About this role
The Municipality of Santa María, Boyacá, is a local government entity serving 3,758 residents in a rural community located four hours from Bogotá. Current local priorities focus on strengthening education and fostering economic opportunities through tourism and agriculture. Within this framework, the municipality created the bilingualism program “Aprender inglés, transformar vidas,” which focuses on improving English proficiency among secondary students and enhancing the pedagogical and linguistic skills of local teachers. Santa María faces limited access to qualified English teachers and students often lack opportunities to practice with native speakers, reducing their competitiveness for higher education and employment. To address these needs, the municipality is requesting the support a Virtual Service Pilot Participant who will co-facilitate English learning and conversation spaces for secondary students. While Peace Corps Colombia does not currently deploy two-year Volunteers to Santa María, the scale of this project in rural areas makes it well-suited for virtual engagement. The virtual environment offers an appropriate and sustainable way to provide targeted technical support while fostering intercultural exchange. The organization has previously collaborated with the Peace Corps, and they wish to continue with the activities developed by the last VSPPs. They understand that the role of a VSPP is very different than a Peace Corps Volunteer or Peace Corps Response Volunteer.