Volunteer Program

After completing their Spanish courses, some of our students wish to stay in Costa Rica and do volunteer work.

The CRLA is glad to help our students with information, assistance, telephone calls, setting up appointments, legal documents, letters of recommendation and other arrangements necessary for finding volunteer work.

We have information and contacts with several organizations that receive applicants for volunteer work in environmental and social projects such as the National Parks and Child Care Centers. However, when applying for volunteer work, please consider that most organizations which need short-term volunteers look for people willing to finance themselves completely or perhaps even make a financial contribution. Very few organizations will exchange labor for room and board.

As a general rule, it is not easy (almost impossible) to set up a job before you leave home. Most places will require several phone calls, visits to the organization and a personal interview before anything is decided. Most organizations also require that the applicant have a medium to high fluency in Spanish.