Whether you are a builder/designer/engineer or a writer/accountant/web designer/business person, your skills will support sustainable development and design for low income people in Guatemala. Committed to sustainable community development, ATC collaborates with grassroots organizations in projects that add skills and sustainable infrastructure to meet basic needs and provide opportunity to break out of the cycle of poverty. ATC supports the start up of indigenous solar microbusinesses, installs solar on community buildings, constructs buildings with natural materials, and designs community-specific technologies such as solar hotwater, fuel-efficient stoves, solar vaccine refrigerators, etc.
An Expert Volunteer is a skilled professional with a minimum of 2 years working experience in their field. An expert volunteer can be in a wide range of fields including: Engineering, Industrial Design, Architecture/Building, Sustainable Agriculture, Permaculture, Sustainable Development, Anthropology/Sociology, Bio-Sciences, etc.
This program brings skilled professionals into Guatemala to design/build, test and teach their designs in the local context. Work at our tree-filled workshop space alongside local builders to develop appropriate technologies in your area of expertise. Train and advise ATC staff and local community members in their specialised area to improve programs, systems, techniques, and designs.
Empower people through education and experimentation and “leave behind” a toolkit of resources, techniques and skills to increase access to appropriate technologies. New technologies built on-site will remain in Guatemala to serve a family or community for use and long-term assessments on function, appropriateness, maintainability and the effects on quality of life.
1. Apply to ATC by responding to the application questions below. 2. If your application is accepted, a Skype meeting with the Guatemala Program Director will be organized to agree upon a project based on your skills and experience and local needs and availablility. 3. Write a project proposal based on our conversation that describes the process of your project including time frame, needed materials and tools, purpose and foreseeable challenges. 4. Arrive in Guatemala to implement your project. 5. Interns and Expert Volunteers recieve recognition for their contribution to ATC and community development. Depending on your institution’s policy, we are willing to sign-off on academic credit, research or internship credits.
Depending on the nature of your project, you may be living in San Marcos la Laguna (a small, Mayan village on Lake Atitlan, the site of ATC Guatemala’s field office) or in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. Plausibly and depending on your experiencial interest, you could also be assigned to live in another community where there is a need. For the above reasons, intermediate spanish speaking ability is required. San Marcos La Laguna, home to ATC’s Field Office, is a small, Mayan village on Lake Atitlan, Guatemala. We have access to surrounding towns and villages by boat, a quiet tourism industry and lots of agriculture. The primary languages are Kaqchiquel and Spanish, the amount of activity in the English-speaking community of foreigners varies greatly from month to month. You will also spend a lot of your time with or without other volunteers and local co-workers at the workshop or jobsite. Independence and self-motivation is essential.