Fair Trade Internship in Ecuador

What is the Fair Trade Internship in Ecuador all about?

Travel to Ecuador and join a Fair Trade internship in the Mindo Cloud Forest for a unique chocolate-related project. This project focuses on sustainable economic development, cultural preservation and heritage conservation by working directly with indigenous farming families. The cocoa used is cultivated by over 100 families using traditional farming techniques and with respect to the environmental conditions.

The project works with a women’s association that implements continuous education and training programs of the farmers around products like pure chocolate, flavored chocolate and other cocoa products. The association also ensure that a fair price is paid for the products and it generates incomes to sustain the local farming community.

The focus is on social empowerment, community development and environmental management in a fair trade context for vegan sustainable chocolate!

Why choose this Fair Trade Internship program in Ecuador?

• Experience a project with a unique combination of environmental, social and business aspects while learning about the process of chocolate making!
• Help boost the project’s economical gains and really make a positive difference to the lives of the farmers and their families.
• Gain experience in an ethical industry with growth potential as you practice your Spanish and demonstrate your ability to effectively communicate your ideas and adapt to different settings.

Role of the Fair Trade Intern

You will be supportive of the business with possible involvement in the fields of business planning, marketing and customer service. This placement is a great opportunity to learn about the whole fabrication process of one of the best chocolate in the world. Indeed, the chocolate coming from the farming community has already won awards for demonstrating excellence in sales, innovation and advanced social responsibility to the community.

Activities may include field research, manual labor, marketing, or data entry. Your tasks will vary depending on your skills and interests and the needs of the project at the time of your internship.

What skills do I need to be a Fair Trade Intern in Quito?

This internship is geared towards 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 for this project as you will be working alongside local people. You will receive feedback about your placement. Please bring a laptop to record your progress during your internship.

Travel during COVID times

The health and safety of our travelers and our local communities remain central to our plans for reopening countries and projects. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been adapting our programs and protocols to protect all those involved, and ask for everyone’s patience and collaboration as new rules are implemented in-country. For all projects, new standards of sanitation, procedures and social behaviors are in place, including new health and hygiene protocols and social distancing practices. You can read more here. Each location may be slightly different in the way they operate. We encourage you to inquire to your placement advisor to learn more about your specific project as you plan for your responsible return to travel!

While the COVID pandemic is still affecting travel, for this location, you will need to do a quarantine for the first 10 days. So choose your project length accordingly for pricing by adding in an extra week to your travel plans.

Read all about our project reopening response to COVID-19

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