The project is intricately related to job creation and training. At the heart of the project lies the 20 year association contract, which, amongst with key issues such as the CC and the 60-40 profit division has a clause which states that every position at the lodge must be filled by a community member AND that it must rotate every two years. In addition, it states that if community members are not prepared to do the job properly, then RFE must implement a training program. As of 2005, 18 of 21 lodge positions were in the hands of community members and seven community bilingual guides were obtaining client satisfactions of 90% or above. The only two lodge positions that were not filled with community members were bartender, souvenir shop manager and lodge manager.

At the beginning of the project, community members had to be trained to become housekeepers, waiters, assistant cooks and drivers. As the project evolved, we developed training mechanisms for cooks, maintenance crew and guides. We are currently in the midst of the bartending training and have a project that will allow us to train a community manager.

Training for operational (versus technical) positions is fairly straightforward. Every year, RFE calls for papers amongst the 130 community families. The CC reviews all applicants to make sure all belong in the community. Then they gather for a two week course which introduces participants to tourism, customer service, environmental basics and the position specific aspects of housekeeping, driving, waiting, and cooking. The best students stay to replace the outgoing crew, about half a crew a year. In this manner RFE has trained over 100 community members and dozens have been employed at Posada Amazonas. After their stint at Posada Amazonas, at least ten have gone on to obtain tourism jobs at other lodges.

Thanks to a MacArthur Foundation grant, it was possible to start covering some technical positions at the lodge. Through a seed fund, cooks and maintenance crew receive professional courses on technical aspects of these positions. The seed fund loans money to the students, whilst RFE covers half of the expenses. The fund recovers its income by discounting it from their salary and thus replenishes the fund.

Guides receive more intensive training. Community guides start their training in a community guides' course, in order to level their knowledge about terms such as biology, conservation, biodiversity, ecosystem, and basic flora and fauna classification. The first four qualify for the RFE annual guide course, which is offered for all those who want to become an RFE guide. This annual course covers most major taxonomic groups, such as mammals, birds, insects, ecology, and plants, and includes Red Cross first aid training. From the four community participants, the best two are the ones selected to start their training as guides for RFE. The next step is to work at PAL as bar assistant, in order to train the ear a little and become familiar with the English language. After six months, the participant goes to Lima for three months of intense training, covered by the seed fund. Once back, the guide practices for one or two months, and then become a professional guide who starts repaying his loan for the next community guide. In this manner, nine guides have been trained, and one or two additional ones are trained yearly.

Jobs at Posada Amazonas are standard payroll jobs with social security, unemployment insurance, two bonuses at mid and years end, and an additional profit bonus. Jobs pay from 75% to 150% more than the minimum wage, and 10-30% above competing lodges. Guides earn on per diem basis from $20 to $40 depending on experience and the type of group. Working hours are difficult and we try to motivate people with celebrations during holidays and an end of year party with prizes for the best employees. Since staff members live and eat at the lodge, we also provide food and housing for them.