WDF Universe
Where Innovation Meets Civic Responsibility. WDF Universe is a global online learning platform established to advance the UN’s SDG 2030 agenda through free, certified education — helping learners build practical skills for agriculture, livelihood generation, and lifelong learning.
About The Universe
WDF Universe, where Innovation Meets Civic Responsibility, is a distinctive learning system built around the 2030 Agenda’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) — aiming to end poverty and deprivation, sustain the planet’s resources, and preserve the climate and environment.
Since the agenda was adopted in 2015, three billion people in developing countries — the world’s largest producers of food — continue to face malnutrition, climate disruption, drought, floods, and limited access to resources such as fertilizers and seeds. We believe this can be addressed by adopting Knowledge Agriculture®, which requires a large-scale program to educate and upskill farmers. Multi-year, technology-assisted skill development projects across parts of India and Ethiopia — sustained and monitored by our team — have shown meaningful, lasting changes in rural adoption of new agricultural technology.
WDF Universe was established to educate and train farming and other communities to increase income through modern broadcasting and communication methods, while introducing technologies such as IoT, robotics, and UAVs to spread knowledge across education, agriculture, healthcare, and livelihood generation.
SDG 2030
The 17 Sustainable Development Goals, adopted by the international community in September 2015, address hunger, poverty alleviation, democratic governance, peace-building, climate change, disaster risk, and economic inequality. Nearly every SDG connects to sustainable agriculture — directly, as with SDG 2 on ending hunger, or indirectly, as with SDG 8 on inclusive economic growth, which depends on agricultural growth reaching marginal and small farmers, including women.
The 2030 Agenda, spanning economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development, represents a defining opportunity for the wellbeing of future generations and the planet.
National Conference on SDG 2030 — Address by Dr. Manoj Nardeosingh, Secretary General, AARDO
Knowledge Agriculture®
Knowledge Agriculture® is a process that applies technology and tools — greenhouses, IoT, robotics, AI, UAVs, and specialised software for weather modelling, smart-zone seeding, and fertilizer modelling — to close the gap between a country’s income and its people’s access to education and ICT. Our focus is on communicating with communities in their own language, and equipping them with the knowledge and skills to earn a livelihood and improve their living conditions. Multi-year, technology-assisted knowledge and skill development projects — sustained and monitored by our team — have shown meaningful changes in rural behaviour and learners’ willingness to adopt new technology.
WDF Universe provides online education and certification, and the opportunity to gain knowledge and skills, for learners across Asia and Africa, alongside other regions worldwide.
Shobhit Deemed University signed an MOU with World Development Foundation on 23 Dec 2019 to collaborate on ICT and Mass Media in Agriculture, in support of SDG 2030.
Courses Conducted in Collaboration with Indian Universities
A Message from the Chancellor
“Welcome to WDF Universe. Our mission is to make quality, practical education accessible to communities who need it most — from farmers adapting to a changing climate, to learners building new careers through digital skills. Every course we offer is built with that purpose in mind, and I invite you to be part of this journey toward a more informed and self-reliant world.”
— Prof. Dr. Sir H. O. Srivastava, Chancellor, WDF Universe
Our Leadership
Prof. Dr. Sir H. O. Srivastava
Former Additional Director General & Head of AIR Resources, All India Radio and Doordarshan (equivalent to Additional Secretary to the Government of India). He led expansion of India’s broadcast network for over 50 years, including installing 40 educational high-power FM transmitters for IGNOU’s Gyan Vani Channel, commercial and community radio stations, and the Ministry of Agriculture’s Agriculture Channel. He established BECIL, AIR Resources’ IT Division, the Agriculture Knowledge Dissemination System for BAU, and Community Radio Stations for the governments of Ethiopia and India. He has received several national and international awards, authored six books and around 150 research papers, and served as a Commonwealth and ITU expert. He currently serves as Adjunct Professor at YMCA University of Science and Technology, Faridabad, a consultant to Gerson Lehrman Group (GLG) and VisasQ (VQ), and Honorary Director of several colleges.
Prof. Dr. Chandra Rashmi Srivastava
Dr. Chandra Rashmi is the Director of WDF Universe. She previously served as Principal of Bharati Mahila Mahavidyalaya (Degree College), Jaunpur, Varanasi, India, and works as a freelance writer, adviser, and consultant in electronic media, education, and information technology.
Contact Us
WDF Universe
Plot No-5, Sector-3, Karuna Kunj
Dwarka, New Delhi-110075, India
Email: wdfuniverse@gmail.com
Tel: +91-11-4570 1632