BiblioWorks is a sustainable nonprofit that promotes literacy and education in Bolivia.
Volunteering Activities
What We Need
1. Book Club Coordinators
Want to work with kids, adults, and teachers to promote a love for reading and literacy?
Responsibilities:
- Coordinating and implementing book clubs
- Working closely with librarians to promote reading through creative and sustainable activities
- Utilizing books to create challenging and dynamic literacy lessons
- Organizing materials
- Contributing, where required, to the BiblioWorks website with updates on your project and your experiences
Requirements:
- Intermediate level of Spanish – you will be working in communities where no English is spoken and Spanish will often be a second language to Quechua
- A minimum time commitment of 20 hours per week in the library with a minimum five-week commitment
- Previous experience in education
2. English Language Teachers
Encourage a love of languages, learning, and literacy by giving English classes in a rural library.
Responsibilities:
- Creating effective and dynamic 1-hour lessons for each group of students
- Preparing lesson plans in the office
- Organizing materials for classes
- Contributing, where required, to the BiblioWorks website with updates on your project and your experiences working with us
Requirements:
- Previous experience in education or with children
- Fluency in English
- Intermediate level of Spanish is desirable
- 20 hours weekly time commitment to the project, with a minimum five-week commitment
3. Women’s Literacy Teachers
Fight illiteracy by helping women reach an age-appropriate level of writing and reading in Spanish.
Responsibilities:
- Creating effective and dynamic 2-hour lessons for each group of students
- Preparing lesson plans in the office
- Organizing materials for classes
- Contributing, where required, to the BiblioWorks website with updates on your project and your experiences working with us
Requirements:
- Previous teaching experience
- Advanced Spanish
- 20 hours weekly time commitment to the project, with a minimum five-week commitment
4. Volunteer Coordinator and Communication Director
Join BiblioWorks’ outstanding team to manage communications and the volunteer program. Help us attract funds and volunteers to bring libraries and a love of reading to even more Bolivian children.
Responsibilities:
- Manage BiblioWorks’ communications
- Work with Director to maintain the website, blog, Facebook, and Twitter
- Help BiblioWorks Director with communication in English translation
- Grant writing and fundraising
- Write content for grant proposals
- Run online funding campaigns for specific funding goals
- Direct volunteer program
- Recruit, orient, and place new volunteers
- Supervise volunteers in the office and in the field
- Ensure completion of all requirements in Volunteer Contract (blog posts, record keeping, etc).
- Participate actively in BiblioWorks office activities
Requirements:
- Minimum time commitment of 25 hours per week in the office and field with at least a three-month commitment (6 month - 1 year highly preferred)
- Intermediate level of Spanish and English
- Experience with coordination and leadership
- Previous experience in grant writing, fundraising, or social media is highly desirable
- Photography/videography experience a huge plus
All positions require:
- Strong initiative - the position will have minimal supervision
- Monetary means to pay for transport, accommodations, and food
When & Who
Our Fees
We do not charge a fee for volunteers.
More Services we Offer
We do not provide meals or accommodation, but we can assist volunteers in finding reasonably priced accommodation in Sucre and in the rural communities where our libraries are located.
Contact Person
Other Ways to Help
Volunteers needed who are keen on creating content for our social media sites to attract potential Volunteers and Donors. Also needed for editing photos and videos for web and blog posts.
We need good quality picture books for children in Spanish.
Please send in small quantities (1-5 books at a time) to:
BiblioWorks
Casilla 241
Sucre Bolivia
Additional Info about Us
Biblioworks relies entirely upon donations and fundraising to keep us running. We ask that volunteers fundraise a donation prior to coming to volunteer. There is no minimum amount as every bit helps!
Not only have we opened and equipped 16 libraries, but we are working on making them all self-sustaining. With our team here in Bolivia, we have trained hundreds of librarians, teachers, students, and other community members in the proper use of a public library.
Our organization is dedicated to improving literacy and opening educational doors so that children and young people will have new opportunities to pursue studies and vocations. We believe these opportunities will allow them to serve their communities and develop strategies to eliminate poverty.
In rural Bolivia, the concept of public libraries is relatively new and most children and adolescents do not have access to books and information that are necessary to achieve success.
3 Reviews
In this role I got to visit the different libraries that BiblioWorks has helped to establish, meeting their partners and beneficiaries and getting to understand the profound effect that this NGO is having in the rural areas that need literacy support.
I also taught for a short while in one of their libraries and it was such an incredible experience to work with the young people and encourage them to make the most of their library.
The girls in the office are so welcoming and friendly, and the current Volunteers and Communications Director, Megan is dedicated and really supportive of volunteers.
If you want a chance to get in real close contact with local people and see the impact of your efforts, BiblioWorks is definitely a charity that you should consider working with."
I am a teacher-librarian and I was able to use my knowledge, skills and love of books as well as gain a wide-range of new knowledge and skills while having incredible experiences and giving my problem-solving skills a workout. I was based in the office in Sucre but traveled to the rural libraries, initially with the library trainers and later independently.
My Spanish was rusty when I arrived but quickly came back to me as all of the office and library staff are Bolivian and speak little to no English. The BiblioWorks staff are very professional and committed to their work. They work collaboratively and I felt privileged to be a part of the team.
My final month of volunteering was April 2016 and it finished with two of BiblioWorks biggest yearly events - “Sucre Lee” (Sucre Reads) and “La Feria de la Lectura” (The Reading Festival). The lead up to these events gave me a chance to experience the highs (and lows) of fundraising first hand as well as take part in press conferences and live radio interviews (in Spanish!).
I will treasure the memories I have made during my time in BiblioWorks and put my newfound skills and knowledge to use in my future work.
I highly recommend volunteering with BiblioWorks if you have a love of books and reading, a reasonable level of Spanish, an open-mind, and a sense of humour!"