EDE - Gaia Ashram, Thailand
Overview
Type: Face to Face
Start Date: January 7th 2024
End Date: February 7th 2024
Website: gaiaschoolasia.com
Contact: gaiaschoolasia@gmail.com
Certified by:
Organised and hosted by:
What is Ecovillage Design Education (EDE)?
This international Ecovillage Design Education course (EDE) is a 32 days course that is certified by Gaia Education & GEN (Global Ecovillage Network) and is organised and facilitated by certified trainers. Ecovillage Design Education program is recognised as a contributor to UNESCO Global Action Programme (GAP) on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD).
The EDE provides students of all ages with the knowledge and practical skills on how to design a society or a community/village which uses energy and materials with greater efficiency, distributes wealth fairly and strives to eliminate the concept of waste. The knowledge of EDE is also adaptable for personal or family level of transformation, in urban and rural contexts.
EDE – also known as the Wing – programmes are based on the four core dimensions of Gaia Education’s Ecovillage Design Curriculum: the Social, Worldview, Ecological and Economic dimensions of sustainability. The curriculum was developed drawing on the experience and expertise developed in a network of some of the most successful ecovillages and transition settings across the Earth.
This four weeks EDE is divided using the four dimensions or the sustainability wheel & each week will cover one dimension.
1st Week: Social Dimension
Community Building & Embracing Diversity
• Communication Skills & Decision-Making
• Leadership & Empowerment
• Art, Ritual & Social Transformation
• Education, Social Networks & Activism
2nd week: Worldview Dimension
• Holistic Worldview
• Reconnecting with Nature
• Transformation of Consciousness
• Personal Health & Planetary Health
• Socially Engaged Spirituality
3rd week: Economy Dimension
• Shifting the Global Economy to Sustainability
• Rights Livelihood
• Local Economies
• Community Banks & Currencies
• Legal & Financial Issues
4th week: Ecology Dimension
• Green Building & Retrofitting
• Local food & Nutrient Cycles
• Infrastructure, Water & Energy
• Nature, Urban Regeneration & Disaster Recovery
• Whole Systems Approach to Design
EDE’s Learning Process
• Participatory and interactive
• Practical and experiential learning
• Community building & community living
• Spirituality : head-heart-hands
Daily Schedule
Monday – Saturday
5.30 – 6.30 Am : Meditation(Optional)
6.30 – 7.15 Am : Yoga/Tai Chi(Optional)
7.30 – 8.30 Am : Breakfast
8.45 – 9.00 Am : Morning Check
9.00 – 10.30 Am : Session 1
10.30 – 10.45 Am : Tea Break
10. 45 – 12.30 Am : Session 2
12.30 – 14.30 Pm : Lunch & Rest
14.30 – 16.30 Pm : Session 3
16.30-16.45 Pm : Tea Break
16.45 – 17.30 Pm : Session 4 (Practical)
17.45 – 19.00 Pm : Yoga/Dance (Optional)
19.00 – 20.00 Pm : Dinner
Sunday : Day off, Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner will be served as usual time.
What are the fee?
Full fee:
$1650 Euros per person for high quality facilitation by experienced and accredited trainers, Exposure trip, 3 meals each day and lodging, for 32 days program.
Early bird fees:
$1450 Euro per person, pay by 15th November 2023. Limited spaces available.
$1300 Euro for activist, environmental and social workers, pay by 15th November 2023. Limited spaces available.
If you are interested to join this program, but have challenges with your finance, please do get in contact with us. Limited number of partial scholarships are available. Please write to us at gaiaschoolasia@gmail.com to share your situation and we can open a dialogue to find a way that this course is still accessible to you and is fair for the organizers.
How to apply?
send your inquiry to
gaiaschoolasia@gmail.com and We will send registration form including instruction to make a deposit down payment of 200 Euro to secure your spot . The remaining fee, after the down payment, will be paid after the program is confirmed, through electronic transfer or cash at arival.
*** Please Note that this course will only happen when We have minimum number of participants which is 16 participants. We may cancel the course if it does not seem to reach the number. We will anounce on November 30th 2023 whether or not the course will happen. In case of cancelation from our side all the deposit payment will be fully refunded.
If We could not reach the expected number of participants by November 3oth, The course will be postponed to January 5th -February 5th 2025

How to run an EDE?
Several of our EDE graduates have carried on organising EDE programmes in their local areas, and you are warmly encouraged to do so after completing your course.
The recommended time frame of an EDE is four weeks, however this is not fixed and varies with each individual programme.
The material can be condensed into smaller workshops, spread out over a longer period, or distributed in blocks at different times and locations.