Sustainability Internships in Panama

Upcoming semester dates:

Fall: September 2nd- November 15th

Spring: January 13th- April 11th

Summer: May 19th- August 1st

Since Summer 2010, Kalu Yala Internships has had interns from 43 states, 16 countries and 123 universities. Kalu Yala Internships is a skill-share and development 11-week program for students in a variety of fields.

Kalu Yala is a sustainable community that will be built in the mountains about 45 minutes outside Panama City, Panama. Kalu Yala is founded on the core tenants of culture, new urbanism architecture, organic food, wellness, recreation, education, preservation, and conservation of the natural environment.

The internship program allows students and young professionals to come to Panama and gain cultural exposure, work experience, and knowledge in order to create a project that will ultimately help shape this sustainable community. We plan to break ground in August of this year which will bring many opportunities for students to work with experts in various fields.

Internships take place in 3 venues: creating the town's foundation in Kalu Yala; creating relationships in the neighboring town of San Miguel; and working on business logistics in Panama City.

Programs

Agriculture and Animal Science in Kalu Yala

Biology in Kalu Yala

Business Development and Entrepreneurship in Panama City

Community Outreach and Education in San Miguel

Outdoor Recreation in Kalu Yala

Kalu Yala Internships promotes a "garage entrepreneurship" model, allowing interns to create independent studies and projects that they themselves propose and are then mentored and held accountable for delivering by their directors. Interns can also work on more traditional director-led group projects which are determined by their director.

Examples of Spring 2013 Projects:

Agriculture and Animal Science: Designing and building a 2-acre permaculture farm based on local and modern farming methods, so far including plantain-tree grove, medicinal plant bed, herb garden, hardwood test-plot, and a 30-hen chicken coop.

Biology: Design and implementation of first water system to BaseCamp with study of aquatic life, GIS mapping of hardwoods on Kalu Yala property and multiple field studies on specific flora and fauna in Kalu Yala

Business: Creation of design briefs and space planning for Kalu Yala's first development project, including market research and financial analysis.

Community Outreach and Education: Social Metrics study through personal interviews to find strength, creativity, and resiliency in the neighboring town of San Miguel to be able to best support existing assets in individuals and the community to assist in town development. The Education portion works on empowering the people of San Miguel through personalized English classes, while forming relationships within the school and community through educational workshops and events, including a community art mural and a study of local labor culture. There is also a Health and Wellness portion which focuses on both the system healthcare system of rural Panama as well as local practices.

Outdoor Recreation: Design and construction of low ropes course, trails and recreation fields while working closely with Jungle Adventures, the first eco-tour project at Kalu Yala

Benefits to Interns:

- Ability to design and/or participate in a program catered to your own personal interests and goals

- Freedom to test your abilities by pursuing trial and error in a real world environment, while being supported by professionals

- Meet other passionate, like-minded, young people from a wide variety of vocations and backgrounds in an international setting

Benefits to Kalu Yala:

- Provide research and development capabilities unavailable to any other real estate developer, as no developer we're aware of invites people study whatever they chose and figure out how it can be applied to the building of a town

- Create public oversight and assurance through their unpaid status leading to bottom-up pressure on Kalu Yala management, employees and consultants

- Generate awareness throughout our local community and their home communities

Benefits to Both:

- Collaborate to build a new sustainable community the rest of world can then have the chance to replicate

Our staff is happy to assist students who wish to acquire academic credit and speaking Spanish is not required! We also can work with students on payment plans.

Visit www.kaluyala.com for a full brochure.

Details:

Location: Hispania, Parque Uraca, Bella Vista, Panama, Panamá, Panama

Hours per week: 40

Compensation: Unpaid

How to apply:

Visit www.kaluyala.com for a full brochure