• American Samoa Year
• Bangladesh Year
• Chile Pat Sur Year
• China Hunan Year
• Colombia Year
• Costa Rica Year
• Ecuador Year
• Guyana Year
• India Year
• Marshall Islands Year
• Micronesia Year
• Namibia Year
• Panama Year
• Tanzania Year
• Thailand Year
• ---
• Chile Semester
• Namibia Semester
• Tanzania Semester
• ---
• China Summer
• Costa Rica Summer
• Ecuador Summer
• Namibia Summer
• Poland Summer
• South Africa Summer

Country Info

As a gateway between two continents as well as two oceans, Panama has and continues to be a country of immense strategic importance.  This 'footpath' between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, now known as the great Panama Canal, has most shaped Panama economically, politically, and culturally.  Its location has brought all types of peoples to Panama long before even the Spanish arrived, and though Panama has been able to preserve much of its indigenous culture, colonists, nomadic peoples, immigrants, and ex-patriots have added their own cultures to the melting pot over the course of hundreds of years.

In recent years Panama has truly asserted itself on the international scene and has become a star in terms of development over the past decade.  The nationalization of the Panama Canal in 1999 symbolically marked the end of an era of foreign imperialism.  The canal, the extraordinary wildlife and pristine coasts, and modern capital are fueling a burgeoning tourism industry.  However, social inequality within Panama still exist as elite families of European descent control most of country's wealth and power, while about 40% of the population live below the poverty line.

Unique Challenges for Panama Volunteers

Given that the WorldTeach Panama program is in its second year, the program is naturally still taking shape. While we work very closely with our Panamanian partners and hosting schools to establish volunteers' roles, expectations will inevitably shift in these first years. This second year, all but two volunteers were pioneers at schools or with teachers -- which is the sort of groundbreaking work that requires a lot of flexibility. Hence, this is an exciting opportunity for volunteers to be a integral part of shaping a WorldTeach program and setting high expectations for our volunteers as is within our other programs.

Web Resources for Panama

• BBC Panama Profile  |  News and country profile
• US Embassy | Official Site
• Panamanian Embassy | Official Site
• CIA World Factbook | Country overview
• The Panama News | Panama’s Online English Language Newspaper
• Visit Panama | Country’s official tourism site
• Latin American Network Information Center | List of web resources for Panama
• Centers for Disease Control & Prevention |  Health Information
• The Economist |  Archive of the magazine's articles on Panama