Volunteer Abroad Program - International Service-Learning: Ecuador

Ecuador

Quito:
Galapagos Islands:
All Other Regions of Ecuador:

Term: Fall, Spring, Summer
Durations of Program: 5-8 weeks and 3-6 months
Typical Duration of Program: 3-6 months
Dates: Spring, Fall, Summer

You will spend a semester or year developing your Spanish skills; studying Spanish language and Ecuadorian history, culture, and society at Universidad San Francisco de Quito; living with an Ecuadorian family; and serving about 20 hours a week in an Ecuadorian community agency. Your volunteer service immerses you in the culture and deepens your understanding of Ecuadorian society in a way that goes beyond that experienced in traditional study abroad programs. It also facilitates your mastery of Spanish.

The program is based at Universidad San Francisco de Quito, in the beautiful suburb of Cumbaya. The well-equipped facilities complement the high quality of faculty and students. Students may participate in university sports, music and any other activities of interest. You may earn 12-15 credits per semester. A transcript from the Universidad San Francisco de Quito is issued upon successful completion of the program.

You will serve 12-20 hours per week, directly participating in the ongoing work of a local agency. Areas of service may include:

- working at a school with children who alternate street work with school attendance
- assisting children from the countryside with their school work and family issues
- working at a city maternity and family planning center with young women becoming mothers
- working in medical centers or agencies addressing healthcare issues and education
- working with people with disabilities
- working with artists in a special program of education through art
- educational and didactic child support in a public children's hospital
- teaching in a pre-school
- serving at a day care center for elderly people living on the streets
- teaching marketable job skills to adults
- working in human rights.

You will spend a semester, summer or year developing your Spanish skills; studying Ecuadorian history, culture, and society at Universidad Espiritu Santo; living with an Ecuadorian family; and serving 15-20 hours a week in an Ecuadorian community agency. Your volunteer service immerses you in the culture and deepens your understanding of Ecuadorian society in a way that goes beyond that experienced in traditional study abroad programs. It also facilitates your mastery of Spanish.

Academic Study

The program is based at Universidad Espiritu Santo (UEES). Semester students take three required courses for a total of 12-15 credits; special arrangements are made for the second semester for year-long students. A transcript is issued from Universidad Espiritu Santo upon successful completion of the program.

With nearly 2.5 million inhabitants, Guayaquil is Ecuador's largest city and the country's principal ocean port. Like many cities in South America, Guayaquil has experienced tremendous population growth in recent years; parts of the city such as its long waterfront have undergone impressive redevelopment while other areas of the city have become vast tracts of squatter housing lacking the most basic urban services. Urban growth is also putting significant pressures on unique, delicate ecological reserves that provide homes for endangered flora and fauna. These many challenges form the framework for the community service agencies in which IPSL students are placed.

You will serve 12-20 hours a week in an established Ecuadorian agency. Some of the service placements are in the invasion communities of rural and poor migrants. Areas of service may include:

- teaching English as a Second Language
- health care through medical and dental clinics
- health education
- tutoring and recreation for children and teens
- community and economic development.
- You might aid homeless (street) girls; assist in projects for the disabled; work at an adoption agency for abandoned infants; teach in primary or secondary schools; assist in a hospital; or serve in other areas.

You may choose one of two concurrent programs, with either a biology focus or a social science focus. After an initial period on the campus of the Universidad San Francisco in Quito, you will attend a full schedule of classes at the Galapagos Academic Institute for the Arts and Sciences (GAIAS) on Isla San Cristobal, learn from world-class faculty, and engage in service related to island ecology and/or the local island community. All program courses are taught in English.

The program is based at the Galapagos Academic Institute for the Arts and Sciences (GAIAS), an arm of the Universidad San Francisco de Quito, a highly-regarded university in Ecuador. You may choose one of two courses of study:

Biology Focus: Evolution, Ecology, and Conservation in the Galapagos
Designed for students of the life sciences, this program examines the central concepts of evolution and ecology and their application to conservation biology.

