home > projects > social and economic development projects
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 social programs to advance minority groups 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.
Availability of projects varies throughout the year
K’anchay Wasi
Volunteers will work with a local women's group called K'anchay Wasi (meaning "House of Light" in Quechua) to help foster and empower women leaders. Often victims of domestic violence and discriminated against by society at large, women in Peru frequently lack the economic opportunity to be independent and self-sufficient. Volunteers assist women in learning and implementing basic business skills, while also focusing on the personal growth of each women.
K'anchay Wasi is a center of emotional and economic support for women and children suffering from domestic violence. It operates in two separate sites in the Sacred Valley: Calca and Huaran. Each center provides educational, emotional, medical and legal support to members of the Association. They hold meetings twice a week where educational workshops, discussions, and a variety of activities are held with the goal of improving their self-esteem and personal development, as well as giving them the tools and skills to become more economically independent. Volunteers help to organize these activities, such as knitting classes or legal rights discussions, which aid in the empowerment and education of the women.
Your responsibilities could include a diverse range of activities such as: working to improve women's business skills via workshops; marketing the women's products; working to improve their self-esteem, emotional and personal development via creative activities such as yoga, dance, music, English, women's rights, health, nutrition, etc.; facilitating monthly group sessions with a psychologist.
Education and Youth Projects
Volunteers will work in a primary school as a teacher's assistant from Monday to Friday from 8AM - 1PM. You will work alongside Peruvian teachers and gain a real understanding of how the education systems in Peru work. Your responsibilities could include a diverse range of activities such as: designing lesson plans to assist the children in learning to read and write; playing games with the children during free time; designing worksheets to be assigned as homework; offering support to the teacher in her lesson planning and management of the classroom. As a volunteer, you will be working to improve children's education in the Sacred Valley which will improve their future opportunities.
Frida's Place - Mentoring Program
Volunteers will work at Frida's Place located in the Sacred Valley. Frida's Place was started in 2008 by Frida Delgado who runs a hostel in Huaran, a small town outside of Calca, Peru, about a 20 minute ride from Urubamba. Frida offers her home/hostel to young children during the week who come from isolated communities to study in the Sacred Valley, returning only on weekends to their highland communities (Cancha Cancha, Ch'uro and others). Many of these children (5 - 12 years old) live by themselves during the week in Huaran where there is no one to provide them with help or support in their schooling or in their diet. Thus, many of these children suffer from malnutrition and as a result, perform poorly in school.
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 responsibilities could include a diverse range of activities such as: developing educational materials that focus on environmental education that will include hands-on work such as planting trees and crops with the children; construction and reinforcement of values and respect for Andean culture in their daily lives; assisting children with their studies and reinforcing lessons taught in local schools pertaining to math, science or English; other activities pertaining to education and youth development.
Agro-Cultural Tourism
NOPCANK’anchay Wasi
Volunteers will work with a local women's group called K'anchay Wasi (meaning "House of Light" in Quechua) to help foster and empower women leaders. Often victims of domestic violence and discriminated against by society at large, women in Peru frequently lack the economic opportunity to be independent and self-sufficient. Volunteers assist women in learning and implementing basic business skills, while also focusing on the personal growth of each women.
K'anchay Wasi is a center of emotional and economic support for women and children suffering from domestic violence. It operates in two separate sites in the Sacred Valley: Calca and Huaran. Each center provides educational, emotional, medical and legal support to members of the Association. They hold meetings twice a week where educational workshops, discussions, and a variety of activities are held with the goal of improving their self-esteem and personal development, as well as giving them the tools and skills to become more economically independent. Volunteers help to organize these activities, such as knitting classes or legal rights discussions, which aid in the empowerment and education of the women.
Your responsibilities could include a diverse range of activities such as: working to improve women's business skills via workshops; marketing the women's products; working to improve their self-esteem, emotional and personal development via creative activities such as yoga, dance, music, English, women's rights, health, nutrition, etc.; facilitating monthly group sessions with a psychologist.
Education and Youth Projects
Volunteers will work in a primary school as a teacher's assistant from Monday to Friday from 8AM - 1PM. You will work alongside Peruvian teachers and gain a real understanding of how the education systems in Peru work. Your responsibilities could include a diverse range of activities such as: designing lesson plans to assist the children in learning to read and write; playing games with the children during free time; designing worksheets to be assigned as homework; offering support to the teacher in her lesson planning and management of the classroom. As a volunteer, you will be working to improve children's education in the Sacred Valley which will improve their future opportunities.
