Internships in Mindo, Ecuador

The Fair Trade Internship in the Mindo Cloud Forest is a unique combination of sustainable development and cultural/heritage preservation. You work with indigenous families who cultivate cocoa using traditional techniques while paying respect to environmental conditions. Intern activities generally fall within various business aspects, including marketing and customer service. The placement is with a women’s association that runs training programs for farmers. They ensure that products, such as pure and flavored chocolate, are put on the market for a fair price. This way, the local community is able to generate sustainable income. This internship is geared toward undergraduate and graduate students, and industry professionals. Your focus should be on entrepreneurship, international development, business, food engineering, tourism, or a related field. Team working skills and flexibility are required as well as a reasonable level of fitness. Proficiency in Spanish (level A2 User of CEFR) is required since you’re working alongside local people. Please bring a laptop to record your progress during the program.

ELEP is an experiential learning and training programs provider specializing in high-quality, customized international internships. We also offer rewarding and meaningful volunteer experiences, as well as intensive language courses, to study, learn, or improve your Spanish language skills in Ecuador. Our programs are open to students, recent graduates, and young professionals from around the world. ELEP Volunteer & Internship Programs collaborates with Career Services Centers of international universities to help students with their career goals through training across a well-organized internship or volunteer program. We offer numerous internship placements, covering almost every field of study. Additionally, our team continually seeks new internship opportunities that align with the interests and needs of our participants. Internship lengths vary depending on the field and placement, ranging from a minimum of 4 weeks to a maximum of 24 weeks.