Job Description
Panama is commonly referred to as “puente del mundo, corazón del universo” (bridge of the world, heart of the universe), and is a land of mixed realities. Its strategic geographic location influenced the construction of the Panama Canal, which accelerated immigration and contributed to Panama’s multicultural population. With one of the fastest-growing economies in the region, Panama is an international logistics, banking, and tourism hub. However, Panama also has the second-worst income distribution among Latin American countries, with approximately 22% of the population with income below the national poverty line.
Many communities in rural Panama are mainly comprised of subsistence-based farming families, particularly in indigenous areas. Land degradation, limited access to resources, high production costs, and low yields affect the production of high quality, nutritious food as well as a sustainable income. To mitigate these agricultural challenges, Volunteers in the Sustainable Agriculture Systems (SAS) program collaborate with small-holder rural farmers—men, women, youth, and children—to improve their food security and the resiliency and sustainability of their livelihoods.
Volunteers collaborate with community members to identify and prioritize local needs, as well as co-plan strategies to address them. Part of this process involves identifying work partners, who may include model farmers, local artisans, local host country ministry technicians, and/or community leaders. Interaction might be one-on-one, as when working alongside a farmer in her kitchen garden, or in a group setting, as when co-teaching with a model farmer about better fertilization practices to the local coffee producers’ association.
Volunteers support their work partners in addressing agriculture production issues such as soil conservation, integrated pest management, or post-harvest management. For farmers exploring new income-generating activities, Volunteers may support them in growing cash crops such as vegetables or coffee or producing artisanal goods from local materials. Volunteers, in collaboration with work partners, address business topics such as budgeting or marketing to support these endeavors. Volunteers also support community-based groups to assess their own organizational capacity and co-create plans for improvement, coaching members on topics including strategic planning, communication, and leadership. Volunteers work alongside key household members to improve understanding of the importance of a diverse diet. This is done by introducing recipes from a nutritional standpoint and promoting healthy foods, particularly lesser-known agricultural or traditional crops.
A typical day might involve hiking several hours through the jungle to visit a farm and observe a new bicho (bug) that is eating the crops, mixing up a compost pile at the local school out of chopped banana plants and cow manure, trying out a new recipe with a woman’s group over a three-stone fire, or adding up farm costs with a family in a notebook as everyone tells stories at the end of the day.
During Pre-Service Training and throughout service, Peace Corps Panama provides learning experiences to strengthen Volunteers’ competencies, in areas such as sustainable agriculture techniques, basic business skills, nutritional information, and organizational management. The most important skill Volunteers need to be successful is the ability to communicate ideas clearly and to develop strong interpersonal relationships. Creativity in using locally available resources is also important. Volunteers must be prepared to be proactive, self-driven, and to motivate others.
Required Skills
Qualified candidates will have an expressed interest in working in agriculture and 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 of Science degree or Associate degree in Agronomy, Horticulture, or other related fields
• Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Science degree in any business discipline
• At least 3 years full-time farm experience
• 5 years professional experience in business management
• Familiarity/experience with agriculture, gardens, and/or farm work
• Experience in leading through collaboration
• Experience teaching adults and children formally and informally
• Experience with public speaking or facilitating classes/workshops/presentations
Living Conditions
Community Locations
The SAS program works primarily with Ngäbe communities, an indigenous group from western Panama, although some Volunteers may be placed in non-indigenous (Latino) communities. Traveling to and from a community may require a 30–45-minute walk from the nearest bus stop. Many communities are spread out and might require long walks to coordinate and collaborate with work partners.
Housing
Houses in Panama vary and may include simple concrete block or plank walls with cement floors; stilted wood houses; or adobe or zinc structures with mud floors. Communities have basic utilities and infrastructure, including cell phone signal, treatable water within a short walk, and occasionally electricity. The reliability of these services may vary; and may be impacted by seasonal changes. All Volunteers receive training on how to treat their drinking water should they need to. Solar panels and other means to charge or run electronics can be acquired in Panama. Most homes have a simple pit latrine. Peace Corps Panama assesses each community and house to ensure that basic health and safety criteria are met.
Volunteers are required to live with a host family during their first three months of service. After three months, Volunteers may opt to live in pre-approved independent housing that meets Peace Corps Panama’s housing criteria.
Working Conditions
Volunteers work in a variety of locations, including farms that might be a mountainous 1-to-2-hour hike away, in local schools and gardens, under a tin-roofed “communal house” and in family homes and yards. During PST and throughout service, they will often do manual labor on farms to help integrate with the families that they serve and demonstrate new techniques.
Food and Diet
The Panamanian diet varies according to the region and the ethnic makeup of the population. Most often the diet consists of rice, beans, bananas or plantains, yuca, and corn. Rice and beans are a staple dish. Corn is commonly served in a variety of ways, including ground, boiled, or fried. Sancocho is a traditional soup prepared with root vegetables and chicken. Most rural areas have fruits and vegetable available only in certain seasons or regions, including mangos, papayas, pineapples, avocados, and citrus, tomatoes, sweet peppers, cucumbers or greens. The most common meats are chicken, pork, and beef, which are often deep-fried or stewed. Fish is available sporadically waterside communities. It is common to eat canned meats and fish.
