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Internship Information and Application
Details | Campus | Requirements | How to Apply
DETAILS
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With one of the largest collections of tropical food plants, ECHO has a Global Village filled with plants and techniques that are important to small-scale farmers and gardeners in developing countries. The Global Village serves as hands-on work experience for interns, a demonstration farm for visitors, a living classroom for students, an educational tool for public tours, and a production farm for our network.
ECHO interns are involved in the daily operation and maintenance of the Global Village, seedbank, and nursery. In addition, interns assist with ECHO events, such as our annual Conference and Farm Day, and help respond to requests from ECHO’s network. Interns also share the housekeeping work and activities involved in hosting missionaries, students and other guests. An ECHO Internship is a full-time commitment with work on the farm, in the office and with the public.
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Intern activities include:
- Growing many of the important tropical foods, under-exploited plants, fruit and multi-purpose trees (ag interns)
- Caring for animals
- Maintaining the various demonstrations
- Harvesting, cleaning, and processing seeds
- Supervising the work of local volunteers
- Leading educational tours for visiting individuals and groups
While there are weekly training seminars, learning for the most part occurs informally through hands-on experience.
Each intern is assigned the responsibility for one of the demonstration areas on the farm (semi-arid gardens, hillside farming demo, monsoon gardens, rainforest gardens, tropical lowland gardens, urban gardens, community/school gardens, and appropriate technologies). Each of these areas highlight plants, techniques and technologies which can be useful under very challenging conditions. Interns work together with staff to plan what will be demonstrated in each of these areas. Once the plan is determined, the interns are responsible to establish and maintain these areas. [For more information on each of the areas, you may want to take the virtual tour of the Global Village.]
Each intern is also assigned to work with ECHO’s seedbank, nursery, or appropriate technologies. Seedbank interns are involved in the operation of ECHO's seedbank, which supplies trial packets of hard-to-find seeds to our network of missionaries and development workers. Nursery interns work with the propagation and maintenance of tropical and subtropical plants for ECHO's Tropical Fruit Nursery. [All agriculture interns work in the Retail Nursery and gain experience with tropical fruits, small business skills, and dealing with the public.] Appropriate Technology interns work in the AT department which provides information, trainings, and demonstrations on over 100 technologies that are appropriate to developing countries.
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Seedbank:
The seedbank team is responsible for ECHO's seedbank which maintains a collection of underutilized plants for the tropics and subtropics. Interns help keep the seedbank stocked and organized. Activities include recording new accessions, growing and harvesting, cleaning and treating seed, checking viability, coordinating with interns and suppliers to replenish stocks, and packaging seed. Seedbank activities are high in organization and details. People who are interested in botany and taxonomy find working with 300+ species of useful plants stimulating. The seedbank provides an excellent opportunity for developing seed-related skills (growing, harvesting, selecting, cleaning, storing), organizational skills (recording accession information, database management, inventory), and management skills (quality control, managing volunteers, seed stocks). A special advantage in the summer is the ability to work in the cool seedbank during the heat of the day! Seedbank interns will have the opportunity to learn in-depth about harvesting, processing, and storing different seeds. |
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Nursery :
The nursery team has responsibilities to propagate and grow approximately 300 varieties of tropical and subtropical fruits as well as herbs and bamboo that we use on the farm and sell in our Retail Nursery. Nursery interns gain valuable, hands-on experience with these plants. The nursery provides interns an opportunity to develop plant propagation skills (grafting, air layering, cuttings, seeds and tubers), knowledge of plant growing conditions (potting mixes, fertilizers, light requirements, pest control), Nursery interns will have the opportunity to learn in-depth about tropical and sub-tropical fruits. |
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Appropriate Technology
The AT program ministers to the various sectors of ECHO’s network: community development workers, interns, visiting missionaries, students, classes and public tours. The AT program has established AT demonstrations and is involved with networking, training and maintaining a collection of AT resources, documentation and information. The AT Intern position assists with these activities while learning and developing their career skills. The AT Intern is responsible for the AT demonstrations, this involves maintaining existing demonstrations, constructing new demonstrations, acquiring AT equipment, and assuring that demonstrations are relevant to the needs of ECHO’s network. The AT intern gains experience with many simple technologies including ideas for water purification, water pumping, post harvest processing, efficient cook stoves, and alternative energies. The AT Intern also serves the ECHO network by giving tours, providing trainings, and answering requests for technical information. Only one AT internship is offered each year and it is a 14 month internship that starts each July.
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THE ECHO CAMPUS
ECHO is located in southwest Florida in North Ft. Myers. Most of the farm activity is located on the original 5-acre plot of land purchased in the early 1980s. In January 1992, ECHO purchased an adjoining 7½ acre farm and a 9-acre piece of land was acquired during the summer of 1997. A new office building and visitor reception center was completed in October 1998. In March 1999 a new office building for the technical staff and library was completed. In June 2002 the construction of the Global Farm with new demonstration areas was completed. ECHO’s new Farm Center Building with office space, a wood-working shop, welding station, storage space was completed in March 2003. ECHO’s seedbank was completed in the summer of 2002 with office space, a seed cleaning room and a connected climate-controlled seed storage area made from a refrigerated shipping container. In June 2008 ECHO added an Appropriate Technologies Center with an office, work space, and covered area for demonstrations.
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THE REQUIREMENTS
ECHO Internships range between 12-14 months (depending on the assignment) and some interns are selected for a 3-12 month field experience with one of ECHO’s Regional Impact Centers or international projects making the internship a total commitment of 12-26 months.
Interns must have a Bacellor's level degree (or equivalent work experience), US citizenship or work permit, and be able to fulfill the duties required. We do not require applicants to have a degree in a specific major nor to have previous gardening or cross-cultural experiences. However, the purpose of the internship program is to prepare Christian development workers for agriculture or AT ministry so we look for candidates who are most likely to pursue this type of career: relevant classes, agriculture or AT skills, international experience, work history, good grades, and so on. ECHO has both male and female interns and we have one opening for married applicants each October. |
HOW TO APPLY
The Internship Application form is web-based so you will need internet access to complete and submit the form. You can use the Application Preview to prepare your answers off-line.
Click here to go to the Intern Application Form
Click here to access the Application Preview
The opportunities to submit an application are:
Applications accepted from May 1st - July 15th, 2012 for January or April 2013 internships. Applications reviewed in August, interviews conducted in September, internships offered in October.
Applications accepted from November 1st, 2012 - January 15th, 2013 for July or October 2013 internships. Applications will be reviewed in February, interviews conducted in March and internships offered in April.
Interns are provided with a small monthly stipend, basic health insurance and housing. Internship positions are limited so there is competition for each postition.
If you are not selected and wish to be considered for a future internship please submit a new application each time you want to re-apply.
We encourage you to browse the ECHO website to learn more about our organization and our resources.
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For more information contact:
Beth Doerr
ECHO Intern Manager
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ECHO Intern Manager
17391 Durrance Road
North Fort Myers, FL 33917
bdoerr@echonet.org
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