Ecuador Volunteer Work and Community Development Projects

  Ecuador

• Quito: 
Quito
• Galapagos Islands: 
Galapagos Islands
• All Other Regions of Ecuador: 
Guayaquil,  Cuenca,  Ibarra,  Tena,  Ambato,  Latacunga,  Pichincha,  Bahia de Caraquez,  Otavalo,  Tungurahua,  Cotacachi,  Cumbaya,  Mindo,  San Pablo,  Puerto Baquerizo Moreno,  Puerto Lopez,  Salango,  Tabacundo,  Rural Areas

Durations of Program: 2-4 weeks, 5-8 weeks, 9-12 weeks and 3-6 months
Typical Duration of Program: 2-4 weeks
Dates: Any time of the year

Description: Living and volunteering in Ecuador, you could help enrich the lives of Ecuadorian needy people by sharing your skills, your worth and your time. Your input and contribution also helps mobilize and motivate the youths to seek better opportunities.

Our main goal to create a global understanding by encouraging volunteers to assist with our community development and youth mobilization programs. The programs further enrich your experience, knowledge, understanding and offer you the opportunity to discover other cultures, yourself, lifetime friends, great fun and a memorable vocation.

ELEP has established over 50 facilities and partnerships throughout Ecuador where we can place volunteers, giving them the opportunity to participate in a variety of environmental and community aid projects. Projects include working in Social or Community Projects (Child Care, HIV/AIDS, Human Rights, Education and Teaching English, Healthcare/Nursing, Micro-enterprise, Infrastructure and Construction Work, etc) and Environmental projects (General Conservation, Agriculture, Organic Farming and Agroforestry, Animal Care and Veterinary Medicine, etc).

No special skills are required to participate in our volunteer project, only a willingness to experience new cultures and an adventurous spirit.

Your voluntary experience around the world would never be complete if you don't visit Ecuador. Remember: The experience of a lifetime awaits you and ELEP and Ecuador can make it happen...come for it!
As an applicant for a volunteer placement you definatley have many questions. We want to provide you with enough information that you need to enable you make the best decision in your voluntary quest.

Social Projects
*Child Care
This program is dedicated to volunteering in NGOs for children. We can place you in some exciting social and humanitarian programs in collaboration with a large number of orphan, street children centres, children hostels, children worker and centres for infant care in rural or urban communities. You can help children of low economic resources who come from poor homes; some have mothers in prison and many other difficulties in their young lives. In many cases they have been abandoned by their parents. You can help them improve their living conditions through volunteering in one of these institutions.

Depending on your own skills and interests, you can teach English, music, dance, maths, computer or collaborate cooking, eating, bathing and personal development, administrative tasks, homework help, activities and general care for the children or any number of activities - or generally just spend quality time with the children. Furthermore, you can participate in the rehabilitation process to their families and society.

*AIDS
Our program is designed to collaborate and participate in health clinics, non-profit organizations or government agencies working with this devastating HIV/AIDS disease. As a volunteer, you can assist in developing sexual health education, promote prevention programs and training seminars for groups like lay health professionals and sex trade workers.

In addition, you can assist in the medical and psychological attention and antiretroviral therapy programs. There are also opportunities to provide comfort and support directly to patients, their families and the community. You can make visits to hospices and medical facilities, which really provides you with a sense of the personal side of this disease.

*Human Rights
Our host Human Rights organizations seek to promote and protect individual rights. The activities of the organisation include: human rights education to youth and children and teachers in schools, women's rights (emphasis on reproductive and domestic rights) education in rural areas, psychological attention in crisis, legal pursuit of human rights cases, foreign governments abuse of local interests, and more. They are located in different Ecuadorian cities, but we can offer you the opportunity in Quito (capital city of Ecuador) in one of our collaborator organizations in some areas of the human rights.

*Teaching
Volunteers have the opportunity to teach in Ecuador and contribute to the development of the minds and futures of the Ecuadorian people. Living and volunteering in Ecuador, volunteers could help enrich the lives of Ecuadorian students by sharing. Volunteers don't have to be a teacher to take part in and enjoy our teaching placements. Open to all volunteers, volunteers really benefit the students they work with, while gaining valuable skills themselves. Placements are available in rural or urban elementary and secondary school to teach subjects such as English, history, math, physical education nature science, etc. Volunteers will help in this process by teaching a class for some hours each day from Monday to Friday.

In short, we believe education is the key to enabling this South American country to rise above its poverty. Volunteers will help in this process by teaching a class for some hours each day from Monday to Friday.

*Health / Nursing
Our health/nursing programs welcome anyone thinking of taking up nursing or alternative health. By working on this program, you will make a real contribution in hospitals, clinics and NGO's. Your help is needed throughout Ecuador to help the Ecuadorian population in the poorest urban or rural areas. Our host medical centres and patients welcome medical students, specialist, nurses, etc. The key requirements in our health/nursing volunteer programs are initiative, enthusiasm and readiness to work in unfamiliar circumstances.

You will be involved in the day-to-day running of medical centres, observing or directly providing general assistance to the doctors and nurses or you might help maintain the files, help at the reception desk or in the nursery, assist with patient check-ups, etc.

