SUMMER INTERNSHIP
PROGRAM
Overview
Our summer internships, while typically arranged through our existing partnerships with colleges and universities, are open to anyone. Interns spend six to eight weeks in Ecuador, beginning with a multi-day orientation in or near Quito before moving to their host community.
DATES: June 11 to August 4, 2026
Flexible dates available
6-week & 7-week options available
During their stay, interns work at least 30 hours per week, structured as four- or five-day workweeks depending on the project. Remaining days are flexible for relaxation, personal projects, or independent travel. Students also participate in a program excursion, including a four-day stay outside the host community.
Interns live in homestays, engage in community activities, and collaborate in interdisciplinary groups with local members and fellow interns to maximize project impact. In addition to gaining professional experience, they develop skills in community organizing, intercultural communication, and conflict resolution.
Projects address themes such as education, Indigenous and epistemic justice, women’s empowerment, environmental justice, food security, social entrepreneurship, leadership, and community development.
Academic Credit: While our standard program focuses on the professional and personal development of each intern, we also offer academic credit for a small additional fee. Depending on the time committed to the program and your focus area, we can provide from 3 to 8 credits. (See Below)
Principal COMMUNITY PARTNER FOR SUMMER 2026:
KICHWA COMMUNITY OF MUSHULLAKTA
Mushullakta is a small Indigenous community of the Kichwa peoples located in the upper Amazon of the Napo province. The entrance to the community is on the road between the cities of Archidona and Coca, approximately four hours from Quito. Twenty families live in and around the center of the community while another 40 families live spread out in the forest, often accessible only by hours of walking.
Interns will live and work in the center of the community, surrounded by family farms and bordering the Sumaco-Napo-Galeras National Park.
The community has a small elementary school; however, older youth must look outside of the community for middle and high school options. Some choose to go to Papanko, the community up the road, for secondary school, but the quality of education is very poor and transportation to and from the school is unreliable. Most families send their children to the cities of Archidona or Tena where they stay Monday to Friday for classes and return home to Mushullakta on the weekends. Once students leave Mushullakta for high school, the move often becomes permanent, meaning very few young people choose to come back to Mushullakta after graduating.
Because of this situation, Mushullakta founded the Children of the Living Forest School in partnership with Humans for Abundance, Pachaysana's ecosystem restoration program. The school has created its own multilingual curriculum that is based on ancestral knowledge, conservation practices and sustainable living. It combines homeschooling with virtual instruction with most classes taught in the native language, Kichwa.
All Mushullakta internships will have a relationship with the ongoing development of the Forest School.
Alternative community partner - PINTAG AMARU
Pintag Amaru is an ancestral Andean community located in the highlands on the southeastern edge of Quito, not far from Antisana and Sincholagua mountains. The entrance to the community lies just beyond the parish town of Pintag, approximately one hour from central Quito.
Interns will live and work with Pintag Amaru's developing Eco-Village called Casa Amaru. The community maintains a strong agricultural tradition grounded in ancestral practices such as chakras (diversified family farms), seed keeping, ceremonial planting cycles, and collective labor.
Pintag Amaru faces challenges similar to many rural communities across the Andes: limited access to culturally relevant education, migration pressures toward the city, and the erosion of traditional ecological knowledge. In response to these challenges, families in Pintag Amaru have partnered with Humans for Abundance and Pachaysana to revitalize their community through ecological restoration, arts-based education, and intergenerational leadership training. Together, they are restoring native forests, building community-led learning spaces, and strengthening cultural identity through traditional music, storytelling, and agroecological practices.
Interns work in these initiatives, contributing to agroecology, bioconstruction and supporting young people in reconnecting with their land and culture while creating opportunities for them to envision futures rooted in the community rather than outside of it.
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Other community partners available for Summer 2025
Visit our Carbon Onsetting Initiative page to learn more and let us know if you’re interested in working with Omar Tello (Jardín Botánico) or Lexie and Luis (Amisacho Lab).
REQUIREMENTS
Applicants should know that...