Panamanians frequently follow diets based on their region, culture, and seasonally available produce. Depending on the Volunteer’s diet, they may be inclined to start a garden, plan for trips to larger cities to acquire products at supermarkets or adjust to locally available options. Larger towns and cities have at least one familiar, US restaurant.
Computer, Phone, and Internet
Volunteers generally have reliable network coverage, though it might be up to a 30-minute walk to reach. Internet speed and reliability will vary depending on the location of the community. Some Volunteers may access Wi-Fi through the local public school, a community hot spot, or visit a private internet cafe in a larger town. In Panama City, Volunteers may access Wi-Fi, desktop computers and printers at the Peace Corps Panama office.
Peace Corps Panama provides all Volunteers with a local SIM card. Many cheap data plans are available for purchase in Panama. Many Volunteers bring an unlocked cell phone from the United States or buy one in country. Should Volunteers choose to bring electronics, it is their responsibility to maintain and insure them. Be aware that service providers in Panama do not fully support phones with eSIMs or will charge extra, which will be at the Volunteers' expense. Also, currently serving Volunteers have reported that newer iPhone models have difficulties connecting to local phone and data signals, causing them to purchase another phone model.
Language Skills Additional Information
Pre-Service Training (PST) emphasizes language acquisition through structured and unstructured language-building learning experiences, while also focusing on strengthening intercultural competence. These critical skills will help create a foundation for the ability to serve as a Volunteer in Panama. The technical knowledge and skills that Volunteers arrive with and/or gain during your training will not be effective if Volunteers do not have the necessary communication and intercultural skills.
Trainees will receive three Language Proficiency Interviews (LPI) to assess language progress before, at mid-point, and at the end of PST. To qualify for service, Trainees must achieve an Intermediate-mid level of Spanish as outlined by ACTFL Guidelines by their final LPI. Intermediate-mid level speakers are able to: start, sustain, and close simple conversations at the sentence level, connect them, as well as ask and answer simple questions.
Trainees are assigned to a Language and Culture Facilitator (LCF) who will do their best to support Trainees in achieving the required level. They provide well-rounded support as Trainees adapt to a new method of language-learning and will persistently challenge Trainees to speak out loud, make mistakes, converse with, and build relationships with native speakers, such as members of your host training community. LCFs will also be an important cultural informant and guide as in adapting to the local culture.
Volunteers in all sites will use Spanish daily for much of their communication, including in indigenous areas. However, as SAS Volunteers will be placed principally in indigenous Ngӓbe-Buglé communities, they will also receive some formal training on basic Ngäbere to help with cultural adaptation. Volunteers are encouraged to continue language learning in their communities. Having an interest in a deeper study of local language in the form of continuous self-study and in-community conversations is a way to work more directly with community members. Ngäbere is a spoken language with limited written materials.
Couples Comments
Peace Corps Panama can accommodate a limited number of couples; either within the same program or as a cross-sector couple.
Couples from the same sector will live with the same host family during PST and are requested to speak Spanish with each other and the host family to improve language learning. Cross-sector couples will live with different host families and in different (but nearby) communities during PST. It may be possible that cross-sector couples spend weekends together during PST, but not a guarantee.
During service, all couples they may live together first with a host family and then on their own or be placed with a family guide and living on their own upon arriving in the community. Couples will be placed in medium to large communities, to ensure sufficient work is available for both Volunteers.
The Peace Corps works to foster safe and productive assignments for same-sex couples, and same-sex couples are not placed in countries where homosexual acts are criminalized. Because of this, same-sex couple placements are more limited than heterosexual couple placements. During the application process recruiters and placement officers work closely with same-sex couple applicants to understand current placement opportunities.
Language Requirements Information
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
Candidates who do not meet the language proficiency levels above can take the language placement exams to demonstrate their level of proficiency. Competitive applicants typically attain a score of 50 on the Spanish College Level Examination Program CLEP exam or a score of Novice‐High on the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL OPI).
Environmental Adaptation and Resilience Activities (Public Information)
As an Agriculture Volunteer, you will be trained on best practices for smallholder agriculture to improve household food security and nutrition and adapt to a changing and uncertain environmental context. As the impacts of environmental degradation and unsustainable natural resource management practices become more evident, the social, economic, and environmental contexts that smallholder farmers operate within will continue to change. This will add to the challenges of smallholder farming, particularly for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged communities.
As an Agriculture Volunteer, you will be trained to support food security and livelihood improvement while increasing community resilience and adaptation to global change through your activities. These activities will:
• Promote the adoption of improved, appropriate, and adaptive agricultural practices and technologies that increase productivity, including practices that:
• Improve soil health and promote circularity of on-farm organic waste
• Reflect indigenous knowledge of nature-based solutions and
• Build and strengthen household resilience by integrating and diversifying existing and new agriculture-related income-generating opportunities
• Improve household nutrition, particularly that of the most vulnerable household members
