GEV started its educational initiatives in 2015 with the vision of inspiring sustainability leadership among the young generation through transformative experiential learning through curated programs. Situated about two hours from Mumbai, India’s financial capital and most populous city, study abroad at GEV also offers exciting excursions that facilitate higher learning and personal growth through exploration of culture, history, architecture, food, art, and more in the surrounding region.

Spread over 100 acres, Govardhan Ecovillage (GEV) was set up in 2003 as a model farm community to create social, environmental, and economic impact. A United Nations (UN)-awarded sustainability nonprofit, GEV features platinum-rated green buildings built with 400K locally-made compressed stabilized earth blocks, use of renewable and alternative energy sources including solar and biogas, water conservation and rainwater harvesting, biodiversity conservation, sewage processing and soil biotechnology. GEV implements various green initiatives on its campus while working for the sustainable development of the neighbouring Indigenous village groups in a hub and spoke model, to make agri-entrepreneurs, and skilled tribal youths, and empower women.

GEV is a model eco-farm community demonstrating the importance of living a life in harmony with nature. The grounds include outdoor living labs and indoor classroom spaces including a library, accommodations/living quarters, exquisite temples, dioramas, a 25-acre forest, a biodiversity park, farms, an animal shelter, a yoga school, an ayurvedic centre, a community area and geo-tourism site, ecotourism facilities, and the Yamuna River flowing through.

GEV works on a Symbiotic Sustainable Development Model (SSDM) inspired by the principle of circularity, with sustainability living labs including rainwater harvesting, a solar power plant, and a 10-acre biodiversity park (home to 165+ native species of trees, 65+ species of birds and 55+ species of butterflies). GEV follows a net zero waste policy, recycling organic waste to manure, plastic waste to diesel oil, and other water recycling contributing to farming and landscaping; and practices organic farming over 13-acre farmland, with a seed bank collection of indigenous varieties of rice and millets.

Govardhan Ecovillage is accredited by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), the UN Economic and Social Council (UN ECOSOC), the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD), and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), and has received various national and international awards for its initiatives and impact. GEV is being studied by high-level institutions such as Yale and Harvard Universities as a model for ecological sustainability and rural development.