Internship Opportunities with the Community Agroecology Network

Internship Opportunities with the Community Agroecology Network (CAN)

CAN field internships are rich learning experiences that allow students to make a difference as they learn. Academic credit is arranged through the field study/internship office at your university and the CAN Internship Coordinator. Qualified non-students may also serve as interns or volunteers in CAN communities. CAN works in collaboration with organizations in our partnership communities to develop an intercultural exchange between university students and farm families toward the following vision:

The CAN field internship program builds mutually beneficial relationships between interns and Latin American farming communities. Community members open their homes to interns, working collaboratively with them to exchange knowledge and share ways of living. Farm families receive supplemental income and build friendships. Perspectives are challenged and shared, while respect is given to knowledge steeped in place and local experience. Through hands-on work, interns apply diverse skills and learn more than they ever anticipated. They participate in projects aimed at moving the communities toward economic and ecological sustainability. Interns and community members do not work in isolation but as interactive links in the CAN network of farm families, consumers, community organizations, researchers, students, and interns. The relationships that are formed build personal connections within the realities of global trade and sustainable agriculture.

CAN is a non-profit organization, affiliated with the University of California, Santa Cruz. In addition to coordinating field internships and grassroots marketing of fair trade direct coffee, CAN hosts an internship program at UCSC. Campus interns work integrally in all of our activities in the United States.

For more information on CAN internship opportunities in Central America and Mexico or on developing a CAN campus internship at your university, please contact the CAN Internship Coordinator by Email: interns@communityagroecology.net or Telephone: (831) 459-3619

The Field Study Internship Handbook

CAN and Oxfam America Announce the Publication of our Field Study Internship Handbook: A Guide to Internships in Coffee Producing Communities With the Community Agroecology Network

This 165-page Handbook guides interns through three stages: Preparation, the field study, and returning home. The purpose of the Handbook is both to enhance the personal experience of the internship and to put this experience in context of key themes, including globalization, agroecology, social location, and fair and alternative trade.

Download Internship Curriculum Handbook Here !! HANDBOOK – HIGH RES (pdf) HANDBOOK- LOW RES (pdf)

Below we provide a summary description of the different parts of the handbook and more detail on the CAN Internship Program.

Part I: Before You Go

Provides background on the CAN partner communities, readings on Fair Trade and Agroecology, activities and articles that develop understanding of community and social location and a thematically organized annotated bibliography.

Part II: Field Study

Provides an overview of the internship program, a timetable for those desiring more structure during their internship, activities that engage the intern in learning more about the community they are living in, and a reflection section with journaling prompts.

Part III: Bringing it Home

Provides ideas of how to share the field experience with others, a list of activist organizations and organizing guides. CAN and Oxfam America invite you to download the Handbook and adapt it for your use. If you reprint any of the pages or use activities or articles in another format we ask that you acknowledge it as follows:

"Field Study Internship Handbook: A Guide to Internships in Coffee-Producing Communities with the Community Agroecology Network.

Participants in the CAN internship program will receive a printed version of the Handbook. For interns receiving university credit for participating in the CAN internship, this can serve as a guide for your academic work. Other organizations interested in printed versions of the Handbook can contact CAN at interns@communityagroecology.net (831) 459-3619.

Agua Buena, Coto Brus, Costa Rica

CAN – CoopePueblos Internship

The municipality of Agua Buena is located in the canton of Coto Brus near La Amistad International Park, on the Costa Rica - Panama border. The CAN internship here is the most established of our programs, initiated in 1999. It is operated in partnership with CoopePueblos Cooperative, a coffee cooperative of approximately 50 farm families who organized together in May 2005 to further develop the direct market of coffee in partnership with CAN, transition to sustainable farming practices, and to diversify incomes.

One of the objectives of the coop is to develop a more conservation-oriented approach to the products they cultivate. In this way they hope to reduce the environmental impacts of agriculture, such as soil erosion. Additionally, the goal is to strengthen ties with local environmental groups and protect the natural resources of the area.