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Mushullakta and Pintag are rural communities and we expect interns to adapt to a rural lifestyle. Most families wake up early, take care of animals and raise crops.
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Communities have running water, electricity, and internet, but living conditions are basic.
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In Mushullakta, wood-plank homes are simple, yet very comfortable. In Pintag, homes are made of cement and brick. Each intern has their own bedroom and shares the family bathroom.
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In Mushullakta, interns can travel by bus to the nearby cities of Archidona and Tena in approximately 2.5 to 3 hours, while in Pintag the city of Sangolqui is about 45 minutes away and Quito is a little over an hour from host family homes. Students are free to travel when the work schedule permits.
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There are public health clinics about 30 minutes away from each community.
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In Mushullakta, breakfast and dinner are provided in the host families and lunches are enjoyed together with other members of the community in the communal dining area. In Pintag, most meals are with host families with an occasional communal meal at Casa Amaru
- Communities can accommodate most diets, including vegetarianism, veganism, gluten-free, dairy-free and others.
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All host family homes are within minutes of walking distance from the others, meaning that all interns will be able to easily meet up with others.
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Each intern is responsible for hand-washing their own clothes in Mushullakta. In Pintag, most families have washing machines.
Language Requirements:
The native language of Mushullakta is Kichwa, but most inhabitants also speak Spanish. In Pintag, the primary language is Spanish. We recommend that interns come with an intermediate level of Spanish. For students with primary levels, we ask that they inquire before applying, as we may have certain projects for primary level speakers.
Guidance & accompaniment:
Pachaysana provides regular guidance and accompaniment throughout the program. It begins with two to three virtual pre-departure orientation sessions done via Zoom. Upon arrival in Ecuador, Pachaysana leads an on-site orientation that covers important sessions on health, safety, interculturality, community/host family life, and more.
Throughout the community-based component of the internship, Pachaysana will have an on site staff member or trained community coordinator to provide guidance and assist in the case of an emergency.
Pachaysana will also pick up students on their arrival day, lead the scheduled program excursion in the middle of the internship period, and assure that students arrive safely to the airport on their last day.
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Visas:
No visas are required for citizens of most countries; however, for non-U.S. citizens, please contact us to see if you will need a visa to intern in Ecuador.
WORK AREAS
Students accepted into the program will choose between three primary work areas for their internships. We ask each applicant to select a primary area of focus and a secondary. Interns will likely spend 60 to 80% of their time on the primary area and 20 to 40% on the secondary area.
For interns who choose to work with Omar, Lexie & Luis or Pintag Amaru, your work areas will be similar, however, the projects will be site-specific (please inquire).
Alternative Education:
In Mushullakta, interns in this area will work with the students and parent-teachers of the Children of the Living Forest School. The work includes co-designing/co-facilitating non-formal and formal education activities for the school’s summer programming, assisting with the design and organization of the upcoming school year’s planning, assisting with improvements to the school’s physical spaces, and assisting parent-teachers with food preparation for the school children. Non-formal and formal education activities will be designed according to intern’s areas of interest and experience and may include English teaching, math or Spanish tutoring, art, theatre, dance, craft-making, carpentry, cooking, team-building games, physical education, among others.
In Pintag, interns will work with community youth on the development of the Kichwa Summer Camp. Now entering its fourth year, the camp relies on interns to help prepare educational activities, co-lead sessions, and support youth and local community educators throughout the program.
Reforestation, Regenerative Agriculture & Bioconstruction:
In Mushullakta, interns in this area will work with Puma Wasi, the community’s ecosystem restoration association, on planting trees, collecting seeds, upkeeping the nursery, tending community gardens, assisting with family farms, raising small animals like chickens, soil preparation, composting, harvesting crops such as organic fruits and coffee, among other tasks. It may also include tasks in entrepreneurial activities like assisting the group in developing their agricultural products for sale outside of the community. Part of our work will be documenting the reforestation and sustainable agriculture projects for their impact on environmental justice.
In Pintag, interns participate in organic gardening, Andean forest restoration, regenerative water practices, and hands-on bioconstruction projects that support community-led sustainability efforts.
