Internships and Permaculture Certification in Ecuador

Third Millennium Alliance (TMA) was founded in 2007 with the purchase of 100 acres and the establishment of the Jama-Coaque Reserve (JCR) in the western province of Manabí, Ecuador, between the cities of Jama and Pedernales, and four kilometers inland. Now encompassing over 1,000 acres, the Jama-Coaque Reserve actively protects one of the last remaining fragments of Pacific Equatorial Forest, which is considered to be one of the most threatened tropical forests in the world. Learn more at www.tmalliance.org.

Internship Opportunities: Interns are to take on high-impact and dynamic projects; we are a young organization forging our path as we discover it. There is a tremendous amount of work to be done and experience to be gained – for interns and for us. Above all, creativity, innovation, and self-motivation are the fuel of our intern program. Immediately surrounding the house we are designing/growing/building a living laboratory of sustainable resource management (i.e. permaculture), which also serves as our field headquarters for biological scientific research and forest monitoring.

We are offering an optional Permaculture Design Certification course with this internship, to be taught throughout the two-month duration.  There is a difference in price based on whether you choose to take the PDC course; please visit our website for more information: www.tmalliance.org/internships/program-cost.

In addition to work managing the agroforestry production zone and organic vegetable garden, each intern is assigned a personal project, which is akin to a “thesis” of sort, but of a much more practical nature. Generally speaking, there are three categories of personal projects: 1) conservation biology research and 2) permaculture/sustainable food production, and 3) appropriate technology.

The following is a list of some of the projects we’re looking to tackle during the upcoming sessions. Some are new projects and others are ongoing and multi-year projects. Projects with stars next to them are of high interest and priority. When applying please prioritize three projects from the list below in the order of most interest.

Flora & Fauna Research:
•*Ethnobotany* (requires strong Spanish-speaking skills)
•*Camera trap survey of wild felines* (ocelot, jaguarundi)
•*Monkey Troop Demography & Behavioral Study (mantled howler monkeys & critically endangered
Ecuadorian capuchins)
•*Herpetofauna survey* (reptile and amphibian diversity and abundance)
•*Ornithology Survey – (ornithology experience and Spanish-speaking skills)

Permaculture /Food Production:

•Green Building – Learn to use natural, and sustainable building materials. Upcoming projects include building an earthbag (aka super adobe) retaining wall, use cob to plaster walls, another cob layer on the pizza oven, re-floor the the field station with bamboo.

•Production Zone Intensive – Focused on increasing food production, crop zonification & rotation, plant propagation, care/maintenance, integrated pest management and food preservation (ie, canning)

Appropriate Technology:
•*Building a system using human power and producing electricity for the Bamboo House*
•*Connect our solar-power electrical system*
•*Design and build a non-electrical refrigerator*
•Design and build a solar food dehydrator

Late Summer Internship Dates: August 13-October 8, 2014

Late Summer Application Deadline: Sunday, June 17, 2014

To see a complete program description, please visit our “Internship” page on our website at www.tmalliance.org/internships. Here you can download the application form and contact details, as well as other media, such as the photos, video, and the program FAQ. NOTE: When applying to the internship, please make sure to specify in your e-mail subject that you are applying for the Late Summer session, and whether you are interested in taking the PDC course.

We look forward to working with you!

Eva Filipczykova
Internship Coordinator
Third Millennium Alliance
Jama, Ecuador
www.tmalliance.org