Social Science Focus: Politics, the Environment, and the Galapagos
Designed for students of the social sciences, this program is designed to examine different issues related to the social and economic considerations relevant to the management of fragile environments. Students will explore the impact that people have on fragile environments and the ways in which conflicts and issues created around these concerns can be resolved in just and peaceful ways.

The semester-long programs each consist of five intensive courses, all taught in 3-week modules and worth 3 credits each, for a total of 15 credits. You will take four of the offered courses, with the fifth course period devoted to analyzing and recording in a journal your community service experience. A transcript from the Universidad San Francisco de Quito is issued upon successful completion of the program.

In most cases, service assignments are focused on one 3-week module during the semester. Your service may include volunteer work in:

- conservation
- introduced species control
- waste management
- pest control
- reforestation with local species
- sustainable agricultural practices
- working with the local community in day care centers, elementary and high schools
- teaching in languages and mathematics in the community college

Highlights: Ecuador spans the equator on the northwest coast of South America. With its cultural diversity and wide range of environments, Ecuador provides an ideal location for you to live in and learn about South America, encountering directly the issues and concerns of this great southern continent.

Surrounded by the magnificent volcanic Andes mountains, the capital city of Quito boasts one of the finest collections of Spanish colonial architecture in the world. It is home to a large Indian and mestizo population, as well as those of European descent. As you master Spanish, you will study the rich history of Ecuador and be challenged by serving the social and educational needs of the many marginalized people in the city.

In Guayaquil, Ecuadors largest city and gateway to the Galapagos, you will enjoy a tropical climate with varied and abundant flora and fauna and a newly revitalized waterfront, or Malecon. You will also encounter dramatic contrasts of wealth and poverty, and the social issues generated through that disparity.

The Galapagos Islands are a unique, world-renowned ecological treasure; important in world history as the place where Charles Darwin began his work on the theory of evolution, but known equally today for unparalleled beauty and ecological diversity. Service-learning in the Galapagos offers an opportunity available nowhere else to live and learn about a delicate and complex natural environment and the impacts both positive and negative of human settlement, fisheries, and tourism in that setting and, at the same time, contribute through service to maintaining this unique environment.

Qualifications: IPSL welcomes applicants from all nations and backgrounds. Language requirements for selected programs. Minimum age is 18. College students and graduates are encouraged to apply.

Galapagos Islands: Fees include: tuition (15 credits); pre-departure materials; service placement and supervision; health insurance; administrative fees; airport transfers; private transport to/from the university during your stay in Quito; mainland trips; room and most meals in Quito and the Galapagos (3 meals per day); transport of textbooks from Quito to the Galapagos; domestic airfare (Quito-Galapagos-Quito); National Park fee; program-related trips in the Galapagos; boat tour of the islands; Resident Coordinators in Quito and Galapagos. Personal expenses not covered by fees include: international airfare; textbooks (approximately $300-500 per semester); international medical insurance; personal expenses and spending money. Students are also strongly encouraged to buy dive accident insurance (available from Divers Alert Network [DAN] and other sources) to cover the diving portion of the program.

Typical Volunteer: IPSL participants are typically U.S. undergraduate students who want to study and volunteer abroad. They generally take 3-4 academic courses (12-15 credits) and do community service (15-20 hours per week). Participants want an integrated experience where learning and service work together.

International Partnership for Service-Learning and Leadership's Mission Statement: The International Partnership for Service-Learning and Leadership has two related missions: 1) offering programs uniting academic study and volunteer service to the community in international/ intercultural settings that are models for the practice of service-learning, and 2) promoting the theory and practice of service-learning through research, publications, conferences, and training.

International Partnership for Service-Learning and Leadership

International Partnership for Service-Learning and Leadership programs in other countries:

International Service-Learning: Ecuador