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Social and Economic Development Projects
ProWorld’s largest project area is social and economic development. You will have the opportunity to fight for children's rights or run summer camps in Belize, work in schools or foster micro-businesses in Peru, improve literacy or protect women’s rights in Mexico, support homeless shelters in India, and support human rights initiatives in Thailand.
Join ProWorld Social and Economic Development projects through Semester Abroad, Intern Abroad, & Group Programs.
Join ProWorld Social and Economic Development projects through Semester Abroad, Intern Abroad, & Group Programs.
Peru
Availability of projects varies throughout the year
Education and Youth Projects
Education and Youth Projects
You will work in local schools, children's homes, or in after school programs in Cusco and the Sacred Valley. Interns have the opportunity to help teach English, lead art workshops, teach computer skills, and help facitilate sports programs.
Your efforts help improve the quality of education, providing social and economic opportunities that facilitate the well being of families, communities, and society at large.
Your efforts help improve the quality of education, providing social and economic opportunities that facilitate the well being of families, communities, and society at large.
Enable rural Peruvian women and children to escape psychological, verbal, and physical abuse while helping them to take the necessary steps toward financial self-sustainability and independence. K’anchay Wasi, which means House of Light in Quechua, is a women and family center that provides emotional, moral, spiritual, and financial assistance for women and children in need.
You will plan activities for children and help women learn artisan and business skills, while also leading self-development activities in the areas of self-esteem, leadership, stress-relief, and team building. The project also provides the women with necessary psychological, medical and legal assistance.
You will plan activities for children and help women learn artisan and business skills, while also leading self-development activities in the areas of self-esteem, leadership, stress-relief, and team building. The project also provides the women with necessary psychological, medical and legal assistance.
Agro-Cultural Tourism
Help community members of Chichubamba to preserve and celebrate their agricultural heritage while creating jobs and income. The agrotourism project in Chichubamba combines two of Peru’s largest industries: agriculture and tourism.
You will work to market the project while helping community members to implement basic business practices and improve their services to tourists.
You will work to market the project while helping community members to implement basic business practices and improve their services to tourists.
Cusco Social Assistance Project
In the developing world people with any sort of physical or mental disability, as well as orphans and the elderly, are very often marginalized. It is difficult for them to receive any support from the government, and basic facilities such as wheelchair ramps etc. are almost never available.
ProPeru aims to support the care homes, shelters and other institutions that assist the disabled. Volunteers participating in the Social Assistance project in Cusco will work in one of a number of institutions that have been selected based on their level of need as well as the volunteers’ opportunity to provide meaningful assistance.
In Cusco we work with orphanages and homes for abandoned children, senior citizens, and disabled people. In addition, we are also working with outreach centers and other organizations for street kids, the blind, deaf, mentally challenged, teenage mothers, family planning, as well as rehabilitation for troubled youths.
ProPeru aims to support the care homes, shelters and other institutions that assist the disabled. Volunteers participating in the Social Assistance project in Cusco will work in one of a number of institutions that have been selected based on their level of need as well as the volunteers’ opportunity to provide meaningful assistance.
In Cusco we work with orphanages and homes for abandoned children, senior citizens, and disabled people. In addition, we are also working with outreach centers and other organizations for street kids, the blind, deaf, mentally challenged, teenage mothers, family planning, as well as rehabilitation for troubled youths.
Belize
The National Organization for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect is the leading NGO in advocating for the rights of children in Belize. While doing your internship you will be assisting in a variety of tasks that deal with regionally appropriate issues regarding child abuse and neglect.
Primary School Assistant
Foster a positive learning experience for the children of the Cayo District as a teacher’s aid. At local Primary Schools overcrowded classrooms limit a lead teacher’s ability to instruct students effectively.
Volunteers will assist with general administrative tasks, correcting school work, preparation of materials, small group instruction, and other tasks as assigned, allowing the lead teacher to spend more time on lesson preparation and instruction.
Summer Camp
Held for the past two summers, the summer camp will be for primary school children 7-12 years of age. This will be a full day camp.
Activities include games, coloring, drawing, arts, and educational activities. Field trips can be arranged.
Mexico
INEA (Instituto Nacional para la Educación de los Adultos)
Provide community members of Oaxaca with a vital tool for improving their social and economic circumstances: literacy. INEA estimates that the ability to read and write can be accomplished by three months of individual tutoring or eight months of group lessons.
