Summer Internships

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Team El Salvador is currently accepting applications for its Summer internship opportunities during June and August of 2016!

Summary of Past Team El Salvador Projects

2014
In January of 2014, Team El Salvador 8 traveled to the Lower Lempa Region of southeastern El Salvador; a multidisciplinary team consisting of 13 enthusiastic and committed participants:  9 MIIS graduate students, 2 Middlebury undergraduates, 1 CSUMB graduate student and the faculty director.  The team worked  on four major projects:

1)  A.   The PLAS Project:  To help improve the functionality and implementation of the Local Sustainable Resource Utilization Plan for our partner NGO and its constituent communities, so as to harmonize the local plan with national environmental legislation.

B.  The related project done by the CSUMB hidrologist; to create a map of extraction sites for each community within the PLAS area; perform a quantitative analysis between extraction and non-extraction sites and establish a framework for the analysis of extraction sites.

2)  The Microcredit Project:  to strengthen the administrative system of the NGO’s microcredit program under a new profit-based organization, in order to improve its programmatic sustainability and ensure adequate profit margins for both the organization and its associated producers, primarily for the production of basic grains and bean; a preliminary iteration of a cost structure for these sectors was seen as an essential first step.

3) The Public Space Project: to assess community perception and utilization of spaces and structures, so as to answer the questions “what makes for a strong, healthy, cohesive community?” (looking at sources of livelihood, stimulation of social and generational interactions, enhanced community identity).

4) A Photojournalism project, to capture in visual and narrative forms the history, experience and people of the Lower Lempa Region.  Special highlights include the very engaging and often moving interviews done by the team with members of our host families, community leaders, the NGO board, the director of the youth run radio and other long time colleagues on the ground.

Further, there were excursions to magnificent volcanoes, a beautiful surfing beach, and a heart-rending historical conflict area of the civil war.  In addition, there were meetings with Ministry and Embassy officials and an evening reception hosted by the country head of the Peace Corps in El Salvador with the US Ambassador to El Salvador, Mari Carmen Aponte, and the former Global Director of the Peace Corps, Aaron Williams.

In January 2015, TES added an additional work site.  One group of students worked and lived within a small rural fishing community to address environmental and economic concerns surrounding the damaging practice of blast fishing.

Recruitment and Requirements: 

-Students of any degree program are welcome to apply
-Intermediate level of Spanish preferred
Be a TES Team Leader
Every fall Team El Salvador enlists a second student leader to join the leadership committee which will organize the TES practicum throughout the fall semester and lead strategic development projects on the ground in January.   For more information, please contact Adele Negro.
Team leaders gain invaluable experience as they practice leadership skills, organize an academic program and gain first-hand experience working with a civil society organization on community development projects. This is also an opportunity to utilize the skills learned in class while at the same time immersed in the Spanish language. The variety of experiences provided by this position may add new categories of competence to your resume, and will definitely enhance your academic experience.
Student leaders must have high 300-400 level Spanish proficiency and be willing to act as leaders as soon as they are accepted to the position. Leadership tasks include marketing and planning the program, recruiting and selecting the team, organizing pre-departure meetings and training sessions, and planning logistics, including travel.
However, the most important role of the team leaders is to work with TES faculty director to lead the projects on the ground in El Salvador in collaboration with our Salvadoran partners, oversee all aspects of the team’s work and activities, help troubleshoot and resolve problems, lead the follow-up work to prepare final project reports upon returning to Monterey, and help select and train the next leadership team. The time commitment is through mid-April of the following year.
 Applicants will be contacted to arrange interviews once your materials have been received and reviewed.

 

 

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