Help strengthen climate smart farming skills and create practical livelihood pathways for rural youth in Timor Leste.

The Aileu Municipality Youth Centre, through Palms International Volunteering, is seeking an Agriculture Teacher Mentor to train teachers and young people in soil improvement, composting, water efficient practices, seed saving, pest management, and other low cost, climate smart techniques. Your mentoring will help build local capacity, improve food security, and inspire youth to see agriculture as a viable and meaningful livelihood. This role is ideal for someone passionate about sustainable farming, hands on training, and community driven development.

What you’ll do

First several weeks – Learn, observe, and build trust

• Learn local language, cultural norms, and farming context with support from a local mentor.
• Observe existing practices and document strengths and community assets.
• Avoid recommending changes during this period; focus on understanding why things are done the way they are.

Ongoing responsibilities

Provide hands on training in climate smart, low cost farming

• Demonstrate soil improvement, composting, mulching, water efficient irrigation, seed saving, and pest management.
• Train teachers and youth using simple, locally available materials.
• Adapt techniques to local climate challenges such as irregular rainfall and poor soils.
• Support participants to apply new skills in school gardens or small plots.

Build confidence and competence in teachers and youth

• Offer step by step coaching to help participants manage small agricultural activities.
• Use repetitive, practical exercises to strengthen skills.
• Encourage experimentation with local crops and conditions.

Develop simple, reusable teaching resources

• Create easy to understand guides, posters, worksheets, and demonstration materials.
• Organise materials for offline use in low resource schools.
• Produce example lesson plans linking agriculture to science, environment, or life skills subjects.

Mentor and develop local “agriculture champions”

• Identify motivated teachers, youth, or community members who can continue the work.
• Provide additional coaching so champions can lead training and troubleshoot problems.
• Encourage champions to take ownership of school or community agriculture activities.

Support sustainable school based agriculture

• Help schools establish or improve gardens that demonstrate climate smart practices.
• Guide teachers and youth to maintain planting and harvesting records.
• Promote low cost, low risk approaches that schools can sustain independently.

What you’ll bring

• Formal education in Agribusiness, Agriculture, or Rural Development.
• Understanding of climate-smart and sustainable farming practices.
• Skills in developing, implementing, and reviewing agricultural initiatives.
• Training expertise across design, delivery, implementation, and assessment
• Ability to guide farmers in improving productivity, and diversifying crops.
• Strong mentoring, communication, and teamwork skills.
• Patience, adaptability, and cultural sensitivity.
• The ability to cope with cultural isolation and different living standards
• Commitment to serve for 12 months with limited resources.

What you’ll gain

• Deep cultural immersion in rural Timor Leste.
• The opportunity to strengthen food security and climate resilience.
• Professional experience in cross cultural agricultural development.
• Contribution to SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 13 (Climate Action), and SDG 17 (Partnerships).

About Aileu Municipality Youth Centre The Aileu Municipality Youth Centre is a grassroots, volunteer run organisation that supports young people in Aileu through community-based training, youth development activities, and partnerships that strengthen local capacity. Aileu is a largely rural, mountainous municipality where community organisations like Aileu Municipality Youth Centre, plays a vital role in providing opportunities for young people, including training in areas such as agriculture, literacy, computing, and livelihood skills.

About Palms International Volunteering For 65 years, Palms International Volunteering has supported skilled Australians to live and work alongside communities in the Asia-Pacific. Our volunteers don’t ‘fix’ problem - they build relationships, strengthen local capacity, and walk with communities striving for dignity and opportunity. These are ‘solidarity placements’. Accommodation and a small stipend is provided, as well as preparation and ongoing support.

The focus is on living as a true neighbour to learn, and to establish an effective mentoring role. This is the basis for lasting capacity building in the community. It is also a chance for you to step out of the rush and reconnect with what matters through a deep cultural immersion and genuine community relationships.