At INEA, you will tutor individuals or groups located in communities near Oaxaca. You are also encouraged to support students’ learning by establishing cultural exchanges with students outside of the learning environment.
Cooperativa Nueva Vida
Help the women of Teotitlan del Valle fight oppression through their efforts to achieve economic independence. At Nueva Vida, women of Teotitlan del Valle handcraft woolen rugs using the time-consuming, Pre-Hispanic natural techniques of their ancestors.
The rugs are sold to support the women’s economic independence, but they often receive unfair prices. You will help contribute to the women’s efforts to receive fair prices and achieve economic independence.
Opportunities include teaching English language classes, creating a gallery or webpage, publicizing the cooperative, researching market opportunities, designing a tour, leading design workshops, as well as many others.
La Escuela de Educación Especial #14- Zimitlan
The school – directed by psychologist Odon Martinez – works with children with auditory, visual, motor and mental disabilities up to 6th grade. Many of the children are not capable of learning to read or write.
The largest struggle for most of these children is that once they are out of the system they have no developed skills to help them fend for themselves. They often become dependent on their families and never enter the work force.
You will help find innovative ways to better prepare the children for adulthood, work on a micro-business program to raise funds for the school and teach the children practical skills, and will work with the mothers who travel 2 to 3 hours from surrounding villages to the school.
Puente a la Salud Comunitaria
Puente a la Salud Comunitaria promotes the use of amaranth, a traditional grain, through workshops. These workshops explain the nutritional importance of amaranth and provide the fundamentals of how to plant, grow, harvest, and cook with it.
Puente also promotes good nutritional practices. You can do further research on amaranth, and with a high level of Spanish you can give talks to the communities about amaranth, those with lower levels of Spanish can assist with the talks. Volunteers can also help out with office administration.
Union de Museos Comunitarios
The Union is a non-governmental organization of eighteen indigenous and mestizo communities in Oaxaca State, which have created or are in the process of creating community museums.
The museums are vehicles for unifying the townspeople and for strengthening and revitalizing community culture. It is a place that generates pride and weaves together the old and new generations.
You will focus on one of the 3-4 community museums that lie within 45 minutes of the city. Responsibilities could include: working with the community on tourism projects; setting up and executing art/craft/health initiatives with community members; carrying out a journalism or photography internship, grant writing, etc.
Patronato Estancia Fraternidad
Provide care and support for patients and their family members at Estancia Fraternidad. Estancia Fraternidad provides low-cost housing for family members of patients at the near-by general hospital, care for patients waiting to be admitted, and continuing care for patients who have been released from the hospital but are too ill to return home.
Opportunities exist to participate in fundraising, English classes, art and music workshops, kitchen duties, and nursing duties. If you have conversational Spanish, you can also provide a valuable service by making rounds and talking with patients and family members, providing support and comfort during this stressful time in their lives.
CALPULLI
Located in a poverty-stricken area, CALPULLI is a center to support children that have particular learning challenges. Most of these children are semi-abandoned, children of single mothers or children of parents who have migrated to the United States or other parts of Mexico.
The center assists the kids to improve their learning in basic subjects with a fun attitude towards learning. Participants have the opportunity to teach computer, mathematic, science, or English classes and to also interact with the children in after school and summer programs.
India
ProIndia’s social and economic development projects focus on programs that meet the basic needs of India’s poorest class. Projects aim to provide basic services like food and shelter as well as addressing issues like illiteracy and the lack of services for the disabled.
You will support shelters for homeless women, children and the elderly, schools for the deaf and blind, programs for the disabled, literacy projects, women’s empowerment organizations, or vocational training institutes.
Thailand
ProThailand’s social and economic development projects focus on providing services to marginalized communities in Northern Thailand including the rural poor, hill tribes, women, children, refugees, and Burmese groups. These populations often have less access to government services, fewer resources for basic human needs, and face discrimination in income, education, and healthcare.
Many women of minority and Thai communities are also trafficked against their will into the sex industry of Thailand and other parts of Southeast Asia. The missions and objectives of several Chiang Mai NGOs are to provide marginalized communities with education, alternatives for income generation via capacity building, and support to various ethnic communities residing in Thailand.
You will participate with ProThailand’s partner NGOs to support education efforts, micro-business programs, and human rights initiatives designed to build strong foundations for these communities.
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