*Micro-Enterprise Projects
These projects consist in the preparation of different groups of people, with little or no economic resources, to help them create small one-person businesses. This activity will allow them to obtain a small self-earned income to better provide for their families. The volunteer will assist small enterprises to produce handicrafts, etc. or collaborate in administrative tasks. We provide opportunities in the following areas:
- Processing recycled paper
- Create ecological post cards with floral and Ecuadorian topics, taking advantage of the limited resources at hand
- Creation of ornamental candles
- Porcelain figures
- Clothes, etc.

Community Projects
*General Conservation Programs
Work in the midst of the most spectacular Ecuadorian biodiversities where projects range from maintaining to research. Your help is needed in the preservation, investigation, environmental education and management of the Ecuadorian flora, fauna and landscapes. We work in collaboration with a big number of private and public reserves, National parks and NGOs throughout Ecuador (Andes, Coastal, Amazonia and Galapagos Islands).

*Environmental projects such as reforestation, agroforestry, organic and sustainable farming practices, permaculture, tree nursery, biological research, environmental education (focused to promote the protection and conservation), recuperation and regeneration of the ecosystem are available. Ecuadorian dry, cloud, rain and mangrove forest wait for you. Live in a world of plenty nature and enjoy it while volunteering.

*Agriculture, Organic Farm and Agroforestry Projects
All these projects are oriented to preserve the nature and the ecosystem. On the farms volunteers will find a lot of degraded areas, caused by overgrazing and inappropriate cultivation. Objective of the projects is the protection against soil erosion and nutrient loss. The Agroforestry is a combination of agriculture and forestry and it can be seen as the most sustainable land form used in the conservation. Today there is a need of organic farms or family plots. Generally, the plots are small, next to the house and contain vegetables, fruits, herbs, medicinal plants and ornamental among other but the agroforestry is used in the reserves, national parks, etc.

*Animal Care
The goal of this program is to rescue, rehabilitate and relocate confiscated animals to their natural habitat. You as volunteers will feed animals and clean and repair cages. In addition, you will help to build new cages and improve existing facilities to provide more natural environment for the birds and animals. Volunteers are needed to gather food from the forest for animals in captivity, introduce the food to the animals, monitor progress, consult with the biologist, and under supervision of the biologist and centre staff, teach the animals how to eat and other behaviours they need to know in the wild.
The Rescue Centre's aim is to save wild animals and their habitat from destruction. The project focuses on rehabilitating captive or domesticated animals, and in some cases preparing them for a reintroduction to their natural habitats.

*Veterinary Medicine
You can combine a veterinary placement with an animal care placement, working in a zoo, animal rehabilitation centre or animal clinic. You may be able to spend some time concentrating on the veterinary practice. Working as a veterinary volunteer, you will be involved in vaccinations, operations, laboratory work, post-mortems, meat inspections and the routine treatment of domestic farm animals and pets. These programs are available to you in Amazon Region, Machalilla National Park, Galapagos Islands, Baños, Guayabamba and many other places throughout Ecuador.

*Infrastructure and Construction Work
If you are looking for a rewarding experience to provide decent housing for a family in need, join our Volunteer Programs in Ecuador which offers a vibrant cultural and humanitarian experience. Many Ecuadorian families live in substandard, overcrowded and unhealthy conditions. With your help, more deserving families can have decent places to call home. Help repairing fences, roofs or cabins, assistance and supporting with construction of water pipes, houses, etc. Our objectives are to help Ecuadorian families benefit from available and existent housing programs.

Other volunteer descriptions are available upon request.

Highlights:
For you as a volunteer, this means gaining very helpful life and work experiences that you probably will not experience in your country of residence
* The opportunity to share with the people of Ecuador and learn from them
* The opportunity to meet a lot of local residents and become friends for their whole life
* The opportunity to apply lessons learned in the classroom to life outside
* The opportunity to discover the Ecuadoriann culture in a different way than you would in a classroom
* Unique experience that you will never forget
* Intensive practical language training

Qualifications:
- An open mind
- Eagerness to learn, share, experience and explore Ecuadorian culture
- An intermediate level of the Spanish language, otherwise we would strongly recommend that you consider learning some Spanish before your program begins and/or take language courses in Ecuador with our Study Spanish Program.

Cost in US$: From $ 500

Experience Required: no

Age Range: 18 and older (children under 18 need the consent of a legal guardian and children under 15 are accompanied by an adult)

This Program is open to American, Australian, Canadian, European and Worldwide Participants. This Program is also open to Families, Couples and Individuals

Participants Travel to Ecuador Independently Or in Groups

Typically Participants Work Independently Or in Groups

Application Process Involves:

• Written Application

ELEP - Experiential Learning Ecuadorian Programs's Mission Statement: Our mission is to promote international understanding through educational and cultural exchange between Ecuador (Latin-American) and the rest of the world, to help people to gain hands-on practical experience, acquire knowledge and develop skills for living in a globally interdependent and culturally diverse world, accomplishing these goals through our Volunteer, Internship and Spanish Study Programs. Therefore, ELEPs commitment is to contribute to intercultural and learning experience opportunities and development of the people, companies, organizations and communities through our programs

Year Founded: 1999