Shikha Ecovillage was initiated in 2017, when its founder started to turn five acres of wasteland on the banks of the Mahanadi river in rural Odisha (eastern India) into an eco-farm with vegetable gardens and fruit orchards. We aim to have as much biodiversity as possible on the site, and our horticulture is chemical-free.
Since 2022, Shikha has been hosting the Happy Hands School for the Deaf. 70 deaf children aged 3-16 follow an eco-education programme here through Indian Sign Language as the mode of communication. Most teachers and support staff working at the school are also deaf. Our purpose is to provide holistic quality education to these deaf children while building a green model campus. We have staff and students from all over India, as well as a few people from abroad.
We aspire to be a net zero emissions and zero waste campus, and to share our experiences with visitors. We want to involve the whole ecovillage and school community in this development, including eco-vocational training for the children. We also value our non-human companions (various farm animals), and we take great delight in being located in such a beautiful place. We have the river on one side, and the forest starts directly behind our site, leading to a large hilly area.
For the first 9 years, Shikha Ecovillage was entirely off-grid. We got connected to the electricity grid in late 2025, but most power is still generated by solar panels, and the river is our main water source. In future, we hope to host more groups of visitors who want to experience and contribute to our combination of school education and regenerative agriculture.
We have job openings available from time to time, either in connection with the school (for teachers, caretakers, cooks, etc.) or in connection with the farm. Jobs at the school are advertised through https://happyhandsschool.in/ and interested people can apply there.
We are also open to volunteers who would like to support either the school (in which case they need to have at least some fluency in a sign language), or the farm (in which care they need a reasonable level of physical fitness).
Volunteers can email sh*********@***il.com with an expression of interest. If from abroad, volunteers should be prepared to stay with us for a minimum of 3 months. We do not accept volunteers below the age of 21.
Shikha Ecovillage often receives day visitors who come and look around the campus. We are generally happy to have ad hoc visitors, though access to the school may not be possible without prior appointment.
A residential project: people live here as their primary home.
An institution, business, network, or project that isn’t a residence (e.g. a learning center, farm, or network with no one living there full-time).
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