In India, Gaia Youth is called World We Want Design Education (WWWDE). In 2014-2015 Siddharth Village School, Hosur, conducted training for students from 14 to 16 years old. This was a pilot project organised in eight phases through weekend workshops and long holidays. The syllabus of the workshop was drawn and adopted from Gaia Education’s Curriculum and was conducted by trainers from Bangalore. The programme enables children to face different situations particular to their teenage years and prepares them for a more sustainable future. This project is universal in scope and local in application.

The objectives of the WWWDE Pilot Project are:

• to serve the purpose of education for the transition to a comprehensive sustainable culture – global in scope and yet determinedly local in application
• instilling an instinctive awareness that the interconnectedness of life is not mere metaphor but a living truth for which we humans must take responsibility
• learning about starting a community, including organising a core group, forging a common vision, creating community glue and instilling an atmosphere of trust and goodwill
• understanding the role of the facilitator in the participatory processes and how it differs from traditional, autocratic leadership
• to encourage the taking on of leadership roles in a group
• promoting an understanding of what money is and how it works
• increasing familiarity with various green ’alternative’ building techniques
• introducing various methods and techniques for organic food production
• ensuring awareness of peak oil and the carbon footprint for mitigating climate change
• to bring changes in the education system, leading to a sustainable, living, new culture of back to basics

BBDE 2015 in Siddharthvillage – Watch the video here