Yuva Hindi Sansthan, was the award recipient of the Fulbright-Hays GPA Short-Term Curriculum Development Project 2022. It was led by Ashok Ojha, Program Director and advised by Prof. Gabriela Nik. Ilieva, Academic Program Consultant. It was conducted in close collaboration with the South Asian Programs at NYU and supported by the partnership with the South Asia Institutes at the University of Texas at Austin, Prof. Gautami Shah and Michigan State University, Prof. Rajiv Ranjan. Program and product evaluator is Bhavya Singh. Sustainability content consultant was Lazaara Simeon. Prof. Madri Kakoti from Lucknow University also provided support and expertise about language registers and language variations. Partners in India according to each location were as follow: in Nainital — Girish Tiwari, Prof. Ajay Ravat and Prof. Lalit Tiwari from Kumaon University and NGO activists, in Dehradun — Dr. Vandana Shiva and Navdanya staff; in Dahanu, Maharashtra — Phiroza Tafti, INTACH convener, Dahanu chapter; in Sariska, Rajasthan — Dr. Rajendra Singh (Waterman) and Suresh Raikwar, Tarun Bharat Sangh, Alwar District.
The program’s focus is on filling existing curricular gaps with new content related to the environmentally sensitive lifestyles resilient to climate and ecosystem change of several underrepresented and marginalized communities. India has a rich, many thousand years old oral and written narrative and artistic heritage that provide traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) (read more here). It, however, has been largely neglected, forgotten or even lost due to complex historical, social, economic, political and ideological factors. Yet, a number of rural and tribal communities in the North still practice the life of austerity, simplicity, circularity and full dependence on their natural environment. These communities may even be able to provide answers to many of today’s world’s problems arising out of neglecting and irresponsible human behaviors towards the natural environment.
The participants select and collect realia and materials in audio, visual, and textual formats, while exploring unique old and new approaches to the changing environment, specifically the impact of extended summers and climbing temperatures, water and food shortage, depletion of resources and pollution. They deepen their understanding of what the local ideas about the relationship between human and nature (which they depend on for living, such as forests, agricultural crops, natural byproducts and water) are, what the local efforts to protect nature and biodiversity are and what effects climate and ecosystem change has had on the local communities. The goal is to better equip the participants with knowledge and skills to develop thematic Hindi course curricular materials for K-14 learners (at the novice, intermediate, advanced levels on the ACTFL scale). It is also to disseminate those materials among other Hindi language teachers in order to engage the Hindi learners, US-born heritage and foreign language learners, in critically examining environmental and related socio-cultural issues, and thus to enrich their civic engagement, global learning, critical media literacy and cultural sensitivity, through authentic content focused on understudied sustainable practices and way of life. 
To achieve the program goals a four-week study tour to India has been planned during which participants attend workshops, lectures by experienced Hindi instructors and linguists, environmental scientists, activists and social workers who have experience in studying or supporting the communities to protect their natural resources and to create a sustainable lifestyle resilient to the current challenges of climate and ecosystem change. In order to meet with tribal and rural community members participants spend time in and around the cities of Mumbai, Jaipur, Dehradun and Nainital. The study tour is preceeded by a preparatory segment introducing the participants to the issues, the organization and locations as well as pedagogical principles. It is followed by a post-trip segment to support instructional material production. View here some of the lectures and participants’ accounts.
The participants’ work is informed by the following distinction (source):
Nelson, M., & Shilling, D. (Eds.). (2018). Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Learning from Indigenous Practices for Environmental Sustainability (New Directions in Sustainability and Society). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/traditional-ecological-knowledge/85A275CF02E0631B7DD59EC8D4561734
In the news: https://www.newsindiatimes.com/us-hindi-teachers-travel-to-india-to-learn-culture/