Online placement (E-Volunteer)
Partner Location Guyana
Start Date Nov 2018 – Jan 2019 (flexible)
Length of Placement 2 Months

About E-Volunteering

Cuso International’s e-volunteering program welcomes new and returning volunteers to work with our international program partners and volunteers remotely. E-volunteering offers many of the benefits gained from international volunteering, while having the extra advantage of fitting into one’s regular weekly schedule without needing a passport. Contributing and giving back to a community, gaining new skills, and making new connections are common benefits of e-volunteering and for Cuso International it is a great opportunity to engage more people in its mission.

The E-Volunteer’s Role

As an e-volunteer, your overall goal is to assist the South-Central Peoples’ Development Association (SCPDA) to advocate for the responsible use of mercury in the gold mining process and its phase-out in their territory using performing arts. These activities are part of the SCPDA’s suite of objectives under the Shared Resources Joint Solutions (SRJS) programme, which is being coordinated by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Guianas Office. The overall objective is to build the SCPDA’s advocacy capacity by using creative techniques, specifically performance arts, to communicate their messages to community-members and wider stakeholders. Your tasks will include meeting with your lead contact online to determine their needs and developing a script to be performed to bring awareness of the responsible use of mercury. The partner is very open to the e-volunteer’s ideas and your sense of creativity is the key criteria for this role.

Professionals and students studying the performing arts alike are welcome to apply.

As an e-volunteer, you will:

-Choose a suitable performance artform and develop an appropriate script to address a specific issue in affecting the community, such as, health implications of the use of mercury in mining and general environmental degradation (waste management), which incorporates the local context of the South Rupununi (SCPDA’s geographical territory).
-Provide relevant feedback and/or training resource materials to the SCPDA or selected community members whom will be performing the content of the script, if required.

Essential Academic Qualifications:

-College/University Degree in Art
-Formal Training in Theatre/Cinematic Arts

Essential Professional Background:

-One-two years working experience in writing scripts for performance-based arts.
-Experience in writing scripts and training people with little or no experience in acting or performance arts.

Other Information:

E-Volunteers are expected to supply their own basic home office equipment, Internet and have a moderate knowledge of computer technology. Some of our partners are located in remote areas with unreliable internet connection. Consequently, it is reasonable to assume that when working with the partners, emails will not be responded to immediately. For most of our partners, this is their first experience working with e-volunteers and flexibility and patience is a valuable e-volunteer characteristic.

For additional information about our e-volunteering program, please refer to: https:/goo.gl/FQEmbx
Not sure whether e-volunteering may be right for you? Take this short survey to find out: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/e-volunteering