In Argentina there are more than 600 small towns at risk to disappear or in a state of depopulation crisis.  Their inhabitants cannot find opportunities for the future in the places where they live and migrate to cities where they live on the margins of society and face many disadvantages.

Responde is a Promotion and Development Organization founded in 1999 with the Mission to “Identify and promote actions that bring social and economic opportunities to the inhabitants of small rural towns at risk to disappear so that they can recover their communities through their own freedom, entrepreneurial spirit, and calling to overcome.”

Responde develops and implements programs in three areas of action: a) Education and Culture; b) Production and Employment; and c) Participation and Civic Responsibility, with which it reaches the small rural towns of eleven Argentine provinces.

The Revival program is part of this third area of action.  It allows for the creation of corporate ocial responsibility, social capital, and the reinforcement of the promotion and development projects for the recuperation of small towns in Argentina.  International volunteers coming from companies and/or universities apply their knowledge and experience during their stays, strengthening the projects initiated by Responde and/or developing new ones that assure the viability and sustainability of these communities.

Revival is a program designed by Responde to support the continuity of projects initiated by the organization by facilitating the arrival of students and international visitors who can enrich and invigorate these projects through new activity.

Responde is an organization that does not have its own funding. It sustains itself with the contribution of its partners and also receives contributions from companies that are strictly used to accomplish the projects that those contributors choose to support.

To carry forth the Revival program, Responde does not and has never received any funding on behalf of any government organization, private company, or institution, either national or international. For this reason, Responde must ask that those interested in volunteering pay their own travel costs, accommodations and food, in addition to a donation to the organization for the purpose of carrying out its Mission.

This donation allows Responde to support its work through everyday expenses as well as costs of program coordination, volunteer accompaniment, training before the trip, communication expenses, equipment use, etc.

In general, those who look to work for an organization abroad rely on intermediary companies to facilitate contact and pay for this service. In this case, Responde, through a direct offer, asks for this contribution in the form of a donation.

Volunteer participation in this unique program, will provide participants the opportunity to comprehend and deeply analyze the social, cultural, and economic life of the rural villages of Argentina that find themselves in crisis from depopulation. Each volunteer’s distinct perspective will provide Responde with a valuable addition to its existing information, in addition to giving the participant the opportunity to create and innovate and put his or her own proposals into practice.

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