Community Economic Development Promoter
Project Description
The Community Economic Development (CED) sector’s purpose is to support Paraguayan families—especially women and youth—increase access to and/or expand their economic opportunities. Volunteers work both in schools and with women’s group and other groups outside of school. The schools are technical high schools which focus on either business administration, marketing or accounting. With schools, Volunteers work in conjunction with teachers on student personal finance, including forming saving clubs, and entrepreneurship training. Volunteers will also coordinate with the local municipality and other local organizations such as women’s groups to form community saving groups and increase money management skills; and with out-of-school youth and adults on entrepreneurship training. Additionally, with the women’s group, CED Volunteers will work to support the creation of home-based Income Generating Activities (IGAs)
The Community Economic Development Sector has the following three goals and activities:
Goal 1: Finance - Increase individuals’ capacity for personal money management
• Create and support community savings groups (CSGs) with adults, especially with women
• Create and support community savings groups (CSGs) with youth [e.g. in schools]
• Plan and facilitate personal money management training in a CSG setting
• Guide individuals to apply personal money management skills
Goal 2: Entrepreneurship - Develop individual’s (especially youth’s) entrepreneurial potential
• Plan and facilitate a training that includes both entrepreneurship behaviors, business planning and basic business skills using the Build Your Dreams curriculum (Construye Tus Sueños)
• Guide individuals to adopt entrepreneurial behaviors and apply basic business skills to their new or existing entrepreneurial activity
• Organize events for aspiring or existing entrepreneurs (ex: Paraguay Emprende, business plan competition)
Goal 3: Income Generating Activities (IGAs) - Improve individuals’(especially women’s) capacity to implement income-generating activities
• Plan and facilitate training on how to select and implement an effective IGA
• Guide individuals on how to implement an IGA
• Plan and facilitate basic business skills training for individuals with an IGA
• Guide individuals to apply basic business skills to their new or existing IGA
From small to larger urban areas of Paraguay, a small business can be very small, and can be better described as a micro-enterprise. In some cases, Volunteers can work with a señora selling empanadas, a carrot vendor at the local market or a couple of young adults trying to start a juice business. Typically the businesses or IGAs are very informal.
The work setting consists of high schools and women’s groups, but could also include cooperatives, municipalities, governmental and non-governmental organizations or neighborhood commissions.
According to the strategic plan of the National Youth Secretariat, Paraguay has one of the larger youth populations in the region. Investing in youth will play an important role in promoting community economic development in Paraguay. For this reason, the CED sector focuses its effort in this stratum of the population, by building the capacity of youth as community leaders and business owners.
Volunteers serve in urban and semi-urban areas where there was a higher incidence of unemployment prior to the pandemic. All Volunteers in the CED sector will be co-facilitating in a formal classroom setting and coordinating activities with teachers and students.
Many Volunteers also work on secondary activities which may be started/proposed by the community and carried out with the Volunteer’s support. Depending on the community, secondary projects might include teaching English, community clean-up events, promotion of dental health, art classes, healthy nutrition habits, recycling projects or water sanitation.
COVID-19 Volunteer Activities
As a Volunteer, you will be trained in how to best protect yourself from COVID-19 exposure and understand the impact of and steps to reduce stigma related to COVID-19. You may also have the opportunity to engage with your community on implementing or enhancing COVID-19 mitigation activities, such as COVID-19 prevention and risk reduction strategies including social distancing, hand washing, mask wearing, addressing myths and misconceptions related to these practices, and vaccine hesitancy. Activities will be tailored to address the COVID-19 circumstances in the communities where you will serve.
Required Skills
Qualified candidates will have one or more of the following criteria:
• Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Science degree in any field
OR
• 5 years' professional work experience
Desired Skills
Competitive candidates will have one or more of the following criteria:
• Bachelor or Master of Business Administration, or a Master of Arts/Master of Science degree in Public Administration, Management, Accounting, Banking, or Finance
• At least one year of experience in business management
• Experience in business strategy or consulting
• Experience in entrepreneurship or business training
• Basic to moderate knowledge of family finance or micro-finance/community savings groups
• Experience forming, leading or supporting student youth groups or community groups
• Experience working with women’s group
• At least one year of community service or volunteer experience
Required Language Skills
Candidates must meet one or more of the language requirements below in order to be considered for this position:
A. Completed 4 years of high school Spanish coursework within the past 8 years
B. Completed minimum 2 semesters of Spanish college‐level coursework within the past 6 years
C. Native/fluent speaker of Spanish
A candidate who does not meet the language proficiency levels above can take a language placement exam to demonstrate proficiency. Competitive applicants typically attain a score of 50 on the Spanish College Level Examination Program CLEP exam or Novice‐High on the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages exam (ACTFL OPI).
