Equipo Verde huatulco A. C.

Placement organization

Name of organization: Equipo Verde huatulco A. C.
Town/city: Bahias de Huatulco, Oaxaca
Country: Mexico
Website: http://evh.org.mx/

Student

Name of student: Cleo Grim

Specialist area: ITMC
Placement period: 2018-2019

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Civil Asociation for Sustainability consultancy
Organization’s activities: Evaluating destinations’ sustainability
Uniting actors in destination
Consulting to different stakeholders such as government and private insitutes
Sustainability education
Research and development of programs to improve sustainability
Target group of the organization: Private-, public and educational institutes
Company culture: Informal company culture. Work almost always together with other field operator and partly with main consultant. Daily contact with different stakeholders of different fields. Sometimes need for formal dress code, other times need for nature-active dress code.
Number of employees: 2
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working?

Operational department

Brief description of your daily activities: – Educating about sustainability in service industry venues and at primary and high schools ( developing education content).
– Cooperating in development of new sustainability programs in the destination together with other actors in the field of; education, nature preservation, waste management, agriculture and more.
– Participation and leading of activities to promote sustainability ( beach and forest clean ups, reforestations, biodiversity persevation)
– Research through collecting fieldwork data on requirements of sustainability certification ( collecting data of stakeholders such as fire safetychecks with firemen, numbers of electricity use of destination etc.)
Brief description of your company assignment: Developing a method to increasy destination sustainable development that can be used in this and other destinations by connecting stakeholders.

– in relation to united nations sustainable development goals
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: Good day to day support on daily activities and much professional support when I was in doubt about the process of my company assignement.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Social, flexible, culturally open, representable, assertive, team player
Additional company requirements for this placement? Excel and creativity
English: Intermediate
Spanish: Advanced
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? Supervisor helped my, later I found my own
How did you go to work every day? bicylce, car, foot or taxi

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? No, can request 180 day tourist visa upon arrival
Do you need a work permit? no
How did you arrange the necessary documents: not
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? none
Did you need certain vaccinations? Yes
How long in advance? Already had them

Language course

Did you take a language course before you started your placement? Yes
Would you recommend to have a language course prior to this placement? Definately

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 750
Accommodation (monthly): € 175
Local transport (monthly): € 20
General costs of living (monthly): € 200
Costs of visa: € 25
Costs of work permit: € 0
What did the company pay for/to you? A bike to use and drive along with car with collegues

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
Asking other Mexicans how to prepare. However this was not enough. mexico is very diverse and therefor very different in every state or area. I had quite a culture shock. If you want information about the place feel free to contact me.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? Yes, I struggled much with the accent and laguage in the start but people are very nice

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: cleogrim@outlook.com

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Do not expect many international people. Be aware of safety matters when travelling through mexico. Do not ask about political or drugs related matters. do not go to non-popular beaches on your own. do not live in a unrecommended area ( sector H2 or H3). Do not go here if you have never travelled outside of Europe or if you dont feel comfortable being alone. It was quite a challenge for me to really connect to people and create a feeling of home and make real friends. Eventually couchsurfing, tinder and just starting talking to strangers have led to getting to know great people and friends, but it was not super easy. If you really want to emerge into a different language, culture and life; this is the place to go!
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: The destination Bahias de Huatulco has 39 beautiful beaches and a great national park. 3 hours from Huatulco you can find surfer/backpacker sport Puerto Escondido. Inbetween these destinations i recommend to go to Zipolite and Mazunte for the relaxed hippy vibes. 3 hours up north you can find the beautiful mountain villages San Jose del Pasifico and San Martin. Recommend to travel here by small bus or by ADO bus. Within 6 hours one can arrive in Oaxaca City, the hearth of the south of Mexico, filled with colours, music, history, food and culture and surrounded by many indigenous related touristic hotspots.

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link