February 27, 2025
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Credit: Brendan Coughlin
AASD in the Amazon
The Ministry of Education in Peru adopted AASD’s school greenhouse model to support a nationwide school garden program. Today, AASD is leading Proyecto Yungas, fostering economic growth in indigenous communities in the remote Peruvian Amazon, enabling them to preserve their traditions and protect the rainforest.
EF has partnered with the Andean Alliance for Sustainable Development for 10 years, supporting indigenous communities in the high Andes Mountains. In connecting hundreds of EF travelers with these communities over the course of this partnership, we’re not only providing them with transformational experiences, but also supporting a culture that has survived for thousands of years.
The road winds its way up a verdant mountain pass, each bend revealing yet another jaw-dropping view of snow-capped peaks. The voices of the young people become increasingly hushed as the landscape unfurls on the other side of the glass.
Up here, at over 4,000m above sea level, people are going about their daily lives, leading horses and donkeys laden with bushels through fields of golden grass and grains – quinoa, amaranth, and kiwicha.
Eventually, the glinting roofs of greenhouses appear, immediately visible among the collection of thatch-roofed buildings on the hillside. Every EF traveler to step down from a bus like this one has been welcomed with open arms by the brightly dressed locals, who sling flower necklaces over their shoulders and greet them in the local Quechan language.
Top: The Peruvian Andes are home to the over 3,000 species of potato – more than anywhere in the world. Credit: Andean Alliance for Sustainable Development.
Bottom: Travelers discover the beauty of the high Andes. Credit: Brendan Coughlin.
For 10 years, EF has connected hundreds of travelers with communities in the Peruvian Andes through a partnership with the Andean Alliance for Sustainable Development (AASD). This partnership goes to the heart of our mission to bridge the gaps of language, culture, and geography to build understanding between people, as well as supporting agricultural practices that date back to the Incas.
In 2010, Aaron Ebner, Adam Steiglitz, and their dog Leroy were living in a one-room apartment in Calca, a small town north of the ancient Incan capital of Cusco, Peru.
They met as graduate students and bonded over a shared love of travel and wanting to make the world a better place. Alongside fellow students, they piloted a school greenhouse scheme in rural Peru, aimed at tackling malnutrition and providing a healthy lunch for schoolchildren.
The pilot was a success and the AASD was born to provide long-term, community-led development programs to farmers and their families in rural Peru.
“In the early days, we had so little money”, Adam remembered. “But that was a blessing in disguise because it forced us to implement our philosophy of community-led development. We wanted to create sustainable, long-term impact to support indigenous farmers who are practicing farming techniques that go back thousands of years.”
The campesino way of life can be traced all the way back to the Incas and beyond, with some of their traditions remaining unchanged for millennia.
Top and left: Credit: Brendan Cloughlin
Right: Credit: Andean Alliance for Sustainable Development
The campesino way of life is one rooted in community and living off the land, where modern notions of wealth simply cannot be applied. However, the world in which today’s campesino farmers live is very different to that of their Incan ancestors. Globalization and capitalism have resulted in a constant drive for wealth creation, pulling people away from remote communities and towards the cities. Adam explained:
“Extractive industries – like mining and logging – are becoming bigger threats to wildlife and communities in Peru, and we want to show there is another way. We want to help traditional communities thrive and build wealth in harmony with nature, giving them sustainable forms of income.”
EF's partnership with the AASD is grounded in community-led development and cultural preservation, facilitated by the AASD's service learning programs. These programs provide transformational volunteering experiences for our travelers, as well as a sustainable income source to the AASD to maximize their impact.
Jennifer Watt, Director of Market Development at EF Educational Tours, spearheaded the collaboration with the AASD and explained Aaron and Adam’s values were key in forming the partnership:
“Partnering with mission-driven organizations is at the heart of our service learning philosophy. The AASD are a group of intelligent, creative, committed educators and community organizers with a deep love for what they do and the communities they work with in Peru.”
Jennifer has traveled dozens of times to Peru with EF travelers and said, “It is hard to put into words the experience of arriving with a group of students to a high-altitude farmland community, to watch them get involved with farming tools and techniques, play with local children, and speak the local language”.
Aaron added: “Our service learning programs provide transformational experiences to kids who might have never encountered a culture like this, and they build pride within the communities for their way of life, protecting their traditions.”
Since 2015, over 550 EF Gap Year and EF Educational Tours travelers have experienced these perspective-shifting moments. They sow and harvest cops, maintain farm buildings, weave clothes in traditional Andean style, and connect with local people. Lila Ramsay was one such student who had the opportunity to travel to the communities supported by the AASD. From Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S., Lila was searching for a gap year with a difference.
Fueled by a passion for sustainability and the environment, Lila chose an EF Gap Year experience in Central and South America with a focus on conservation and community engagement. Over 10 weeks, she planted mangroves in Costa Rica, helped farmers in the Andes, surfed in the Dominican Republic, and dived in the Galapagos.
EF travelers help campesino farmers harvest their potato crop, allowing locals to spend time on other work, generating further income.
“It was such an eye-opening experience”, she remembered. “We had so many special moments with the Andean Alliance and the Andean communities. We cooked trout caught fresh from a high mountain lake, played soccer in the fields, and repaired farmhouse roofs.”
Not only did Lila leave with special memories from her adventure, but she also gained a fresh perspective on what sustainability means and how she thinks about the future.
“I left feeling hopeful”, she reflected. “I sometimes feel we don’t focus on preserving what we have in the U.S., but to go on this trip and see people living on and in harmony with the land was so special. It was the definition of sustainability. We see so many bad things about the climate in the news but there are people doing amazing things here.”
Her EF Gap Year experience, Lila said, reaffirmed her intention to go to college to study environmental sciences, helping to continue to spread the message of hope and harmony that she discovered in those 10 weeks.
Experiences like this are what make partnerships with organizations like the Andean Alliance for Sustainable Development so special. With strong roots established in this now 10-year partnership, there is so much potential for the AASD, the communities they serve, and our travelers in the years to come.
550
+
EF travelers impacted by AASD experiences
25
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communities supported by the AASD
3,000
+
people benefitting from AASD projects
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