Internship Program at a Permaculture Farm.

“Practice, study and research permaculture, agroforestry, bioconstruction and its potential to change the world.”

Availability: All year        Duration:  1 – 24 weeks        Start date: flexible

Eco Caminhos is an eco farm in Brazil, situated in the beautiful mountains near Nova Friburgo, where we follow the permaculture principles and work with bioconstruction and agroforestry. We offer interns the opportunity to become part of our project and live in our Brazilian and international community while enjoying nature and ecotourism activities. At Eco Caminhos we bioconstruct since our foundation in 2015 and implement agroforestry systems since 2017. We not just talk about sustainability we work towards becoming fully self-sustaining every day since our foundation. At our eco farm, you will live and work with people from Brazil and around the world. You will have the opportunity to make lifelong friends while learning the Portuguese language. We have received students from all over the world. For some schools and universities the objective is gaining practical skills where for others a Research is required. We have over 15 years of guiding Students on the farm.

Our Partners

What makes our internship program different?

Our internship program is ideal for people who do not want do their internship in an office or company but prefer to spend this valuable time in amazing nature and with hands-on and meaningful work while researching topics related to sustainability. So often we arrive in companies that only contribute to destroying our plant or with the sole objective to enrich the owners. At Eco Caminhos you will contribute to a project that wants to positively impact the region socially, ecologically and economically.  Also doing your traineeship in a foreign country allows you learn a new language, a new culture. Now the biggest learning opportunity at Eco Caminhos is to learn about yourself.

What will your average week look like?

Interns usually work 8 hours per day, 3 days a week usually monday, wednesday and friday. The other 2 days interns work on their research or specific tasks for their University. But of course we can be flexible as it is important to meet your university requirements. At the same time it is important for your integration at Eco Caminhos to have fixed days in the routine. People with specific skills such as architecture, civil engineering, forestry engineering, biology, communication, administration can also help us to put those skills in practise. The hands-on work can vary between agroforestry, bioconstruction, animal care and other jobs at the farm. In the first couple of weeks on tuesday’s we offer a few lectures on the different techniques on the farm. Then on the thursday we organize eco sport and touristic activities. We do hikes to the beautiful peaks arround the farm, visit waterfalls and natural pools, we organize mountainbike tours and visit touristic sites in the region. Once a month we have general meeting were we you can share your thoughts and bring suggestions for improvement. The weekends are free however we offer 2 extra ecosport our tourism activities per month for those whole like to join.  Many of our volunteers use their weekends to explore Nova Friburgo or Rio de Janeiro.

Once every 2 weeks the people of Eco Caminhos unite in the evening to socialize. During these volunteer nights we usually cook together or make a fire outside, do a karoaka night or just watch the stars. We are always open for suggestions. What matters is that we spend time together.

*This image is an example of our weekly routine but is also flexible depending on availability and interests of the group

Research topic

Together with your traineeship supervisor of Eco Caminhos and your university supervisor you decide upon a research topics. If you want to understand better what you can research on our farm you can visit our agroforestry page or our Bioconstruction page. Our agroforestry system is considered a reference project in the region. We are developing coffee in agroforestry system to create profitable agroforestry concepts that can be applied in the region. Our idea is to tranform the local monoculture landscape into biodivers and productive agroforestry system that besides restoring the ecosystem can generate more income for the local farmers. For bioconstruction we are seen as a reference project in south america. We have constructed 3 high quality houses, cow curral and toolshed following the natural building principels. Now we are construction the Ecolibrium compound which will become our permaculture school. It will become the largest bioconstruction compound in South America with 1200 m2 of bioconstructed area. The building will have a 12 rooms to accommodate interns, volunteers and tourists. And there will be multifunctional space with serveral functions including: A restaurant, permaculture school and event space. We will also have a toolshed under the building for more practical workshops. So research topics can be on the farm but we also need more information how we can convince local farmers to apply agroforestry, how to convince locals people to use natural building techniques. 

Accommodation Options

We have 3 accommodation options for our internship program adjusted to your interest. We offer the most basic shared facilities to the most beautiful high comfort facilities. Every human being has its own living standards. For one basic accommodation is not an issue but privacy is an absolute must. For the other the shared living with people for across the globe is the cultural immersion he or she is looking for. Important for people that want to have privacy for their research to chose the comfortable or luxury accommodation option as our basic accommodation offers little comfort and privacy.

You can simply mention in your application form which accommodation you prefer and we will check availability. After you applied we will set up an interview and give you more detailed information and answer your questions.

Expectations

Now you have an idea what you can expect from the farm we like to share some behaviors and responsibilities we expect from volunteers. Staying on a permaculture farm is not staying in a hostel. Following the permaculture principals means that people should come prepared to participate in a more concious lifestyle. It is important to be aware how we live, how we impact the environment and our fellow residents. We can say that this is often one of the biggest challenges people face at the farm but also form the biggest learning oportunity.

• Keep your room/house clean and organized
• Participation in meal preparation
• Have motivation, disposition, and initiative
• Be punctual and respect schedules
• Respect all members of the community
• No drinking and no drugs

Our volunteers sharing their experiences