Frida's Place - Mentoring Program
Volunteers will work at Frida's Place located in the Sacred Valley. Frida's Place was started in 2008 by Frida Delgado who runs a hostel in Huaran, a small town outside of Calca, Peru, about a 20 minute ride from Urubamba. Frida offers her home/hostel to young children during the week who come from isolated communities to study in the Sacred Valley, returning only on weekends to their highland communities (Cancha Cancha, Ch'uro and others). Many of these children (5 - 12 years old) live by themselves during the week in Huaran where there is no one to provide them with help or support in their schooling or in their diet. Thus, many of these children suffer from malnutrition and as a result, perform poorly in school.
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 responsibilities could include a diverse range of activities such as: developing educational materials that focus on environmental education that will include hands-on work such as planting trees and crops with the children; construction and reinforcement of values and respect for Andean culture in their daily lives; assisting children with their studies and reinforcing lessons taught in local schools pertaining to math, science or English; other activities pertaining to education and youth development.
Agro-Cultural Tourism
Volunteers will work to help community members in Chichubamba, a small rural town adjacent to Urubamba, 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.
Your responsibilities could include a diverse range of activities such as: developing marketing strategies for the Agrotourism Project; forming relationships with travel agencies and Spanish schools in Cusco and the Sacred Valley; updating and improving the website; helping to improve the services offered to tourists via improving the presentation of products sold as well as updating the presentations given; working to improve the association's business skills via workshops; improving the standard of living of the community members.
Your responsibilities could include a diverse range of activities such as: developing marketing strategies for the Agrotourism Project; forming relationships with travel agencies and Spanish schools in Cusco and the Sacred Valley; updating and improving the website; helping to improve the services offered to tourists via improving the presentation of products sold as well as updating the presentations given; working to improve the association's business skills via workshops; improving the standard of living of the community members.
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.
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
Association for the Welfare of the Mentally Disabled
AWMD is committed to the welfare of people with mental disabilities and their families. It was founded on a belief that people with mental disabilities like every other human being have the right to life, care, education, training and employment, irrespective of any case, creed or community.
You will help create, develop and provide direct services to community-based rehabilitation programs.
Divya Deepa
Divya Deepa was started with a mission of providing value-based quality education to rural and underpriviliged children. In addition, they are also involved in community development, youth and women empowerment in villages, and environmental awareness programs.
ProIndia participants work with these school children and communities offering support and leading activities that help foster a dynamic learning environment.
Pratham Mysore
Pratham Mysore is a part of a nationwide Pratham project. their mission is to get all children in school and assure quality education for all. They work on a variety of programs including Balawadi, or early childhood intervention (preschools), Balasakhi, or special education, and Bridge Programs, which prepares children not used to formal education for school. They also work closely with the state of Kamataka to ensure that public school are providing quality education and to advocate for better teachers, curriculum improvements and conditions.
Opportunities are available in curriculum development, training, fundraising, quality control, public relations, networking, research, and publication. Additional opportunities may be available based on individual skill sets.
Thailand
Department of Agricultural Economics at Chiang Mai University
The Department of Agricultural Economics at Chiang Mai University collects research from the northern Hill Tribes in order to determine cause factors for poverty. Data is collected and analyzed and used to build workshops to help the villagers to develop their communities through better methods and technologies. Opportunities are available to participate in workshop development and delivery across the 6 provinces in the northern region.
Garden of Hope
The Garden of Hope reaches out to women, children, and youth involved in, at risk of, or affected by prostitution, sexual exploitation and/or trafficking. The goal of The Garden of Hope is to offer comprehensive, holistic programs that bring resotration and healing to those in, at risk of, or exiting prostition and trafficking in Northern Thailand and its borders. The Garden of Hope operates a Women's and Children's Drop-In Center which offers relationships, conversational English, trauma conseling, vocational training, and life skills development to women. The Children's Drop-In Center offers child care, tutoring, Thai and English instruction, meals, and a safe place for street children of the red-light district.
The Garden of Hope depends on short and long term volunteers and interns to do outreach, staff the Drop-In Centers, help with administration, write grants, provide computer and IT services, teach English, train in Western baking and cooking, work with street children and more.
The Heaven House Orphanage
The Haven House was founded to help the Hmong people live a better life. It provides a safe place where Hmong children, especially orphans and poor children, can come to live and learn for free with its aim to bridge the gap that denies quality education from the Hmong children.
Opportunities are available to teach English, developing sports and arts programs, and taking on a class of your own in a nearby school.
The Life Skills Development FoundationThe Life Skills Development Foundation works for developing the quality of lives regarding the rights of children, focusing on early childhood care development, education, children living with HIV, and orphaned children. They work in partnership with both local NGOs and government organiations, and are funded by UNICEF.