Candidates should also exhibit a strong interest to learn an indigenous language as Paraguay is an officially bi-lingual country and learning both languages, Spanish and Guarani, are critical for Volunteer effectiveness.
Competitive candidates will have conversational Spanish language skills. Paraguay is a bilingual nation where both Spanish and Guaraní are official national languages. To communicate in the capital city of Asunción (and other large urban areas), Spanish is most commonly spoken. However, in most semi-urban to rural areas where Community Economic Development Volunteers are placed, Guaraní or “Jopara” (a mixture of Guaraní and Spanish) is the most common way to communicate. Therefore, Volunteers will need to learn both languages to be able to communicate and be effective in their work. Volunteers who enter training with minimal Spanish language skills may struggle to learn the two new languages which can be a source of frustration. Successful Volunteers have an open and positive attitude about language learning and dedicate a substantial amount of time outside of class to studying and practicing both languages, especially with their host family. Volunteers will not be able to swear-in unless they meet both language benchmarks. Additionally, during training, Volunteers will be taught basic competence in Spanish, but the focus of language training will be in Guaraní. If perfecting or becoming fluent in Spanish is a main goal of your Peace Corps service, Paraguay may not be the best fit.
Living Conditions
Communities for CED Volunteers will mainly be medium-sized towns (7,000-12,000) or urban areas (12,000+). CED Volunteers typically have access to electricity and cell service. Some communities have internet, but it is best to come prepared to not have regular internet because the quality and reliability of the internet service might not be stable.
CED Volunteers are often placed within 2-3 hours of Volunteers from another sector. In a few cases, more than one Volunteer may be in the same community if it is large. In this case, each Volunteer will have their own specific organization or neighborhood with which to work.
Volunteers need to adapt to heat/humidity; often between 95 and 105 degrees Fahrenheit and 70-90% humidity.
All Trainees & Volunteers live with a host family for the 10 weeks of Pre-Service Training and the first two months of service, for a total of four and a half months of required homestay experience. Homes may be very basic, with outdoor latrines and no modern plumbing. Most Volunteer housing have access to running water within the property line, if not in the house itself. During summertime, running water will be available during certain hours. In the cases where there is no running water, wells are available to be shared.
The Paraguayan diet is heavily based on meat, which can be challenging for vegetarians. The diet is also high in carbohydrates and many meals involve more than one starch at a time (e.g. manioc and pasta or manioc and rice). In many Paraguayan families, yucca and meat are eaten almost every day. Fruits are available seasonally. Most communities have access to tomatoes, onions and green peppers, but limited access to other vegetables. Some Volunteers plant gardens to increase the variety of vegetables. Do not expect to have a full-scale grocery store in your community.
Paraguayans place high importance on personal appearance, including cleanliness. Paraguayans can sometimes get offended by visitors to their homes or offices who have body odor or an unkempt appearance. Therefore, cleanliness and neat appearance are very important for Volunteers who represent the Peace Corps and host agencies. This is a valuable concept to remember as it will help with integrating into your community, because it shows respect for Paraguayan values. This may be very different from the cultural context one has experienced in the U.S. Shorts, flip-flops, and tank tops are inappropriate except around the house or for recreational activities. It is expected that Volunteers wear business casual as a working professional would in the U.S. Most Paraguayans dress up for special occasions. In schools and offices - including in Peace Corps facilities, “office casual” is appropriate (nice jeans, khakis, and knee-length skirts; button-down shirts or nice pull-over blouses; closed-toed shoes or dressy sandals).
The pace of life is much slower than in the U.S. and decisions may take longer than one may have previously been accustomed to. Language barriers coupled with indirect communication styles also pose extra challenges; however the vast majority of Volunteers are able to overcome these with effort and dedication. In general, Paraguayan communities are very welcoming to Volunteers and the program has an overall positive reputation in the country.
Serving in Paraguay
Learn more about the Volunteer experience in Paraguay: Get detailed information on culture, communications, housing, health, and safety -- including health and crime statistics -- in order to make a well-informed decision about serving.
Couples Information
Paraguay is happy to accept same-sector couples. Therefore, your partner must apply and qualify for:
Community Economic Development Promoter
Couples will live together with the same host family during Pre-Service Training (PST) and for the first two months of service; but may be separated for certain field-based activities during PST.
Medical Considerations
Before you apply, please review Medical Information for Applicants to learn about the medical clearance process.
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