Conservation Plan Developer

The Bukit Lawang Trust is a Non Government Organisation based in Bukit Lawang, North Sumatra. The Trust building is a community centre which provides free education to people of all ages from both the local community and farther afield in Sumatra. As a volunteer on the Conservation programme you will be directly involved in the establishment of new and exciting youth led sustainable enterprises in the local community, helping to provide an alternative occupation for young people to Palm Oil plantation work. 

After a three day volunteer Induction, you will volunteer for 4 - 6 hours on weekdays, however this is highly variable depending on the number of volunteers on your cycle and the amount of planning and preparation required for your sessions. On the Conservation Programme you will be largely free in the mornings with the exception of the Morning meeting at 0900 with all programme teams. Thursdays and Fridays  however you may be asked to take the lead on the Youth Ranger classes in the mornings. If you are doing these, you will likely not be delivering the afternoon Youth-Led Sustainable Enterprise (YSE) classes on the same day as we try our best to distribute sessions amongst the volunteer facilitators. 

Regardless of your working day you will be finished by 1800 on weekdays, after which you are completely free (unless its your turn to cook! we have a cooking rota for evening meals which means we only pay for one evening meal every few weeks and we only have to cook once every few weeks! plus we get to try different foods from all over the world!). 

Lunches are provided by our Increadible Chef Fitri, and all meals are vegitarian, however there is a restuarant directly oposite the school where you can get non veggie meals at very good prices! 

During the day you may be asked to help with houshold jobs such as painting, maintaining, making signs, gardening, or working on personal jobs. 

Afternoon YSE classes are 3 hours every week day. Volunteers have quite a free reign over classroom style and approach, however the core content of the curriculum must be delivered. You will always be supported in the classroom by local teachers who will assist you in both the planning and the delivery of your sessions, you will also have a course curriculum and handbook designed by our very own head of conservation to guide you through the process. 

You can go trekking from Bukit Lawang to Gunung Leuser National Park and see the famous Sumatran Orangutan. Most volunteers do a two day one night trek and usually are fortunate enough to see Orangutans.