Opportunities are available (minimum 2 - 3 months) for individuals with writing and research skills to develop curriculum, training materials, and data collection.
Ecumenical Coalition on Tourism
ECOT seeks to give visibility, a platform and a framework to the issues of tourism as it impacts on vulnerabl communities in the Third World and beyond, and interrelates with development, human rights, justice, gender, law, ecology and culture. ECOT acts predominantly as a facilitator and coordinator for the "Tourism Movement," raising new questions and challenges on tourism, and discerning the broader global circumstances that impinge on the tourism sector and affect the social and natural environment.
Opportunities are available for those with a background in social science and with experience collecting and analyzing research data as well as provide support for fundraising, marketing and database management.
Ghana
Education & Youth Development
Work with a variety of different organizations, including orphanages, primary schools, and after school programs to improve literacy and youth development within our host communities. Volunteer activities may include teaching computer classes, English, science or math; developing literacy activities; providing general teacher support in the classroom; developing art, music and sports programs; working with special education students; and assisting and strengthening school administration practices. Many schools are also in need of additional infrastructure support.
The Methodist School for Children with Intellectual Handicaps
The Methodist School for Children with Intellectual Handicaps works with special needs children in Cape Coast. Volunteer activities may include classroom assistance and curriculum development for students with special needs; delivering workshops for teachers and/or parents on ways they can better support their children's development.
Micro Business Development
Work with ProGhana's partner communities to provide support and training to women and small business owners. Volunteer activities may include providing consultations; teaching basic business skills; searching for markets; building marketing strategies; developing new products; and working with NGOs in micro-credit and income-generating projects.
The Center for Awareness
The Center for Awareness works on peace and capacity building activities within area communities. Their various activities which complement their mission to promote peace and awareness include micro-finance lending, income-generating infrastructure for communities, agriculture work, teaching life skills to secondary school students, supporting vocational schools, work in prison populations, and care and support for patients living with HIV/AIDS. In addition to field work, one of the areas for which they would like volunteer support is in the creation of a website.
Ghana Heritage and Conservation Trust (GHCT)
The Ghana Heritage and Conservation Trust (GHCT) works to protect national monuments in the Cape Coast area and has plans in the future to develop museums and photo exhibits, as well as restore local historical sites with the goal to eventually develop them for tourism. Volunteers can work in a variety of capacities with this organization.
The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice
The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice is a government office that investigates allegations of human rights abuse and corruption. Prospective volunteers must submit their CVs to determine if an appropriate placement with this office can be found. Opportunities exist for law-based internships and public education.
Garl Processing
Gari is a traditional, nutritious food made from cassava. Several women's group in surrounding communities work together to process the gari as an income generation activity. Volunteers can take part in the processing of the gari while getting to know the women. Opportunities are also available to facilitate workshops with the women in areas such as small business development, health, and women's issues.
Eco-Tourism
Volunteers interested in working with eco-tourism projects can work with one of ProGhana's partner organizations on the development of marketing strategies. Duties may include creation of marketing materials such as brochures; website development; building upon community members' business skills; and improving product delivery.
Brazil
Project Dida
Project Dida works with women and girls to provide training and education in computer technology, English, and microenterprise. In addition, Dida also has a strong social entreprenship component. Volunteers will have the opportunity to assist in marketing efforts in the tourism industry about the socially responsible souvenir shop which sells the women's products. There are also opportunities to run workshops for one of the first women's reggae groups, training women in singing, performance and dance, as well as any other special skill an individual wants to share (i.e., photography, Spanish, web page development, etc.).
Make It Happen!
Make It Happen! is a UNICEF funded program which provies intramural co-ed sports leagues for children from the favelas (shantytowns). They also provide citizenship classes and basic education programs.
Sol Nascente
Sol Nascente is a free pre-school program that works in a favela where participants can teach public health classes, dental education, microenterprise development, or work on fund development.
Brazil, Europe, Italy Cultural Institute
The institute, housed in a beautiful, history and large facility, implements programs to expose favela children to classic music and art. The leaders of the organization want to develop a community theatre program and need assistance with construction, community recruitment, production , direction, and more. The institute also sponsors and hosts events like the first ever international conference of responsible graffiti, so there are opportunities for individuals interested in street art and youth development.
Get the Newsletter
“I'm studying undergraduate business, and my project at Arariwa was an amazing way for me to share my knowledge and learn more about the international economy." - Madeleine
Copyright © 1998 – 2010