The Community Agroecology Network (CAN) works with CoopePueblos in the direct marketing of their coffee sent via mail from Agua Buena to the home and business addresses of consumers in North America.

Some of the current activities of the cooperative:

-Direct coffee marketing to the US

-Local coffee sales

-Maintaining an internet center

-Coordinating community-based projects

-Building biodigesters on members’ farms

The CoopePueblos Internship program accepts motivated interns who can work collaboratively and independently. Basic Spanish language skill is required. Interns live in cooperative members’ homes and can work in community development efforts as well as initiate independent projects and research.

Examples of past intern projects:

* Establishing an agroecology demonstration garden in Coopabuena, Costa Rica – Sonya Binnewies

* Consumer education video on sustainability issues in Coto Brus – Vivan Vadakan

* Study of alternative fertilizers in coffee nurseries – Alexa Kielty

* Assessment of the social and ecological sustainability of coffee production in Coto Brus – Laura Pavliscak

* Development of a community internet center – Nick Babin

Cost of the internship

* $2000.00 for 10 weeks

* $100.00 per additional week

The application process includes written components as well as communication and interviews with program staff.

For more information and to obtain an application, contact the CAN Internship Coordinator at interns@communityagroecology.net

Tacuba, El Salvador

CAN - ASINDEC Internship Program

Tacuba is a small municipality in El Salvador’s western coffee landscapes, which borders El Imposible National Park. CAN works with two Salvadoran organizations in Tacuba: 1) The Association of Organic Coffee Producers of Western El Salvador (ACOES), which brings together two farmer cooperatives (El Sincuyo and La Concordia), totaling almost 100 families; and 2) Advising and Interdisciplinary Research for Local Development and Conservation (ASINDEC), a non-profit research foundation formed by Ernesto Méndez, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies and Agroecology at the University of Vermont. Dr. Méndez was part of the original CAN founding group and currently acts as CAN’s Co-Director.

ASINDEC was formed to support a long-term Participatory Action Research (PAR) process with the farmers associated to ACOES. Collaborations began in 1999, and CAN interns began arriving in 2004. That year ACOES exported the first shipment of coffee to be sold by CAN at UCSC (1,350 lbs). ASINDEC and ACOES work to support innovative alternatives for farmers to improve their livelihoods, apply agroecological practices and conserve tropical biodiversity.

ASINDEC and ACOES share an office in Tacuba. To date interns have stayed at the ASINDEC office/residence, which is administered by ASINDEC staff, including Oscar Ortiz, Field Coordinator, and Doña Tancho Gonzalez, Caretaker. ASINDEC board member Cecilia Carranza, an environmental economist working at the Ministry of the Environment, supervises all ASINDEC activities, based in San Salvador. Starting in 2007, ASINDEC shifted its internship program exclusively to project-based stays. This means that interns need to develop their own thesis or independent projects, or agree to work on a project assigned by ASINDEC staff. In addition, a rigorous application process consisting of forms and interviews will be required. This program is open to independently motivated interns with high proficiency in written and spoken Spanish. There is opportunity to take Spanish courses in San Salvador (at intern’s additional expense) before the stay in Tacuba. Previous experience abroad is preferred.

Cost of the Internship

$2,000.00 for 10 weeks (Quarter), Airfare not included

$100 for each additional week.

For more information and to obtain an application, contact the CAN Internship Coordinator at interns@communityagroecology.net

Coming in 2008:

An internship program in CAN's partner community in the Yucátan, Mexico. This program will be in collaboration with the Universidad Autónoma de Yucátan and will focus on the ‘solares escolares’ project of developing school gardens at high schools in Mayan pueblos in the Yucatan.

interns@communityagroecology.net (831) 459-3619, PO Box 7653, Santa Cruz, CA, 95061-7653

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