A centre, a method, and a practice.
CIEEL is the international fellowship programme of the EduCARE network. Three decades of field practice in Himachal Pradesh distilled into a five-stage methodology — the KARCA Spiral — and a programme architecture for serious practitioner formation.
CIEEL — the Centre for International Experiential Education and Learning — is a programme of EduCARE Dharamshala, in academic partnership with EduCARE India and sponsored in part by EduCARE International under the GlobalPEACE network. Operating from the EDMRC Kangra Campus on Mission Hill Road, the Centre is the international-fellowship arm of a four-vertical institutional architecture covering disaster resilience, public health, environmental restoration, and community empowerment across the Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh.
The Centre was founded as CIEEL India in 2011 and reconstituted under the present name in 2025, alongside the launch of the KARCA Centre of Innovation as the methodology's institutional steward.
An institutional history.
EduCARE founded as an informal trust
First field engagements across five ecological-cultural corridors of India: Leh-Ladakh, Kangra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat-Goa-Kerala.
CIEEL India established
First international fellowship programme launched, hosting fellows from US and European universities in 8-12 week field engagements.
JiEEL founded
Journal of International Experiential Education and Learning launched as the editorial vehicle for fellow scholarship.
First Village Disaster Management Plans
VDMP developed at Naddi (Kangra) using NIDM guidelines. Subsequent VDMPs and IDMPs across thirty-three colleges in Kangra and Hamirpur districts.
EduCARE India Trust registered
Registration No. 175/2017. Provides the academic-partner structure under which CIEEL operates internationally.
EduCARE Dharamshala Society registered
Society Reg. HPCD-1120 under the HP Societies Registration Act 2006. The programme-delivery vehicle for CIEEL.
Consolidation in Kangra District
Deliberate reduction of geographic spread to enable deep institutional implementation. EDMRC Kangra Campus established with 120-bed training facility.
RISHEE four-vertical architecture
Regional Institute for Safety, Health, Environment and Empowerment formally constituted with EDMRC, SEHAT SEVA Sansthan, ECODEVA Sansthan, and ViKAAS Centre as its four sansthans.
CIEEL relaunch & KARCA Centre of Innovation
Centre reconstituted under present name. KARCA Spiral methodology formally articulated. September 2026 founding cohort: Foundation and Fellowship tracks. JiEEL New Series Vol. 1, No. 1 scheduled for publication. Original JiEEL issues from 2014–2017 are being reconstructed for archival listing.
A coordinated institutional architecture.
CIEEL is one programme within a network of legally distinct but coordinated entities. Each entity has a specific role, governance structure, and statutory registration. Together they form the institutional architecture that makes the international fellowship programme possible.
EduCARE India
Academic partner. Provides the registered-trust structure under which research, publication, and academic credentialing operate.
EduCARE Dharamshala
Programme-delivery vehicle. Operates CIEEL fellowship programme, the EDMRC Kangra Campus, and field engagements.
EduCARE International
Sponsoring network. Funds the GlobalPEACE Scholarship and supports international engagement with EduCARE field practice.
RISHEE
Regional Institute for Safety, Health, Environment and Empowerment. The institutional framework holding the four sansthan: EDMRC, SEHAT SEVA, ECODEVA, ViKAAS Centre.
KARCA Centre of Innovation
Steward of the KARCA Spiral methodology. Faculty training, JiEEL editorial, KARCA-trained Fellow credentialing.
Kangra District, Himachal Pradesh.
The EDMRC Kangra Campus sits on Mission Hill Road, opposite Maple Leaf Hospital, in the small town of Kangra at the foothills of the Dhauladhar range. The campus has 120 beds across 15 toilet-embedded rooms, nine halls (three configured for training and multipurpose use), open grounds, a library, GIS and HAM-radio laboratory, kitchen and mess, and two VIP guest rooms. A strategic tie-up with Maple Leaf Hospital allows for emergency conversion of the campus into a 120-bed hospital extension or relief facility — reflecting the Centre's foundational commitment to disaster-readiness as both pedagogy and practice.
Kangra district has a population of approximately 1.5 million, predominantly rural, in 1,012 panchayats across an area of 5,739 km². The district contains both densely populated valley settlements and remote mountain villages, and represents an unusually rich field laboratory for the practice areas CIEEL works in: disaster resilience (seismic Zone V), public health (rapidly ageing population), environmental restoration (deforested watersheds), and community-based enterprise (active SHG networks).
The people behind the work.
CIEEL operates under the governance of EduCARE Dharamshala (Society) with academic oversight from EduCARE India (Trust). The Founder & Project Director leads programme strategy and external representation. A core operational team includes leads for HimNIRMANAC (skilling and field operations), JV GeoSpatial Solutions (mapping and data), AdCan Global (marketing and outreach), and HimSHIELD Fire Systems (specialised disaster equipment).
Field-engagement faculty are drawn from CIEEL's senior alumni, partner-programme leads at EDMRC and Maple Leaf Hospital, and KARCA Centre of Innovation stewards. Faculty appointments for the September 2026 founding cohort are being finalised; full faculty bios will appear here ahead of the cohort start.
For governance enquiries, partner-institution conversations, or faculty appointments: director@cieel.org.