Volunteering &
Experiential Learning

The Mesoamerican Permaculture Institute’s volunteer program provides an opportunity to live in a learning community, where permaculture principles and the Maya Cosmovision are put into practice each day.

We are infinitely grateful to all the people who have come to our community and helped move our initiatives forward. Some of these people had previously participated in our workshops and certifications before coming, but others just heard about IMAP and wanted to join our cause. We have volunteer opportunities available for local and foreign people and groups who want to be part of IMAP’s network.

Thank You For Wanting To Support Educational And Social Projects In Our Communities!

Volunteer inspecting the soil at the Mesoamerican Permaculture Institute

Since our earliest days, one of IMAP’s greatest strengths has been opening its doors to allow more people to participate, offer their opinions, and support our struggle.

We are a non-profit that strives to include community voices in the decision-making that affects their lives. We promote an alternative model based on community-based experiential learning, which centers the well-being of Indigenous communities.

To that end, IMAP seeks to support the development of future professionals. If you are deeply committed to the values of permaculture, agroecology, and buen vivir (good living), this program is for you.

We believe that when volunteers give of their valuable time and talents it can help them clear up doubts about their profession, learn to manage cross-cultural conflicts, work through intergenerational misunderstandings, and ensure social cohesion. Your commitment to this volunteer work and our commitment to you plays a vital role in building social cohesion and intercultural understanding in our community.

Lastly, this program allows us to strengthen transparency and enhance the effectiveness of the programs we offer in the community. Our goal is to ensure that the peoples of Mesoamerica feel a sense of belonging in all of IMAP’s activities.

Volunteers building a food garden for local indigenous peopleExperiential learning is integrated into the volunteer program and enables you to participate in projects at IMAP headquarters, as well as in the communities around the lake. We hope more people will embrace a belief in the connection between humans and nature. This connection is inherent to permaculture and our Cosmovision, and strengthens the social fabric and the holistic development of all people.

We know that bringing local and international communities to live together is an excellent way to nurture you and your team’s practical knowledge about sustainable agriculture, permaculture design, food production, education, seed saving and much more. Your motivation and energy are invaluable and your contributions will leave a legacy of skills, experiences, and talents that add to what our excellent team already offers.

In other words, we are committed to offering you practical projects that are useful to our local communities, as well as structured spaces for orientation and reflection before, during, and at the end of your stay.

For those who visit us from afar, we ask that you make a monthly financial contribution to cover some of the center’s maintenance costs. If you wish to stay longer than one month, we offer a reduced rate of 30% off for the following month, as long as your project focuses on meeting the needs of the local community.

If you live in…
Lake Atitlán* Guatemala Mesoamerica** Rest of the world
Per day
No
Cost
Q75 Q75 Q75
15 days Q225 Q350 Q600
1 month Q450 Q700 Q1200

*Does not include lodging.

**Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Belize, and Mexico.

IMAP Volunteers share a laugh while gardening

This small amount covers:

Knowledge sharing and exchange to help you develop or improve your permaculture skills.

The costs of accommodation, electricity, bed linens, towels, and other maintenance services of the center.

Access to a digital welcome manual and a personalized orientation to support you in carrying out your project.

Unlimited access to fruits, medicinal plants, and spices, sown in the center’s demonstration gardens.

Coffee and hot tea.

WiFi throughout the center’s facilities.

IMAP Volunteer working with seedlingsUsually, your time is divided between the daily activities needed to maintain the center and project implementation for one of our programs. Occasionally, IMAP also carries out community projects outside of the center, such as the implementation of family gardens.

If you wish to stay 15+ days, we will work together to create a customized work plan according to your learning objectives and IMAP’s current priorities. That means you will work together with one or more IMAP team members on a specific project, but will also have the time and flexibility to identify a program initiative that meets your interests and skills.

In addition to supporting us with maintaining and improving demonstration areas (such as gardens, orchards, and seedbeds, etc.) our projects include:

  • Building new infrastructure with bio-construction techniques and recycled materials: rooms, solar showers, terraces, living and non-living barriers, paths, floating docks….
  • Experimenting in the seed bank: germination tests, seed selection and preparation, seed packaging…
  • Create educational art projects: graphic design, workshop materials, murals…
  • IT support: come up with awareness-raising social media campaigns, document plant and seed inventory…
  • Implementing sustainable products and technology: producing handmade soaps, maintaining mills and grinders, installing solar panels…
  • Supporting the creative parts of administration: accompanying and translating tours and workshops, writing grant proposals, fundraising and M&E, proposing and creating partnerships with other organizations…

huerto familiar de comida con policultivo y gallinero
You can check out the updated list of projects here. Other projects can be developed based on personal interest and initiative, depending on your skills and experience. For example, this website was created thanks to the hard work of two volunteers! If you’d like to propose something new, be sure to give a detailed description of your project proposal in your application form.

Caring after seedlings at the Mesoamerican Permaculture InstituteWe are looking for people who are curious, independent, responsible, committed, and passionate about the environment, sustainable agriculture, healthy food, and peoples’ right to defend biodiversity. To join the volunteer program, you must meet the following requirements:

  • Complete and submit the Volunteer and Experiential Learning Application.
  • Be at least 19 years old.
  • Commit to not bringing plastic or junk food onto the premises.
  • Ideally, plan to stay a minimum of 1 month. This allows us to ensure that you have enough time to get oriented and have a sustainable, positive impact on the center, the local population, and the work environment.
  • Be able to communicate in basic Spanish. Most of the IMAP team does not speak English and it is imperative that you be able to understand the tasks and information they give you. In addition, we need help with translations or interpretations from time to time. But don’t worry if your Spanish is not perfect, the lake is a fantastic place to improve your Spanish. For most of the local population, Spanish is also their second or third language, after Kaqchikel and/or Tz’utujil.

Thanks to our close relationship with the surrounding communities, we can make suggestions about sustainable, community tourism options that fit our common values. In case you don’t already know, there are many villages around the lake, each with its own culture, landscapes, and sociopolitical initiatives.

Sunny view on Lake Atitlan from the Mesoamerican Permaculture Institute

See you soon…

* To easily view this document in another language, log into a google account, then select File > Make a copy, then in your copied version select Tools > Translate document.

IMAP volunteers gives a thumbs up while working with soil