DEMA (ESP-4)


Type: Environmental/Green Projects: Environmental awareness raising - Country: Spain

Brief description and main aims

DEMA is locate din Almandralejo, province of Badajoz (Extremadura). It has around 30,000 inhabitants and is an industrial city with several dealers in olives and wine cellars. 

DEMA promotes the defense, study and maintenance of natural and cultural heritage using specific projects as environmental education, maintaining the natural habitat of the Lesser Kestrels and reproductive strategies of this endangered species. 

Volunteer tasks

The volunteer's tasks include:

  • Daily maintenance of the lesser kestrel breeding centre: cleaning, feeding, organisation, looking after the mice, cleaning their cages out, etc. In breeding season constant monitoring of breeding pairs of chicks is essential. 
  • Maintaining the property: clearing, gardening, cleaning the environment, irrigation, painting, masonry, construction of nest boxes, etc. It all depends on the season. 
  • Help with visits, workshops and activities, as we also get visits to the breeding centre. 
In the wild, lesser kestrels feed on insects and small mammals but, here at the breeding centre, we feed them mice and chicks, and only sometimes insects. This food is frozen and a ration must be removed from the freezers daily and prepared for each breeding colony (where the kestrels live).
 
Important: this involves cutting them up. If you have any problem in doing this, please let us know and we will try to give you other options or more time to practice.
Volunteers must also help clen up/disinfect the mess produced, both in the birds' breeding area and in the dishes and food preparation area. This involves using bleach and other cleaning products.

Volunteer requirements / Skills

The volunteer must adapt to the project’s characteristics and the way of life there. They expect that you’ll have settled in within a couple of weeks or so: all you need is a good attitude. Should this not be the case, we’ll look for other alternatives.

Location

DEMA is located in Almendralejo, province of Badajoz (Extremadura). It has around 30,000 inhabitants and is an industrial city with several dealers in olives and wine cellars. It is surrounded by mountain ranges.

Duration

The breeding season runs from March to July, but we need volunteers all year round. Please bear in mind that if you arrive in autumn/winter there will be less activity at the centre, but there is, of course, always work to do.

Hosting Situation (Board and Lodging)

The hostel where the volunteers live is on the same farm where DEMA has the rest of their facilities and where the breeding centre is. It has several rooms, single and shared, with shared bathrooms. There will likely be no more than 4 or 5 volunteers living in the house at the same time. It has a fully-equipped kitchen, an oven, a washing machine, iron, towels etc. There is a small oven and everything you need for cooking. You have to cook your own food and organise the clean-up with the other volunteers. You will receive 100€ per month for food from AFAIJ (not DEMA), although you can manage the money as you want.
 
There is WiFi at the DEMA facility, which reaches some areas of the house. DEMA has an office with a computer, Internet access, telephone etc. Usually all the people staying at the shelter are volunteers from DEMA and come to work on the project. Sometimes AFAIJ’s volunteer is on their own for certain periods of time, working with the staff at DEMA.

More Information

DUE TO COVID, IT’S NECESSARY TO CONFIRM THE AVAILABILITY OF THIS PROJECT.

Explore our projects world-wide

Explore our Projects Database and find placements among over 800 volunteering opportunities in 41 countries.

Long-term Projects

You can see all the projects on a country leaving the Project Type field empty and selecting a country.

Project Type:

Countries:

Short-term Projects

You can see all the projects on a country leaving the Project Type field empty and selecting a country.

Project Type:

Countries: