Service Learning Groups: Critical Community Development Initiatives in India
Our service learning course in Kerala, India combines valuable community development work with a comprehensive educational curriculum. Teach sports to young children, spend afternoons building an eco-garden or eco-toilet or get your hands dirty with a community construction projects.
The Project:
Students will report daily to the project construction sites where they will work side by side local community members and our partner organizations. Specific projects will depend on the needs of the centers at the time, and could involve engagement in construction and renovation projects, as well as creative activities, basic healthcare and hygiene programs, and sports development initiatives. Participating in the multiple projects is a great way for students to practice effective team building skills in order to achieve overall goals that positively affect the greater global world.
Educational Focus:
Through lectures, discussion, research, service, and reflection, beginning two weeks prior to their departure and continuing two weeks after their return home, students in this course engage in meaningful, context-driven service-learning at home and abroad. Emphasis will be placed on relating long term project goals with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and engaging in daily reflection surrounding the experience, which will be lead by qualified group facilitators, furthering individual educational development. This course curriculum will be tailored to your students academic level and curriculum, as well as your faculty requirements.
Location:
Our base in India is located in Kerala. A sliver of a state in India’s deep south, shaped by its landscape – almost 600km of fascinating Arabian Sea coast and beaches, a network of backwaters, and the spice and tea-covered hills of the Western Ghats. Besides it’s famous backwaters, rice paddies, coconut groves, intriguing houseboats and delicately spiced taste-bud-tingling cuisine, Kerala is home to wild elephants, exotic birds and the odd tiger. It is also a place of crazily vibrant traditions such as Kathakali plays and snake-boat races. As with the rest of India it also plays host to extreme economic disparities with communities living well below the breadline with little access to formal education, income opportunities, and decent hygiene standards.
Your Group Can Expect the Following Highlights on This Program:
- Hands-on involvement with vital construction efforts in the area.
- Connect classroom knowledge with real world experiences.
- Gain an understanding of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
- Acquire hard and soft skills useful for both career development and personal growth.
- Explore Kerala, India and gain a better understanding of local culture.
If applying for this program to obtain credit from an institution, GVI can supply learning outcomes and support in the application.
Risk assessment available upon request, please contact GVI for more details.
