About this role
Business Development Facilitator
Project Description: Want to help transform skills and ideas into sustainable, life-changing businesses?
In Paraguay, unemployment is highest among individuals ages 18–22. Limited access to higher education leads roughly 80 percent of these youth to enter the informal economy, where work is often unstable, low-paying, and carried out in poor conditions. As a result, building financial literacy and business skills among young people is a national priority. Women face additional barriers, specifically expectations around household responsibilities. This results in a low female employment rate of just 58 percent. Many women are interested to earning an income through small, home-based enterprises but lack the knowledge and support to get started.
As a Business Development Facilitator, you will collaborate with high school teachers to equip students with business and finance skills-everything from developing a business plan to bookkeeping and marketing strategies for niche markets. You will also collaborate with community stakeholders to expand opportunities for local adults, especially women, to cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset and gain the skills needed to transform their ideas into viable ventures. By supporting the community members from the earliest stages of business conception through sustainable growth, you’ll contribute to greater economic security for Paraguayan families.
Required Skills: Associate degree in any field and at least two years of full-time, post-high school work experience (from any combination of roles). OR Bachelor's degree in any field.
Living Conditions: Most Volunteers will live and work in a rural town, medium-sized town, or more urban area primarily in Paraguay’s eastern region, where most of the populate resides. Each Volunteer is assigned to a unique community that is located within 2–10 hours by bus from the capital city of Asunción. In rare cases where two Volunteers serve in the same large community, each will work with their own designated organization or neighborhood.
Activities: Teach a high school entrepreneurship class that covers entrepreneurship and basic business skills.
Create savings clubs with high school students and provide guidance on personal money management topics.
Form and support adult community savings groups that cover personal money management.
Provide one-on-one guidance to youth and women about personal money management skills.
Advise entrepreneurs on basic business skills to their new or existing business activities. Organize entrepreneurship events and competitions, such as a school fair or business plan competition.
Plan and facilitate trainings on how to leverage expertise for income-generating activities, such as selling homemade soap, empanadas, or jam.
Develop and facilitate basic business skills training for proposed or existing income-generating activity.
You may also work on additional projects that meet the community’s interests and priorities, such as planting trees or teaching art.
Training: As a Business Development Facilitator, you will be trained in personal money management and basic business skills as well as effective approaches to facilitate trainings in the Paraguayan context. Peace Corps/Paraguay will teach you Spanish to help you comfortably live in and connect with your community. You will also study Guarani, the other official language that is spoken throughout Paraguay, which will be important for your integration in your community. Peace Corps will provide you with resources for ongoing language learning. After 10 weeks of training, you will move to a rural or urban community, where you will collaborate with a high school and other organizations, such as women’s groups, cultural centers, and cooperatives, as well as with interested adults in the community. You will work with the community to assess the local priorities and develop solutions based on their resources and realities.
Job Highlights: Receive practical training on personal money management, entrepreneurship, and basic business skills. Learn Spanish and Guarani (the two official languages of Paraguay) from skilled Language and Cross-Culture Facilitators. Enjoy living in the heart of South America where you will experience the warmth of Paraguayan families, a deep sense of community, and natural beauty.