Sustainable Economic Development & Social Entrepreneurship

Our SEDSE interns will support sustainable local economic development by taking part in grassroots community income generating projects in the indigenous communities of the Amazon. The work in these projects is focused in the largest alternative income generation initiative in the Amazon: community tourism. The intern’s role in these community-run projects might include:
Supporting the “Cacao Trail,” a community-based chocolate tourism initiative
Engaging in infrastructure support projects for community tourism
Compare ecotourism with other forms of natural resource use in terms of economic and educational values, social costs and benefits, and environmental impacts.
Analyze public, private, and community-based approaches to conservation
Explore tourism as a tool for environmental preservation
Learn Kichwa while examining the social and economic implications of the production of forest products, handicrafts, jewelry, and “consumable culture”
Collaborating with farmers to discover new and potentially marketable, eco-friendly, amazonian products for national or international distribution

In addition to engaging in unique Amazonian activities such as swimming in waterfalls, turning cacao into chocolate, and trekking in the virgin rainforest, our immersion internship program offers the chance to become part of an Ecuadorian family and community, dive deep into language learning (Spanish and Kichwa!), and create your own community-based projects.

English, Spanish