IPSL Guatemala: Ecology, Culture and Justice

IPSL has designed & delivered international programs focusing on experiential learning, ethical service & engaged research for 37 years. Now the independent IPSL Institute for Global Learning is authorized to offer academic credit, issue official transcripts and confer diplomas through the Master's level. IPSL is a B-Corp (Social Benefit Organization) with over 83% of profits directly returned to the people, communities & NGOs they partner with abroad.

“Origins of Food: One Health” is a 3 week-6 credit (Undergrad or Grad) academic/service and sensory experience that takes students from the black sand coasts up to the tropical mountain forests. An intensive and interactive study abroad-service opportunity to engage with the culture, food, lifestyle, agriculture economy and human, animal and environmental health of Guatemala. Experience, first hand, through expert lecturers, service projects and site visits. Critically examine, through a One Health Lens, the social, political and cultural impact of food production on the environment, animals and people of Guatemala both in and out of the classroom setting.

In addition to completing a variety of workshops, service projects, conversations and activities, relevant to the educational theme, students will also indulge in the pure beauty that the Guatemalan landscape provides. From towering volcanoes to lush jungles full of life, expect to bear witness to a multitude of breathtaking landscapes & a once in a lifetime experience.

Students stay in a combination of Homestays, Youth Hostels and Volunteer Cabins.

All service projects are highly dependent on the immediate needs of the community or organization. Volunteer opportunities may include:
• Weeding, composting, tilling, planting, etc in farm cooperative fields
• Seed-saving workshops
• Community capacity building in food security
• Youth environmental conservation education
• Providing infrastructure for permaculture projects
• Potable water improvement
• Waste water treatment projects
• Soil conservation projects
• Irrigaiton water cachement systems
• Sea turtle hatchling and nest excavation work

English, Spanish