About The Job

Apply by :

October 1, 2025

Know By

December 1, 2025

Depart On

May 25, 2026

Duration

2 years, plus 3 months training

ELIGIBILITY: Must be at least 18 years of age. Must be a U.S. citizen.

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 high schools and with women’s group and other groups outside of school. With schools, Volunteers work in conjunction with teachers on student personal money management, 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 CED Sector has the following three goals and activities:

Goal 1: Personal Money Management - Increase individuals’ capacity for personal money management

• Create and support Community Savings Groups (CSGs) with adults, especially with women
• Create and support 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
  
  

In both small and large urban areas of Paraguay, a small business can be 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 on 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 have historically been higher incidence of unemployment. 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 outside the sector’s framework 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.

Volunteers will receive specific technical training to learn how to design, implement, and evaluate primary and secondary project activities. Trainees receive 10 weeks of Pre-Service Training before moving to their communities and then attend additional training events during their two years of Volunteer service with their community counterparts.

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