Fair Trade & Agroforestry in the Amazon

         Fundacion Runa is a community-based Ecuadorian not-for-profit organization, dedicated to sustainable development and cultural preservation for indigenous Amazonian communities.  Fundacion Runa currently provides technical assitance to over 600 indigenous farming families in the Napo, Pastaza, and Morona-Santiago provinces of the Ecuadorian Amazon, helping to plant organic agroforestry systems with guayusa, food crops, fruit trees, forestry species, and medicinal plants.  Fundacion Runa unites the goals of cultural preservation, sustainable management of natural resources, and income generation for indigenous farming families by promoting guayusa agroforesty and providing direct market access for each farmer.

                  Within 5 years of operations, Fundación Runa aims to reforest over 5,000 hectares with guayusa agroforests and work with over 5,000 farming families.  Runa’s founders have extensively researched Fair Trade practices from around the world, and woven together the Best Practices from numerous systems into Runa’s model.  Runa’s fair trade commitment is embodied in 4 activities.

                  1.) MINIMUM PRICE - Guaranteeing a minimum price of $0.35 per pound of fresh wuayusa leaves to farmers (while the current “fair trade” price in Ecuador is $0.12 per pound)

                  2.) LONG TERM CONTRACTS - Guaranteeing the purchase of 100% of each farmer´s guayusa crop through rolling 5 year contracts

                  3.) IMMEDIATE PAYMENT - We pay farmers on the spot for their guayusa leaves, generating immediate income for small farmers.

                  3.) TRAINING - Providing education, technical assistance, and tools to small farmers in order to grow guayusa in sustainable agroforestry systems.

                  4.) SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS – 100% of the profits made from guayusa production and sales in Ecuador will be reinvested in producer communities through collaboratively designed and executed projects implementing sustainable technologies and education.

                  Sustainability is at the core of our mission as a "triple bottom line" organization aiming to create financial, social, and environmental return on investment.  Fundación Runa aims to be a self-sustaining conservation enterprise, reinvesting its earned income in Amazonian agroforestry systems, professional training for young indigenous leaders, and the conservation of fragile ecosystems.   Unlike most NGO's, Fundación Runa will be capable of generating almost all of its own income through the sale of wuayusa to Runa LLC in the US.  Because of its NGO status, the Foundation will then reinvest its profits in the producer communities and its development programs.

                  Fundación Runa’s strategy is always focused on collaboration, innovation, and diversity.  Within a very short timeframe we have signed official collaboration agreements and memorandums of understanding with not only the largest and most successful NGO in all of Ecuador, Fundación Natura, but also the Indigenous People’s Federations in the Ecuadorian Amazon (CONFENAIE, OPIP, CONAKINO, & the Comuna San Jacinto).  We are beginning now to collaborate with the regional and municipal governments, and recently began a Private Public Partnership Program with an agency of the Ecuadorian Government's Export Branch, CORPEI, and the German Technical Agency, GTZ.

 


WANTED: independent, entrepreneurial and adventurous people to join us in the jungle!

----- FALL 2010 PROGRAMMING BEGINS OCTOBER 5th!-----


Invitation for Volunteers:

With Runa’s unique combination of environmental, social, and business aspects in its work, volunteers receive a unique opportunity to participate in the growth of a budding social enterprise.  The focus of the volunteer program is working on Runa’s new Conservation, Training, and Research Center outside of Puyo, Ecuador.  Volunteers will work primarily in our diverse nurseries of organically managed tree and fruit species, and assist our technicians and engineers in the creation and maintenance of organic agroforestry plots.  All volunteers also partner with our field technicians to visit individual family farms, participate in cultural exchange events and guayusa tea ceremonies, and have the opportunity to develop their own research projects.


Qualifications:

  • Basic Spanish required (although Intermediate to Advanced level of Spanish is highly recommended)
  • Independent, entrepreneurial spirit
  • Good health and physical fitness (due to level of outdoor work)
  • Interest in Ecuadorian indigenous culture, agroforestry, sustainable development, and / or organic gardening

Accommodations & Food

Runa’s research station has a newly renovated home for volunteers, with the capacity for six people, including a live-in volunteer coordinator. The house has indoor cold showers, and well maintained composting toilets.

Lunch and dinner will be provided daily by a local mother who lives on the property with her husband, who serves as a 24-hour guard and groundskeeper.  Granola, eggs, and other breakfast foods are available in the volunteer house for self-service.


Planning & Coordination

A Quito-based volunteer coordinator provides trip coordination, including airport pickup, and an on-site American volunteer coordinator lives on the research site full time and coordinates all volunteer activities.

The Research Center in Fatima is conveniently located off of a major interprovincial bus route and is a convenient 30 minutes away from Puyo, the capital of the province of Pastaza.

Cost

$100 per week (includes 3 meals per day M - F, program coordination, housing, and pre and post trip support).

For volunteers with higher levels of Spanish, relevant background experience, and who are willing to stay for at least 2 months, discount payment structures can be offered.


Duration

Volunteers are welcome to stay for a minimum of one week and as long as six months. Small groups are welcome as well.

 


INVITATION FOR INTERNS:

For students and professionals with technical skills in agroforestry management, carpentry, plant-biology research or other applied fields, special discounted long-term arrangements can be made. Research and Development internships can also be based out of our house-office in Archidona, Ecuador. This slighlty more urban jungle site is more suited for interns with specific skills in strategitic planning, organizational management and cultural research.  Internships are arranged on an individual basis by contacting our volunteer coordinator. Interns are expected to be exceptionally independent self-starters who will propose and execute their own projects according to Runa's needs. 2 months is the minimum suggested duration for an internship.


Questions contact: volunteer@runa.org

Please apply at least 2 months in advance of desired dates.


TO APPLY:

Email volunteer@runa.org with the following materials:

1. Brief letter of introduction

2. Volunteer Application (click here to download)

3. Current Resume or Curriculum Vitae