Current Volunteer Opportunities with CRACYP

Please read the whole of this page before applying for a volunteer position and note that BASIC SPANISH IS NEEDED FOR ALL OF THE VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES IN ECUADOR.   We do not offer paid jobs, only unpaid volunteer positions.

We are seeking technically-minded, IT-savvy virtual volunteers, based anywhere in the world, to help with website accessibility and / or search engine optimisation and link-building.  You'll volunteer from your home or office at a time that suits you and will need your own computer and internet connection.

Website accessibility volunteer: Do you have the knowledge to help make our websites more accessible to those using screen-reading devices or with other special needs?  Ideally we would like a volunteer to evaluate our current accessibility and then improve it.  If you can improve it for us, that would be fantastic.  If you only have time to send us a list of easy-to-follow instructions that another volunteer could carry out, that too would be helpful.  (Spanish language skills not necessary for this role).

SEO and linkbuilding volunteers: Could you help raise our profile on the internet? We'd like a volunteer SEO officer.  We are only interested in white hat SEO techniques and quality, relevant links.  If you know about web 2.0 and can suggest some interactive ideas, so much the better.  Perhaps you can spare an hour or two a week, or maybe you could devote a week or two during your summer holidays or until you find a permanent job.  We need one SEO volunteer with fluent English and another with fluent Spanish.

For either of these volunteer roles, please email cracyp("at")progresoverde("dot")org, explaining why you want to help us and why you'd be great at these tasks.  Let us know for how long you could volunteer.

There are currently no volunteer opportunities available within Ecuador with CRACYP.  Any new Ecuador volunteer posts, conservation opportunities, voluntary work, reforestation projects, etc., will be published here as soon as they are available.

There may soon be volunteer opportunities for next year in the Galapagos Islands, so keep an eye on the site.  Probably they will be mostly for groups to do voluntary manual labour on a Galapagos conservation project.  As soon as we have volunteer information it will be posted here, so please don't email asking about Galapagos volunteering yet. 

Please note:

• Conditions in Ecuador (and other developing countries) are often difficult and progress can be frustratingly slow.  Genuine development is a slow, long-term process.  If you want to volunteer here, you need to accept that and realise that you just have to make the best of the situation at the time you are here.  'Success' is never guaranteed.

• Volunteer groups: minimum 1 week, 8 people with at least one Spanish speaker.  

• Solo volunteers: we usually suggest a minimum of 3 months to be able to make an impact here.  If you only have a few days, we suggest you visit as a tourist and tell us in advance that you'd like to help out with any tasks available while you are here.

• We don't have a brochure.  Our volunteer opportunities are not standard programmes, they are tailored for each individual volunteer.  Please read the website carefully before contacting us with questions.  Don't just ask for 'more information' - be specific.  

• Please note that we do NOT offer any kind of paid work or paid internship, nor can we help with costs for volunteers.  Please do not write asking for paid work, we only offer unpaid volunteer opportunities.

• We can't afford to subsidise your travel, accommodation and food - and even if we could, we would instead use the money to employ a local person, which would be far more sustainable.  Our fee covers your board and lodging and varies depending on the project you are volunteering with - ask us for an individual quote, but allow perhaps $85-100 a week in rural projects in or near San Luís de Pambíl, $150 - $180 a week in Quito or $220-300 a week in the Galapagos Islands.  You will also need to cover your flight and insurance; travel around Ecuador (around $1 an hour on the buses) and local travel in Quito (around $1 a day). 

• To apply for a volunteer opportunity, email your cv/resume (or a description of your group) and a letter explaining:  What you want to do, for how long and when; the skills and experience you have to offer; your level of Spanish, and what you want to get from your volunteering (e.g. experience for new career; practise Spanish; etc.)  Note that whilst unskilled volunteers are welcome in groups, solo volunteers usually need to offer some relevant skill or experience - tell us what you can do and we will let you know what is available.  Make sure you've read the volunteering page as well.

• You need to have enough Spanish for basic communication, or volunteer in a group with at least one person who does.  We can't match individual volunteers up with groups, so please don't ask - you need to get together your own group, or learn enough Spanish to volunteer solo.  The better you can communicate in Spanish, the more you will get out of your time volunteering here.  You MUST have some Spanish before you arrive in Ecuador and even then we strongly suggest you spend your first few days in Ecuador studying to improve your Spanish.  There are hundreds of Spanish schools in Quito.