Gaia Education Certification

While the Ecovillage Design Curriculum is an "open source" offering to the world,  and people are free to use the material as they see fit, we encourage people to apply for  Gaia Education certification for courses that meet the following criteria:

A minimum of 125 contact hours (e.g. 20 course days; 6.25 hours/day)
A strong intention to cover all 20 modules within each of the four dimensions
A minimum of 15 hours devoted to holistic and detailed design processes
A skilled team of educators with sufficient knowledge and experience and at least one who has completed an EDE
An appropriate venue (ideally an ecovillage or a sustainability research or demonstration center)
A commitment to complete and submit course evaluations and reports

Why Apply for  Certification? We believe this process provides numerous benefits: Certified by Gaia Edu

Gaia Education certification endorsement adds institutional value to courses
A certification provides a forum in which to evolve and improve the curriculum
New courses can receive mentoring by experienced EDE providers in their region
It provides opportunities to collectively reach out to media, organisations & funders

Three Ways to be Associated with Gaia Education

Certified by Gaia Education - join the worldwide network of sustainability designers by offering a certified EDE. Complete and submit an online Certification or Re-certification Application, or download the Certification or Re-certification application.

Supported by Gaia Education - offer an abridged version of the EDE programme to test the material in your region and country. Write to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to tell us more of your programme and request institutional support from Gaia Education.

Inspired by Gaia Education - create your own education for sustainability programme and get inspired by the EDE. Write to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to tell us more of your programme and request the Inspired by Gaia Education logo.

To date, over 135 EDE courses have been formally certified or re-certified and 10 have been offered Supported by Gaia Education Certification.

Anyone can use the Inspired by logo, but the Certified by and Supported by logos are reserved for courses that are formally certified or receive institutional support from Gaia Education.

We are excited about the ongoing development of the certification process and welcome your questions and suggestions.

Applications received in this period	Will be reviewed by
January 1 - April 30	June 30
May 1 - August 31	October 31
September 1 - December 31	February 28