“It would hardly be a fish who discovered the existence of water.” An anthropologist named Clyde Kluckhohn wrote that in 1949.

56 years later, writer David Foster Wallace invoked that adage in a college commencement address and added: “The immediate point of the fish story is that the most obvious, important realities are often the ones that are the hardest to see and talk about.”

About halfway in between Kluckhohn’s penstroke and Wallace’s speech, an educator named Paulo Freire was writing about “conscientização” as a necessary foundation for confronting oppression and pursuing social change. From his native Portuguese, Freire’s term translates into “raising critical consciousness.”

In 2012, Omprakash looked around at the global learning industry in which we had become embedded over the previous seven years, and we didn’t like the sight, smell or feel of the water we were swimming in. We decided to make a bold effort towards raising critical consciousness, and we named the effort EdGE — Education through Global Engagement. We initially launched EdGE as an online learning platform offering pre-departure training to volunteers and interns who were preparing to work with our Partners. Over the years, EdGE has evolved in many directions, and we now offer customized versions of EdGE to many different audiences. The common thread is that EdGE helps people reflect on critical questions about themselves and their work across differences of culture and power.

By now, it’s fairly commonplace to point out that many efforts to do good — whether as volunteers, interns, service-learners, global citizens, environmentalists, social entrepreneurs, researchers, donors, or simply people trying to help others — end up missing their mark, and potentially even reinforce or exacerbate deeper structural inequalities. In scholarly papers, op-eds, blogs, and lists of ‘top tips for ethical engagement,’ countless voices have argued that social change must begin with critical dialogue, reflection, and relationships — but few provide a programmatic pathway for actually making this happen.

Likewise, as online learning has become increasingly mainstreamed, we have observed many talented and committed educators who share syllabi and lists of resources, but are still seeking an adaptable platform to help them facilitate meaningful reflection and dialogue in a way that is asynchronous, participatory, widely accessible, pedagogically creative, and user-friendly.

EdGE responds to this gap by offering a pedagogical vision, a rich and ever-growing library of content, a diverse network of mentors and collaborators, and a customizable, human-centered learning platform. At root of our work is the basic conviction that the most radical thing we can do — the biggest ‘service’ we can perform — is to attempt to see the world through the eyes of others, and to disrupt dominant narratives by generating new ways of knowing and being through dialogue across differences.

You've probably heard the saying that knowledge is power. But what kind of knowledge are we talking about, and what kind of power does it give us?

To be agents of social change, we must understand the reality we seek to transform. Through EdGE, we explore content, enter into dialogue, connect with peers, and share stories to better understand ourselves and the water we swim in. Through EdGE, we look to affirm and acknowledge that we are all capable of joining a profound and humanizing struggle, and that a revolution within ourselves must predate the revolution we seek in the world. Reaching across differences to explore questions, share stories, and build new relationships is inevitably complex but — done with intentionality, humility, empathy, and a sense of humor — might lead us to new ways of knowing ourselves and knowing our world. That seems to us like a good place to begin.

Join us — the water is uncomfortable and it feels amazing.