Intern or Volunteer with a Grassroots Youth and Education Organization in Bolivia

  Bolivia

• Other Cities in Bolivia: 
Cochabamba

Term: Academic Year, Fall, Spring, Summer, Throughout the year, Trimester, Winter 
Durations of Program: 1-2 weeks, 2-4 weeks, 5-8 weeks, 9-12 weeks, 3-6 months and 7-12 months
Typical Duration of Program: 9-12 weeks
Dates: See FSD Website

Description: Examples of how you can support Youth and Education in Bolivia:

* Offer training for at-risk girls to better achieve at school, improve family relationships, enhance job opportunities, and assertively exercise rights and responsibilities. The program also develops micro-enterprise projects - such as a café and artisan's store - so that girls and their families may build business skills.

* Provide care for children and infants ranging from 6 months to 12 years-old who come from low-income families or have been abandoned, orphaned, or abused. Support recreational and athletic activities for the children.

* Assist in teaching and tutoring children and adults in vocational skills, reading, English, environmental education, ethics, theatre, math, farming, health, intra-familial violence, computer skills, sewing, literacy, women's empowerment, nutrition, family education, leadership, children's rights, and/or parenting.

* Design your own curriculum and implement a class in collaboration with a school director.

* Assist training of teachers in rural schools. Organize community activities for parents, teachers, and local authorities to maximize available resources and resolve education-related problems.

* Support education workshops for high school and university students, parent associations, teachers, media, armed forces, prisons, churches, and other institutions. Themes for workshops include: community health, HIV/AIDS awareness/stigma reduction and gender equity.

For more opportunities in youth and education in Bolivia, visit our website or contact us directly.

About FSD
The Foundation for Sustainable Development (FSD) is an 11 year-old non-profit organization that provides hands-on, service-learning internships and volunteer opportunities for those looking to gain development experience and make a genuine impact on an international community. Our programs are located in eight countries throughout Latin America, East Africa, and India.

Students and professionals spend their time working with one of 160 different non-governmental organizations (NGOs) partnered with FSD, experientially learning and applying sustainable development solutions. Project work is collaboritively designed and implemented by the participant, the FSD Site Team, and the organization. In the end, participants acquire development skills and training, while immersing themselves in foreign language and culture. Interns and volunteers also have the experience of a lifetime, making long-standing relationships with their host families, host organizations, and the communities they serve.

About FSD

The Foundation for Sustainable Development (FSD) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization founded in 1995 to support underserved, international communities in a collaborative and sustainable manner. Our model incorporates three overlapping programs:

1. Sustainable Development Training Programs for Interns and Volunteers
FSD provides comprehensive training and immersion programs for interns and volunteers seeking hands-on experience in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Program participants come from countless professions and more than 300 universities worldwide to collaborate with our partner organizations on community-driven projects that reflect sustainable practices.

2. Grantmaking to Projects and Initiatives Led By Our Partner Organizations
Donations and grants given to FSD are used to support projects and initiatives implemented by our partner organizations, site teams, interns, and volunteers.

3. Sustainable Development of Community-Based Organizations
Our professional field staff, consultants, and program participants provide on-site technical training and capacity building to more than 200 community-based organizations.

Highlights: Development Issues Addressed by FSD in Bolivia
In Bolivia, one in every seven children fails to complete primary school. The result of this problem is that more than one million Bolivian citizens over the age of 15 are unable to read or write. Education issues are exponentially worse in rural, primarily non-Spanish speaking areas where children average only 4.2 years of school. With little bilingual education, many students drop out of school. However, the main reason for the widespread educational deficiency in Bolivia is the general economic situation that severely hinders families ability to invest in the education of their children. Short term needs require that children work to support the family income and never acquire the skills important to pull them out of poverty in the future.

FSD works with schools, child-care centers, and directly with socio-economically excluded families to try to reduce poverty by improving and increasing access to education. By working to educate both adults and children, communities are able to gain the knowledge needed to mobilize change. Families learn vocational and academic skills, along with much needed sex and health education that opens opportunities and allows them to make informed decisions about their future lives. Your help in building better schools, teaching curriculum, or offering child care is crucial in empowering families and profoundly affecting the opportunities available to them.

Minimum Education: High School

Cost in US$: Depends on Program Selected; See FSD Website

Experience Required: no

Typical Volunteer: FSD supports participants who boldly wish to initiate the change they believe is necessary in the developing world. Interns are passionate about sharing their practical knowledge, heart-felt enthusiasm, and economic resources with communities abroad that suffer unnecessary hardship. They wish to gain hands-on, grassroots development experience because they believe change is most powerfully cultivated on a community level. The aim is to experientially learn how their work can empower the community toward applying sustainable development solutions, rather than increasing reliance on foreign aid. Participants choose FSD because the program structure enables them to design and implement their own sustainable projects in collaboration with their host organization and the FSD Site Team. They are able to test their ideas and theories in the most direct way possible, giving them the experience and knowledge they seek. The flexibility of the host organizations allows for participants at all stages and levels of experience in international development to participate, thus opening the programs to a diverse group of capable applicants.

Age Range: 18-75

This Program is open to Worldwide Participants. This Program is also open to Couples and Individuals

Participants Travel to Bolivia Independently

Typically Participants Work Independently or in Groups of 3-10

Application Process Involves:

• Letters of Reference
• Phone Interview
• Resume
• Written Application

Post-Program Services Include:

• Alumni Network

Foundation for Sustainable Development's Mission Statement: FSD supports the efforts of grassroots organizations in the developing world that are working to better their communities, environments, and the economic opportunities around them. We believe community development is only sustainable if it empowers the people to effectively use and cultivate their own resources in a conscious manner. Through our programs, we aim to raise international awareness of the economic challenges in developing countries and to support cross-cultural communities in finding more effective solutions to development issues.

Year Founded: 1995