NGO Internship - EduCARE India

During the recent COVID-19 pandemic, I got matched with EduCARE India NGO for my virtual internship in Public Health Emergency Response program under its Disaster Management (Disaster Risk Reduction and Emergency Response Preparedness) initiative. I was a bit confused in the first couple of days when a lot of information was passed my way to which I was not used to. However, I was able to appreciate it all by the end of my 1st week engagement.

My cross cultural communication classes had helped me to practice active listening and writing things down to continuously reflect later for better learning and understanding. I stayed positive and did not ask any closed questions that I was sometime tempted in response to some long-winded discussions. I stayed open to new learning experiences.

While embedded in the UNDP supported district Disaster Management Response unit that organized the overall pandemic response control and coordination in the region, the Project Director was a busy man with lots of work at hand, some of which he gave me to do. He was also developing and operating a local Psychosocial Support initiative of the Red Cross.

Working with this authentic NGO in a real work scenario helped me enrich my knowledge and experience beyond my expectations.

It was also the most economical program as the whole internship matching process is undertaken with the organization rather than third-party online internship matching platforms.

All the people that I interacted with in EduCARE India NGO and its partner institutions, it made me feel very safe and comfortable during the internship time. I will surely be visiting India and the wonderful Himalayas for a real experience in the coming years.

I recently worked at South India projects and Rajasthan for week at Jodhpur. There are loads of opportunities to work and learn in varied focus areas of work from empowerment and education to environment conservation. This NGO is a perfect fit for those who wish to learn deeper about issues of sustainable development at grassroot level. The accommodation is basic and good. Do not expect a room attendant. One needs to be a hands on worker and self organised. please do not tolerate gossipy and judgemental errant volunteers). It spoils the experience of the ones who have come to work and learn. Do not bother about their negative and malicious reviews posted out of their own lack of understanding and lack of adaptation in cross-cultural settings. Keep up the good work that motivates some of the aspiring social entrepreneurs to take a step forward.
It provides basic and safe accommodation facilities to volunteer-interns who do not pay money for accommodations. Some projects may not good for those who are a cheap volunteer-holiday experience with customer service and do not understand development work.

Educare India is far from the sustainable development NGO they advertise or claim to be. They are an elaborately disguised business intertwined with many of the socio-cultural issues associated with India. Educare predominantly profit from inexperienced international students who are performing an internship as a requirement of their university degree. As a volunteer in my 30’s with substantial NGO experience I arrived to participate in the professional volunteer program in the south, only to soon realise this program didn’t exist. The extreme disorganisation of Educare was revealed as they hid behind a guise of a model that provides opportunities to ‘self-sufficient independent’ volunteers. I was expected to start a project alone and from scratch without support, any other volunteers, resources or community connections, work which was unlikely to be ever be continued. This was the exact opposite of what I was told to expect from the position. Later the director stated that they weren’t interested in me producing results for sustainable development and that my presence in the town was sufficient. My accommodation was isolated, mould ridden, filthy and I was made to live uncomfortably with a male ‘logistics’ staff member whose controlling and sexist behaviour ultimately resulted in my departure from the project by the end of a month. This staff member also revealed that Educare were being sued by a past volunteer for being fraudulent and that the case had been in court for two years. Yet Educare continue to recruit and take the set up fees from unsuspecting volunteers. The companies' inefficiency to provide the registration paperwork required by immigration for my employment visa to be registered within 14 days of entry also resulted in extreme stress. Save yourself from a costly and unpleasant experience and find a legitimate NGO who has the capacity to provide adequate opportunity and support volunteers.

EduCARE India is an organisation where you can a learn a lot. You grow because you're given a lot of autonomy and independence and thus have to find the best way to carry out your projects yourself even though that doesn't mean you can't seek support from your mentor. You learn how to research, plan, execute, follow-up and ensure continuity of your project. If you're able to succeed here you're probably likely to succeed anywhere given the challenges inherent to development work.

I had joined this organisation way back in 2014 for 4-months internship in alternative energy and after school program for children. I had chosen it as it was very affordable and gave freedom to design and develop own projects. I developed a solar thermal project and was happy to see the device was intact when I was revisited the location during my holiday trip to India this year. It was sad to know that some international interns did not fit in the organisation and its work culture well and spread wrong information and abandoned the ongoing projects. The issue of fee has been wrongly interpreted as to undertake such internship for 4-months my other options included paying more than 1200 euro. It was in our times that international applicants recommended online cash transfers as easy and cheaper option to the bank transfer for the internship admin charges. I was happy to get support of the local volunteer to refit the broken part of the device and make it work again. I saw the wonderful women empowerment and forestry project happening in another location. I would recommend such people to come and work in this organisation who want to work without much supervision. A lot of support is available from the Mentor, technical resource persons, and local volunteers.

I was supposed to start my internship in Rajasthan with EduCare India in February 2017 as an alternative energy volunteer, however the internal situation in the organization made me change my mind once I was already there.
After a long journey and spending a considerable amount of money, I arrived to Rangmahal center in India, initially completely motivated to start a project in solar energy with the support of EduCare India. All of a sudden my plans changed completely, as soon as I was informed about the current situation in the organization. Some volunteers found out that the organization was lacking a legal structure, thus nobady knew where the initial payments were going or from where the project funding was coming from. This fact posed a situation of serious doubts about the real intention of the organization when charging almost 600 € to each volunteer before arrival, giving a feeling closer to a Scam rather than an organized NGO. On top of that, there was a suspicion that EduCare India owed money to local people and old volunteers which financed their own projects. When I arrived all volunteers stoped their projects and the introduction curses were cancelled, leaving us with no more chances than leaving the country, since our Visas were linked to the organization.
EduCare India does not have a real NGO structure, the volunteers are in the reality doing all the job, from writing to new volunteers, to organizing the introduction curses. Each volunteer has to finance its own project and wait later for refunding. It is mandatory to make an initial payment (paid by Wester Union) that nobody knows for what exactly is used. This sad reality makes me write the worst possible review and recommend to everybody interested "Do NOT join this organization" please.

I started with Educare in 2014 as a Project Manager and loved it so much that I decided to stay on as a Fellow through 2015. Educare presents a platform for you to work closely with the community at a grassroots level and get hands on project management experience (but perhaps not in the traditional sense). Definitely come self-motivated with a focus on what you want to get out of the experience. Living and working in India is very different than in most developed countries, so if you are adaptable, open minded and ready for an adventure, than this could be the right fit for you!

One of my favorite experiences in India was living in Punjab and working with the migrant community there. The children's faces would light up from the moment we arrived, and we also always had so much fun teaching the kids and getting to know the adults while lounging in the shade. One time we created relays races and split the kids into teams. They loved it! We also worked closely with the young girls. Getting to empower them and help make them see how strong and beautiful they really are was a life changing experience, one I will not soon forget.

I also learned just as much from living and working with other interns as I did from the community. What a truly international and cross cultural experience to get to live and work closely with people from all over the world. Living in rural communities can be challenging, but with these folks we formed a family creating a home away from home. Some of the relationships I have built are still an active part of my life today.

Educare India is a wonderful, organic, grassroots NGO. You are placed in a rural community in basic conditions to really experience the true lifestyle of the communities that you are both learning about and learning with.
You are placed with other interns from countries all over the world, working with local communities to help them make small but significant changes in their lives. The communities that you work with a rural poor, either displaced or farmers. People of the lower social castes.
This is not a rich NGO. It is grassroots, running on basic budgets with amazing people who help you to grow. It's an amazing international environment. If you actually want to learn about Indian culture, learn about yourself, and make amazing friends then this is the NGO to go to!!