guilt for have been luckier than these people (that is also the guilty of being born in the “wealthy West”); The doubts and thoughts about which are the real needs of the people and which is the
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Rajasthan projects
Our Rajasthan cluster projects are in the Bikaner arid desert region focusing on community empowerment, education and environment conservation leading to sustainable development.
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Arriving in India
Before even arriving in India, I had many problems with getting my Indian visa. At this stage, I thought “Is it that India does not want me or what? ” But finally, after all I journeyed to Paris, excited to begin a beautiful day of long transport – meaning three aircraft, a taxi and a little walking. I
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The crazy experience of India
For every beautiful thing I can say about India and my experience here I can also say an ugly thing. It has been such a whirl wind experience, from having people in Delhi over-charge me simply because I was a foreigner, to having a complete stranger with very little English hand over his phone to
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Avoiding culture shock
Before coming to India, everyone told us about culture shock, everyone was worried how we would manage differences in behaviors, food, weather, work environment… We did not read 1000 books about India before coming, we did not speak with 100 Indian people or past EduCARE interns and yet we did not really experience any hard
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Pooping in India
Before coming for a 6-month internship in India, you have a lot of preconceptions, fears and questions, and one of the biggest ones includes: what are the toilets like in India? What you usually hear in Western countries is that Indians use squat toilets and don’t have toilet paper. But sometimes you hear worst, like
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Steps towards a sustainable future
(towards-a-sustainable-future-swash-project–educare-india-intern-steps) Just a short walk away from the main square in the village of Naddi lives a small community that we refer to as the “Shanney community”. It consists of eight families, about 40 people and although they are only a short distance away from the main village they tend to live their daily lives
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Solar energy collector project bearing first fruit
Time flies, six months have passed very quickly and now I find myself at the end of my stay in India. It’s been an experience full of amazing people and challenges hidden where least expected. It’s been six months of working on alternative energy project – a solar water heater. During this time I have
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Caryn’s Gap Year experience
I interned for a grassroots NGO, EduCARE India, in rural Punjab, India for three months. EduCARE India’s vision is to promote pathways to intellectual freedom, social justice, community welfare, economic liberty, and sustainable development for individuals, families and social groups working to achieve their rationalized life dreams. Read more – http://giveyourgap.org/2012/02/23/caryn-oppenheim-educare-india/
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Educating Girls about Girls’ Education
When the Taliban shot Malala Yousafzai for going to school last year, the world was finally forced to pay attention to the girls’ education crisis. Globally, 66 million girls don’t attend primary school. And the reasons they stay home invariably relate to gender and socio-economic disparities, like high tuition fees, lack of safe transportation, and
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Biomass for Power
Recently, the interns involved in the Biogas Workshop held in Himachal Pradesh were treated to an extra day of field visits related to renewable energy in Punjab. The biomass plant visit was among the many highlights of this extended workshop. Located near Nakoda, the Green Planet Energy Ltd Biomass Plant produces 7,000 kilowatts of energy
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Making Healthy Choices !
Last week in Naddi, we took over Fun Club (the after school program) in Sheney to teach the kids about what it means to be healthy and making healthy choices. The kids were all enthusiastic as we brainstormed what it meant to be healthy, but they were even more excited when we brainstormed unhealthy things,
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Migrants’ Children Education Program
Education leads to empowerment; it is more so true for the children in the rural Migrants communities. On the outskirts of Janauri village lies a small migrant camp that has all to often been overlooked by the Indian society. The cast system does not only limit access to basic provisions but also stifles children’s opportunities to
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Rural sanitation and waste management
The arrival of waste disposal bins to the hill village would not make anyone else as happy as it has made this Australian 21-year-old volunteer-intern. Arrived on July, Morgan Mcintosh did not previously had any ideas on which project to establish in the village. And although she herself confesses not being “a very environmental person
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