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Storytelling:
In Pintag, interns in this area will work with the Children of the Living Forest School and Puma Wasi, the ecosystem restoration association, to collect and tell community stories. The stories will take on different forms, but mostly in digital form so that the community can use them to promote and raise awareness/funds for their ongoing projects. Students will be asked to study Storytelling for Social Change theory and methods and bring them to their work, Storytelling techniques will likely include photo journaling, short documentary videos, short creative videos, among others.
In Pintag, interns engage in a wide range of creative projects, including digital storytelling, community-based theatre, visual art and social media communication. They work closely with community leaders and youth, co-creating content and supporting locally led initiatives.
WHO ARE THE PACHAYSANA INTERNS?
Pachaysana interns are mostly college students who come from all walks of life and all academic disciplines. That said, we welcome recent college graduates and non-students.
They are people who are looking for more than professional experience and a resume-builder. Rather, they believe in the power of community, they want to contribute to sustainable social change, and they want to challenge their own preconceived notions of what social justice means.
The program strives to provide experiences that contribute to a decolonizing movement in which interns and local community members unlearn the systemic injustices that dominate our development and education systems.
The program is not easy, but if when you read this, you feel inspired and can hear a song of hope, then we encourage you to apply.
FINANCES
Most of our interns join through programs arranged with partner universities, with finances managed through their respective offices. For students participating independently, we provide a cost breakdown for an 8-week internship. Please contact us for details on costs for shorter-term commitments.
Total Cost: $6,095 (8 week internship)
Total cost varies for 6 and 7 week versions.
Cost Breakdown
$4,095 - Internship program fees. Includes full room/board (3 meals per day), program orientation, all official program travel, one program excursion, basic project materials, and Pachaysana guidance/accompaniment.
$2,000 - Direct community investment into Mushullakta’s (or Pintag's) community-based projects.
Why a direct community investment?
We understand that the price tag for our internship program can be high for many prospective applicants; however, Pachaysana must take the necessary steps to assure that we are not involved in voluntourism or outside-in development practices. When internships include direct financial investment into community projects, we go further in protecting the interests of our community partners. In other words, the funds support the work that interns are involved in.
Fundraising
We encourage students to seek funding in and outside of their colleges/universities. Many higher education institutions have available funds to assist students with the costs. In addition to grants and scholarships available through study abroad/away or international programs offices, you may find funds through community engagement offices, centers that focus on Indigenous Education, Peace and Social Justice, Development Studies, Sustainability Studies, Global Citizenship and others; or via university-sponsored research programs (we can help you frame your work as Participatory Action Research).
Outside of the university, some students have found money via organizations/institutions in their local communities, such as churches or goodwill organizations like Rotary.
Not Included Fees:
International Airfare, Health/Medical Insurance, personal expenses, any costs associated with personal travel outside of the community, cell phone/data fees.
ACADEMIC CREDIT
Credit Information and Requirements
Students can sign up for 1 or 2 Independent Study courses framed as "practicums" with our School of Record, Juniata College. Each course can be for 3 or 4 total credits, meaning students can sign up for 3 to 8 total credits. If taking the course for academic credit, the intern will have additional responsibilities, including readings (or resarch), reflective journaling and a final project to be presented at the conclusion of the internship. Please consult with your college to assure that Juniata College credit on a summer transcript will tranfer to your home school. You can write to us directly to learn more about classes and credits.
Costs
Thanks to Juniata's commitment to Pachaysana's mission and partner communities, there is only a nominal cost for credits. Please write to us for specific information about costs.
APPLICATION
Due Date: March 15, 2026
While you can apply up to March 15, we recommend getting your applications in as early as possible, preferably by Feb 15.
Application Process:
We hope to make this application as simple as possible. There are three steps you need to complete:
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Fill out the online form. Email us at infopachaysana.org with questions.
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Write a brief statement or make a short video that shares why you want to participate in the program.
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Participate in an online interview two to three weeks after submitting your application