Volunteer in Costa Rica | Education, Healthcare, & more

I worked at a company that specialises in constructing social housing. It's a family-owned business where the father is a lawyer, one son is an architect responsible for designing houses and overseeing construction sites, and the other son and daughter handle administrative tasks and interact with clients at the office. As an intern, my primary responsibility was to assist with administrative tasks. The company faced challenges with inefficient processes, where some tasks were performed without others being aware of it. This led to duplicated efforts and occasional tasks being overlooked. Therefore, I worked on implementing a solution in consultation with the team.

Key tasks:
- Maintaining up-to-date information
- Scanning and uploading signed documents to the platform.
- Compiling and preparing documents for submission to the foundation for approval.
- Automate the process of generating contracts with client-specific details, saving time and effort.
- Creating a user-friendly program to replace manual calculations done by the architect

I had a great experience, visiting an extraordinary country, with the best people.
I was placed in an excellent program. Working with native women has been fantastic. I came back to my country with new experiences, knowing a wonderful country with beautiful places to visit, and the kindest and warmest people. I surely recommend this project. I wish I could have stayed longer. I definitely think is a once in a lifetime experience. I received much more than I expected. My staying in Costa Rica has enriched my life.

i feel it could have been more environmental conservation, some times it just felt like i was helping with the tourism instead of the environment. the host family was wonderful and i made friends that i know will last a life time but for the actual position itself i struggled to find meaning and purpose in it. the organization did a good job of making me feel at home and were so lovely it was only at my project that i struggled and the people there did what they could do give me tasks related to environmentalism it was just a little misleading.

I’m really glad I chose this program because I had a lot of freedom when it came to deciding in what way I want to support the program. Mariam, the Development and Communications Coordinator, supported me with anything I needed.
But since I “made up” my functions and duties in the project it made me feel like I wasn’t needed at all - which of course is good, because the project is important and should never depend on the help of the volunteer, but I was surprised by that.
If you are enthusiastic and have your own ideas this is a great opportunity to learn a lot about the culture though: since I worked in a program that helped women I learnt a lot about the problems and controversies in the country.
Apart from that, even making a very small impact makes me feel good, because it’s a non-profit organization which makes the lives of a lot of women so much better by helping them become more independent and self confident.

It was an amazing experience to be able to discover a new country and a new culture, at the same time as having a positive impact on the community.
The family I was staying with were the sweetest person, always here to help and give some insight on their culture and history. Ticos are really welcoming.
The program I was working for gave me real missions to do, with objectives and directives. It was great because it allowed me to see the real impact I could have and not only doing basic helping out but really using my knowledge and capabilities to help out.

During my time in Costa Rica I got to stay with an amazing tico host family in the city of San Ramón while working in a women empowerment program. San Ramón is a beautiful and lively city and the other volunteers and I were all really happy with our projects and host families. Tanya, the program’s coordinator took great care of us and regularly planed get-togethers and trips. You will be able to pick up the Spanish pretty quickly since you are always surrounded by it - at home as well as at work. Moreover you’ll get the possibility to really get to know the wonderful people of Costa Rica and see the prettiest places. I can only recommend this program to anyone! Muchísimas gracias por todo! Tuve el mejor tiempo y quiero volver pronto

All in all the program was an awesome experience. The family I stayed with was friendly, lovely and always open to help me. I really appreciated this much. Unfortunately I had to evacuate my program, due to the arising of COVID-19 and the immediate change if conditions. I could not enter my project, since I only stayed in Costa Rica for 5 weeks before the COVID-19 break out. These 5 weeks I had visited a Spanish course. All in all the experience was exceptional, even though I had to stop my project and return to Germany.

Costa Rica (especially the people!) is truly magnificent. San Ramón has everything you need and is located extremely well for traveling around the country. The coordinator is so sweet, fun (planned many activities) and really took the time for me and us. My volunteer project was really well organized and it was special to meet the other volunteers, who I’m still friends with. Living with the host family was authentic and special. I hope I can go back some day. I’m convinced, you won’t regret going!