In addition to our standard volunteer placements we offer unpaid volunteer coordinator placements, for people fluent in Spanish and English and our willing to work with the project in Ecuador for 12 weeks. We only offer a limited number of these positions, which are a fabulous opportunity to make a real impact on schools and the project and help build a strong curriculum for careers in the volunteer and non-profit industries. These placements are only for people with a high level of Spanish and English. If your Spanish levels are not of a high standard, please see our standard volunteer placements.

• Job Title: Volunteer Coordinator
• Location: Puyo, Ecuador
• Time commitment: 3 months
• Level of Spanish: Fluent / Very High
• Level of English: Fluent/ Very High
• Start Date: Open
• Monthly Stipend: None
• Included: Accommodation, Food, Stationary and Office Supplies for Schools
• Not Included: Flights, transport, weekend and personal expenses

Job Description

The Volunteer Coordinator is an assistant to the Project Manager in Ecuador. The Volunteer Coordinator is responsible for the educational aspects of the project specifically teaching. The Volunteer Coordinator must ensure that all volunteers’ lessons are planned each week and that the lessons are appropriate to the age and ability of the children. On most days, the Volunteer Coordinator will accompany the volunteers to the schools and assist with teaching, translating, and any communication difficulties between the children and the volunteers. The Volunteer Coordinator will also act as the main contact between the professors and the volunteers, regarding teaching and personal matters, and is responsible for reporting any significant problems to the Project Manager. In addition, the Volunteer Coordinator should constantly evaluate the progress of the children and develop ways to help the volunteers enhance their teaching methods, so that the children can learn to the best of their abilities.
Other duties include helping volunteers with basic problems, assisting the Project Manager when needed, teaching when necessary, keeping track of school materials, organizing the lesson plan binder, updating the yearly calendar, helping to run and organise the Evening English Class, update bi-weekly newsletter, and run community and volunteer interaction projects on Wednesday afternoons.
A good Volunteer Coordinator would be able to work and live in a different environment, be an open-minded individual, who enjoys working with other cultures; has a positive attitude towards ensuring a successful project, enjoys teaching and believes in the advancement of education and understanding for all.

Summary of Responsibilities

• Guide volunteers in Lesson Planning Sessions
• Communicate with school authorities and professors
• Act as a translator between students and volunteers, when necessary
• Assist volunteers with teaching
• Organise school materials (as directed by Great Aves)
• Keep the lesson plan binder up-to-date
• Update curriculum calendar
• Assist Project Manager, when needed
• Teaching, when needed
• Deal with volunteer problems
• Run community and volunteer projects, on Wednesday afternoons
• Help create organisational materials? and update monthly newsletter?
• Help organise and run the Evening English Class for the community

Qualifications

• 1 Year work experience
• Bilingual (fluent) in Spanish and English
• Previous work experience abroad is preferred
• Previous experience working with or as a volunteer is preferred
• Previous teaching experience is preferred
• ESL/TESOL/TEFOL certificate is preferred
• Experience working with children is preferred

Skills

• Very good organisational skills
• Communication skills
• Good people skills
• Teaching Skills
• Curriculum Planning
• Ability to adapt to diverse situations
• Tolerant, patient, and understanding
• Ability to drive a stick shift (manual gearbox) car

Application Process

If interested in this position, please contact us through our contact page marking the subject title as "[eg. Mid-Oct 2012] Assistant coordinator role". We will then provide you with the email address to send your CV, with a covering letter. Also if you would like any additional information please contact the same address or call 00 593 (0) 81 261 694 (Ecuador) 00 44 (0) 1832 275038 (UK).