Brief Description:

We are looking for a volunteer to work with our local partner, the Arariwa Association, to improve the livelihoods of small indigenous dairy and guinea pig farmers living in acute poverty in Peru’s Andes. Key elements of this work include capacity-building of farmers as individuals or collectively as groups, and the promotion of indigenous women’s empowerment and economic leadership. During your volunteer placement, you will live in a small Andean town or in the city of Cusco –known as the Lost city of the Incas—, and work in different rural Indigenous communities in collaboration with local Arariwa staff.

Dairy is one of the most important value chains in the Acomayo and Canas provinces, and the growing market demand for milk products (e.g. cheese) provides an opportunity for sustainable income-generation. Guinea pigs, which are high in protein and low in fat, show great potential to improve the nutrition and livelihoods of smallholder farmers by providing food and income, but also in the wider community with more affordable meat for sale at local markets.

In addition, you will support smallholder farmers to increase their income and power in the dairy and guinea pig value chains, thereby contributing to overall poverty reduction.

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