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Information
  1. What is the New Horizons Volunteer Program?
  2. How was the program founded?
  3. What are our objectives?
  4. What is our job
  5. Documents necessary for the aplication
  6. The provinces in where we work
  7. Organizations with whom we work
  8. Donations and how to help


1. What is the New Horizons Volunteer Program?

New Horizons is a private, non-profit organization that is not associated with any political or religious activities. New Horizons goal is to initiate and coordinate support and help with various national and international social organizations.

Ecuador is a country that in recent years has had a high increase in poverty. This is evident through the large amounts of children living and working in the streets at the present time. By helping and supporting various social development, cultural, and educational projects, New Horizons hopes to eradicate extreme poverty affecting the children in Ecuador's underprivileged sectors.

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2. How was the program founded?

Social organizations always need volunteers to develop and assist their various projects. Aware of this problem, two groups of social workers founded the "New Horizons" Volunteer Program in January 1997 with the purpose of channeling help between the foreigners willing to volunteer to help the less fortunate and the organizations that need volunteers for various social projects.

To fulfill the purpose of New Horizons, the foundation Redes Solidarias was created with the legal support of the Ministry of Bienestar Social 2740.

Background Information about the Founders of New Horizons

The executive director of New Horizons is Laura Esther Còrdova Navia, born on October 6, 1970 in El Carmen, province of Manabì. She is the third child of 10 siblings in her family. She attended the central university of Ecuador in Quito. She graduated with a Public Relations degree and is also licensed in Social Communication.

As a student she organized groups to work in various projects helping the poor in Quito. She also worked 5 years as a Spanish teacher in various language schools. This is where she met many foreigners who were willing to volunteer. Here she began to channel help between the foreigners and various volunteer organizations. One of the students she met was Fabianne Teache from Switzerland. Fabianne, born on July 20, 1978, studied physical therapy. Her parents are doctors and she is the second child of 3 siblings.

The impulse to help create this program is because Fabianne had a strong interest in social work and then meeting Laura, a person who understood how to complete and realize her ideas to help the less fortunate created the perfect team.

They both began to prepare a project to channel help between the volunters and the organizations. They started the Foundation "Estrella de la Mañana".

One year later, on October 22, 1998, Laura and Fabianne, left Foundation "Estrella de la Mañana" to create New Horizons. First they worked from their homes but then they found and opened an office on 6 de diciembre and Colòn. At the time, they had two employees working full-time. A bit later they created the foundation "Redes Solidarias" with the purpose of working together.

At the present time, their aspiration is to save enough money to buy a house to develop work-shops to train workers in various areas so that they can train others all over Ecuador.

To those interested in this memorable opportunity to help the ones in most of need and create personal growth. Please contact us at: info@voluntariosecuador.org

    

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3. What are our objectives?

  • To find national and foreigners who want to work as volunteers in different organizations of social work.
  • To help various organizations that lack workers or that need donations of food, clothes, toys, books and medicine
  • To support organizations that need skilled people in various fields such as: ceramics, carpentry, bakery, locksmith, music,etc.
  • To obtain economic resources that help us to complete the objectives of New Horizons and the foundation.
  • To promote and channel products on the market.
  • To organize seminars, applied courses, and conferences.
  • To realize cultural exchanges between foreigners and Ecuadorians.

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4. What is our job

  • We contact the people who desire to work as volunteers through the internet or directly in the office. This is followed by investigating the job preferences and aspirations of the volunteers based on the resume, qualifications and interview via phone or e-mail.
  • We investigate the organizations that are more accommodating to the volunteers.
  • If we arrive at an agreement with a certain project for a volunteer, the volunteer then sends the required documents via mail or in person. If the location chosen is the Galapagos islands, the documents need to be sent at least 2 months in advance and the time commitment needs to be at least 3 months.
  • Once the paper work has been completed, we will send the final instructions and dates.
  • After the volunteer has completed his commitment, he/she is required to fill out an evaluation on the organization where they worked at and New Horizons. This will serve as a guide for future interested volunteers.
  • It is important to note that the rules in the organization where the volunteer may work at, can be different than the rules of New Horizons. In such a situation, New Horizons can not intervene or change the rules of the specific organization.

