Yale Alumni Service Corps (YASC) is returning to Panama! Join us and make a difference in the world!
Mandela is a social enterprise rooted in more than three decades of agroecological development work in Panama’s smallholder farming communities. Mandela’s founder, Florence Reed, first came to these highlands as a Peace Corps volunteer in the early 1990s and went on to found Sustainable Harvest International, which partnered with farming families in Coclé province for over 25 years. Mandela carries that work forward — supporting farmers in adopting agroecological practices that strengthen rural livelihoods, restore ecosystems and build climate resilience.
YASC volunteers are no strangers to this territory: a group worked alongside farming families in Piedras Gordas and Bermejo in July 2024. This March, we’re back — and expanding into a third community, Cerro Corral — for another week of hands-on service in the highlands of Piedras Gordas township.
In March the climate in the highlands of Piedras Gordas is typically hot, humid, and physically demanding, particularly for those unaccustomed to tropical conditions. The daily outdoor service activities planned will involve prolonged exposure to heat and high humidity. Volunteers should carefully consider the hot, humid, and physically demanding climate when deciding whether participation in this outdoor service experience is appropriate for them. Please note, however, there are activities that are in a community building, farm building or school for half OR all of each day: Monday afternoon (business or food prep workshops), Tuesday afternoon (grinding & packaging coffee or painting environmental murals at preschool), Wednesday morning (making reclaimed object planters), Wednesday afternoon (recycling workshop), Thursday afternoon (workshop & production of dried fruits, vegetables & spices), Friday morning (painting, sign making and small repairs at school) and Friday afternoon (farewell social activities, games & cultural presentation).
Service activities may include:
• Nursery Establishment — Volunteers will help set up a medicinal, ornamental and fruit tree nursery on a family farm in Cerro Corral: preparing growing media, filling planting bags and transplanting seedlings. This nursery supports both household food security and Mandela’s agroforestry goals.
• Agroforestry & Tree Planting — Volunteers will help establish a fruit tree agroforestry system on a farm in Piedras Gordas, measuring and staking the terrain, digging planting holes, applying organic fertilizer and planting trees that will provide food, shade and long-term carbon sequestration.
• Solar Dryer Construction — Volunteers will help build a solar food dryer on a farm in Piedras Gordas, giving a local farming family a low-cost tool to preserve and add value to their harvest.
• Kitchen Garden & Drip Irrigation — Volunteers will help establish a kitchen garden, preparing beds, incorporating organic amendments, planting vegetable seedlings and installing a drip irrigation system.
• Value-Added Food Processing — Volunteers will work alongside farming families to process and package artisanal coffee in Bermejo, and participate in workshops on jam-making and food dehydration — skills that help farmers capture more value from their crops.
• Recycling & Environmental Education — Volunteers will help install a community recycling station in Piedras Gordas, lead creative reuse crafts with community members and participate in a community cleanup. An afternoon workshop will bring together farmers and volunteers for a conversation on waste management and environmental sustainability.
• Business & Marketing Training — Volunteers with relevant skills will help lead a workshop for Mandela farmers on business basics, quality control, packaging and marketing — supporting farmers’ ability to connect their products to new markets.
• School Improvements in Cerro Corral — The week wraps up with a morning of community infrastructure work at the local primary school: painting, cleaning and small repairs, alongside students, parents and the Mandela team.
• Farm Impact Documentation — One or two volunteers with a background in ecology, soil science or environmental data collection will have the opportunity to contribute to Mandela’s impact measurement work on a small number of farms near the group’s base. Depending on volunteer skills and interests, activities could include soil testing, soil biodiversity assessment using eDNA analysis, farm biodiversity surveys through ecoacoustics, GPS coordinate collection for farm mapping, or carbon measurement in soils and trees.
• Photography & Storytelling — Throughout the week, one or two volunteers with photography or storytelling skills will have the opportunity to document farm visits, record farmer stories and capture the week’s work in images and written stories — contributing directly to Mandela’s impact communications.
As a thank you for your service, volunteers will be treated to a demonstration by local community members of how they make the traditional Panamanian hats by hand, using native plants. Volunteers will be encouraged to share photos, videos and reflections on the hat-making process for use in Mandela’s Shared Market and promotional materials.
Review program policies and terms and conditions. For questions or further information feel free to contact trip producer Jenny Rendon '20 DNP or João Aleixo at the YAA.
