Volunteers Needed

We are currently seeking to recruit people, specifically university-level and professional students to volunteer/intern for approximately 2 months in one of the communities served by APS with the basic goal of completing self-sustainable, public health/mini-economic projects.

Working collaboratively with the community, the volunteer will be responsible for:

• Developing a community diagnosis/needs assessment (more info).
  
• Organizing the community to develop a project proposal (more info).
  
• Assisting with funding and oversight of the project.
  
• Educating the community about the relevance of this project to their capability of being free of preventable disease.

The public health/mini-economic project will address needs identified by the community, and may include any one of the following:

• Building Latrines: Recent community diagnoses have revealed that not all of the communities served by APS have latrines. We hope that by providing the community with latrines, we can decrease the incidence of illness and death due to diarrhea.
  
• Reforestation: 50% of the population of Nicaragua is unemployed and the only option they have to put food on the table when crops fail is to cut down trees to sell as firewood or coal. Because of this, many of the precious tropical forest is disappearing and the land is becoming infertile and eroded.
  
• Constructing or repairing a school or community center: many of these centers are deteriorating and are in need of serious repair so that children can continue to receive the education they need to contribute to the development of their country.
  
• Water Chlorification: Even communities with potable water go without water for days when there are water shortages and store water that becomes contaminated. To decrease the incidence of water-borne illnesses, we are seeking to educate the community about simple water chlorification practices.
  
• Wells: Many communities have to travel long distances to get water and often use water not adequate for drinking. A simple community well would provide access to clean water in their community and decrease the incidence of water-borne illnesses.
  
• Employment Cooperatives: Participants are taught trades that help them become more economically healthy.
  
• Small Animal Husbandry Cooperative: This can be a community owned farm in which all members of the cooperative share in the costs and maintenance of the farm as well as make decisions about consumption and sale of the farm animals.
  
• Agricultural Cooperative: Most communities are agricultural and have plots of land that are family owned and operated. Organizing cooperatives and assisting with seeds and community garden projects are a need within some communities.
  
• Lorena Stoves: Most homes use firewood to cook and do so inside of the house where the smoke often gets trapped. With such a high rate of respiratory infections, use of Lorena stoves, which are engineered to keep the smoke outside and burn the wood 50% longer, can reduce disease.

Volunteer/Intern Requirements:

• 18+ years old
• Must be able to communicate in Spanish to work effectively with members of the community.
• Must have a strong interest or experience in global health, nutrition, public health, medicine, nursing, farming, building, community organizing, art, teaching, etc…
• APS strongly recommends that you purchase international health insurance coverage for the time for the time you will be volunteering.

Program Costs:

• $300/month for housing (meals included)- this is broken down by approximately $10/day for housing and meals. The volunteer will pay their host family directly.
• $50-$500 for the funding of a public health/mini-economic project. The exact amount will be determined by the project the volunteer/intern and the community choose based on the community diagnosis/needs assessment. The volunteer will purchase the necessary supplies with the community members.
• Total= $230-$800 for 2 months.

Undergraduate and Public Health Students: Please contact Dr. Saul Contreras Martinez for more information. To apply, please print, fill out and email the application [pdf] to: Saul Contreras Martinez.

Medical Students, Nurses, Physician-Assistants, Physicians, and other Health Care Professionals: Please contact Mr. Chris Dodd for more information. To apply, please print, fill out and email the application [pdf] to: Chris Dodd.

All Other Inquires: Please contact Chris Dodd for more information.