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5. Documents necessary for the application

Application will be sent via email or regular mail.

  • Fill out the application that we send you by e-mail or regular mail.
  • Need four photographs if you are applying for a volunteer job in the Galapagos islands.
  • Need two photographs for any other location in Ecuador.
  • Copy of passport.
  • Copy of resume.
  • Copy of degree.
  • Payment of Registration fee: The registration fee depends on the project and the part of the country where you would like to participate as a volunteer. Homestays with all meals included can be arranged with local Ecuadorian families.

Note: If the documents are sent from your home country, we ask for you to send them as soon as possible. Also original passport photos are preferred.

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6. The provinces in where we work

The program works in the four regions that make up Ecuador: Costa, Sierra, Oriente and the Galapagos islands.

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7. Organizations with whom we work

Description of some of the organizations that we support:

  • QUITO
    Center of children worker, Homes in general, Homes of single mothers, Juvenile homes, Foundations, Nurseries, Day-Care Centers, Street Children, Elderly, Shelters, Center of Rehabilitation of women and men, Jail for women, Cepan
     
  • CAYAMBE
    Schools, Colleges, Nurseries
     
  • ESMERALDAS
    Center for daily baby care No. 8, Child home No. 3, Care of teenagers, Village of children SOS, Center of Observation (women and men), Family nursery unity
     
  • MANABI
    Street Children, Juvenile homes, Support small businesses, Nursery and Garden of infants, Jails
     
  • CUENCA
    Center of Health, Hospitals, Nurseries, Orphanages
     
  • ORIENTE
    Schools and public colleges, Hospitals, Center of Health, ORI Nursery
     
  • INNFA
    The development of the indiginous community, Ecotourism
     
  • GALAPAGOS ISLANDS
    Center of Interpretation, Center of early stimulation "Maria Montesori", Schools, Hospitals

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8. Donations

Your donations will help people in need. You can make your donation by:

  • CHECK
    Please make out and send the check to:
    Fundación Redes Solidarias, P.O. Box 17-07-9463, Quito, Ecuador
    You can also deliver it to us personally by visit us at: Av. 6 de Diciembre 2130 and Colón, 1st Floor, Office 107.
     
  • MONEY WIRE
    Please contact us for more information
     
  • CREDIT CARD
    Coming soon!
     
  • PAYPAL
    Coming soon!

When you are making a donation, please make sure you specify the project you would like to donate to:

  • SOCIAL PROJECTS (PS-001)
    You can help children of scarce economic resources who come from poor homes. In many cases they have been abandoned by their parents. You can help them improve their living conditions, through supporting special centers for infantile care. These centers are supported by our organization.
     
  • EDUCATIONAL PROJECTS (PE-002)
    This project consists in helping children that live in marginal areas. The children attend schools and public high schools without the scholar material due to lack of economic resources. This is one of the main causes of the problem of student drop-outs in our country.
     
  • HEALTH PROJECTS (PSD-003)
    The foundation work with a small budget to help people of low economic resources who have health problems. You can help our budget grow for us to be able to help more people in health needs.
     
  • COMMUNITY PROJECTS (PC-004)
    We help different communites to improve their living conditions, without altering their culture or their customs. We have training programs in the areas of Education, Health and Productivity.
     
  • MICRO-ENTERPRISE PROJECTS (PM-005)
    These projects consist in the preparation of different groups of people, with little or no economic resources, to help them create small one-person businesses. This activity will allow them to obtain a small self-earned income to better provide for their families.
    We provide training in the following areas:
    - Processing recycled paper
    - Create ecological post cards with floral and Ecuadorian topics, taking advantage of the limited resources at hand
    - Creation of ornamental candles
    - Porcelain figures

We are a non-profit organization. When your donation is recieved, we will send you a receipt of your contribution and you will automatically become a Ad-Honoroum member of the New Horizons Volunteer Club.

Thank you for your help!

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Nuevos Horizontes Ecuador - New Horizons Ecuador
Av. 6 de Diciembre 2130 y Av. Colón, Edificio Antares, Primer Piso, Oficina 107
P.O. Box 17-07-9463, Quito - Ecuador
Phone/Fax: (593-2) 254 2890, 254-1953
info@voluntariosecuador.org | www.voluntariosecuador.org