Project Summary

Volunteer in Peru on this Inca Jewellery-making cooperative marketing project and assist with the resurrection of traditional cultural jewellery making techniques with a social initiative in the city of Cusco. Young adults from disadvantaged communities are being given apprenticeships to learn the ancient techniques of their Incan ancestors, providing them valuable skills and an income while ensuring the skill never dies out. The workshop aims to sell the pieces it makes to sustain its work. It is looking to attract the tourists in Cusco to see their crafts as well as selling their products to wider markets using a range of marketing tools and techniques.

Why choose this project?

This Peruvian-run project is aiming to learn marketing strategies that will help local artists to attract western tourists and communicate the great work that they are doing. Volunteers support this goal and benefit the project by bringing their skills and experience to share with the local project team, helping them to build a market where tourists understand the difference between this authentic initiative and the regular jewellery stores that they are often pushed toward around popular destinations. The sales made from this project directly support the local artisans and help to ensure that this amazing traditional practice and their employment around it are sustainable. Volunteers will benefit from their exposure to different marketing strategies, and from gaining insight about the different industries in the region. This is excellent experience for anyone looking to build up their CV/Resume.

Role of the volunteer

Volunteers will focus on developing physical material that can be used to provide guided tours of the workshop and explain the techniques being used. Volunteers who can stay longer than 2 weeks will also spend time learning the techniques themselves in order to write ‘guidebooks’ to explain the processes and provide support in the workshop tours. Any additional marketing ideas that volunteers can share with the project will be of great help. A plan has been devised which details the work that previous volunteers have undertaken so that a variety of marketing techniques and avenues can be explored. This also ensures that the knowledge and experience that you have is captured and built upon by the next volunteer.

Skills Required

No particular skills are required to participate in this project. However, volunteers with a background in marketing and PR will find their skills in much demand. Volunteers with an interest in art or fashion will also find this a fascinating project. A basic level of Spanish is useful (level A1 Basic User of CEFR or better)

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