Training

The Peace Corps uses a competency-based training approach throughout the continuum of learning, supporting you from arrival in-country to your departure. Learn more about the Peace Corps' approach to training. 

• Pre-service training in-country is conducted by Peace Corps staff, most of whom are locally hired trainers. To foster appropriate and effective integration into the community, trainees typically live with a host family during training. Training covers technical, linguistic, intercultural competence, diversity and inclusion, health, and safety and security topics.
• Technical training involves structured sessions and practical assignments working in the community. 
• Language training typically involves classroom lessons five days a week in small groups. In addition to classroom lessons, you will also do speaking practice assignments with your host family or in the community. For Volunteers who do not have previous experience with the local language, the goal for pre-service training is to learn basic survival communication skills while intentionally building your intercultural competence.  During pre-service training, you will be given guidance and training on independent language learning skills and strategies and your language proficiency will be tested at the end of pre-service training to assess your readiness to serve.  After pre-service training, you will continue to study language independently throughout service so that you can develop sufficient language proficiency to serve effectively. Language proficiency will be tested at other points during service.
• Intercultural and community development training will help you explore your cultural values, those of your host community, and your role as a Volunteer. Training will guide you in considering concepts of time, power and hierarchy, gender roles, communication styles, relationships and self, and resiliency. You will also participate in cultural events and learn about local history and way of life.

You will be trained in health prevention, basic first aid, and treatment of medical illnesses found in-country. During the safety and security training sessions, you will learn how to reduce risks at home, at work, and during your travels. You will also learn various strategies for coping with unwanted attention, how to identify safety risks in-country, and about Peace Corps’ emergency response and support systems.

Additional trainings during Volunteer service include in-service training after three months at your site, mid-service training, and close-of-service conference. You will be with your Volunteer cohort for these trainings and attention will be paid to helping you also explore and honor the diversity of US Americans within your group throughout service. 

Pre-Service Training

The Peace Corps employs a community-based model during pre-service training. It is based on adult learning methods that emphasize individual responsibility for developing the competencies to function independently as a Volunteer. You will live with a family, take care of your own needs, and work either independently or in small groups to accomplish tasks that build your skill levels. Guinean facilitators will help you learn the necessary language and intercultural communication skills to accomplish your living and work tasks. You cannot be sworn-in to Peace Corps service until you have clearly demonstrated the attributes and skills necessary to meet the needs of your assignment. You can monitor and demonstrate your own progress through self-evaluation, consistent feedback from staff and facilitators, and participation in daily activities. Your success in this learning period requires full participation and, for some, a measure of sacrifice in terms of time and personal comfort. Investment of effort during this time will be well worth the rewards of satisfaction and well-being you will experience as a Volunteer. 

Successful sustainable development work is based on the relationships you build by respectfully integrating into the host country community and culture. You will be prepared for this through a homestay experience, which often requires trainees to live with host families during pre-service training. Integration into the community fosters language and cross-cultural learning and ensures your health, safety, and security. The pre-service training program has four major components: language, technical, cross-cultural, and medical (which includes personal safety and security). The overall training program is designed to integrate as many of these components as possible into simultaneous training sessions. During training, you will live with a Guinean family. Peace Corps language and cultural facilitators will live in the community with you (approximately one per three trainees). 

Trainees and Volunteers in Guinea consistently rate the host family experience as the most challenging and meaningful aspect of training. The challenge lies in adapting to the basic living conditions of a Guinean family and communicating before you’ve become comfortable in French and your local language. You will have a private room with a bed and a mosquito net. Toilet facilities usually consist of an outdoor pit latrine and bathing is done with water in a bucket in outdoor stalls—under the sun or stars! You will eat breakfast and dinner (and lunch on Saturdays and Sundays) with your host family. Peace Corps Guinea staff asks your family to feed you local food and to treat you as a family member, not to give you special treatment.

Technical Training

Technical training will prepare you to work in Guinea by building on the skills you already have and helping you develop new skills in a manner appropriate to the needs of the country. The Peace Corps staff, Guinea experts, and current Volunteers will conduct the training program. Training places great emphasis on learning how to transfer the skills you have to the community in which you will serve as a Volunteer. Technical training will include sessions on the general economic and political environment in Guinea and strategies for working within such a framework. You will review your project’s goals and objectives and will meet with the Guinea agencies and organizations that invited the Peace Corps to assist them. You will be supported and evaluated throughout training to build the confidence and skills you need to undertake your project activities, report your progress, and serve as a productive member of your community.

Language Training

Language proficiency is at the heart of successful Peace Corps service and effective language skills are essential to your personal and professional satisfaction.  Language proficiency is critical not only to your job performance, but also helps you integrate into your community, can ease your personal adaptation to the new surroundings, and supports your personal safety.  As a result, language training is central to the training program and closely tied to intercultural competence, diversity and inclusion training. Guinea language instructors usually teach formal language classes five days a week in small groups. 

Your language training will incorporate a community-based approach. In addition to classroom time, you will be given assignments to work on outside of the classroom and with your host family. The goal is to get you to a point of basic social communication skills so you can practice and develop language skills further once you are at your site. Prior to being sworn in as a Volunteer, you will develop strategies to continue studying language during your service. Language study during PST will be very intensive. Your instructors will be Guinean teachers with years of experience teaching languages to Peace Corps trainees. Volunteers will be expected to attain at least a basic understanding of French by the end of training. Volunteers will also have the opportunity to learn the Guinean language (in addition to French) that is widely used in their local communities. It is highly recommended that invitees take an intensive French course before departing for Guinea in order to have more time to focus on learning the local language. Language skills will help provide a foundation for effective communication across cultures and smooth cultural adjustments, and will directly impact one’s success as a Volunteer.

Intercultural Competence, Diversity, and Inclusion Training

Cross-cultural training will provide opportunities for you to reflect on your own cultural values and how they influence your behavior in Guinea. You will also discuss the questions you have about the behaviors and practices you observe in Guinea, exploring the underlying reasons for these behaviors and practices. Cross-cultural and community development training will help you improve your communication skills and understand your role as a facilitator of development. Training will cover topics such as the concept of time, power and hierarchy, gender roles, communication styles, and the concept of self and relationships. Because adjusting to a new culture can be very challenging, you will participate in resiliency training which provides a framework and tools to help with adjustment issues. The host family experience provides a unique context for cross-cultural learning, and is designed to ease your transition to life at your site. Families go through an orientation conducted by Peace Corps staff to explain the purpose of PST and to assist them in helping you adapt to living in Guinea. Many Volunteers form strong and lasting friendships with their host families.

Health Training

During pre-service training, you will be given basic medical training and information. You will be expected to practice preventive health care and to take responsibility for your own health by adhering to all medical policies. Trainees are required to attend all medical sessions. The topics include preventive health measures and minor and major medical issues that you might encounter while in Guinea. Nutrition, mental health, setting up a safe living compound, and how to avoid HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are also covered.  It will be important to be open and remain culturally sensitive as you undergo health training and suspend judgement as to not project your cultural beliefs and values.

Safety and Security Training

During the safety training sessions, you will learn how to reduce your risks at home, at work, and during your travels by building your awareness and indirectly practicing culturally competent communications skills. You will also learn appropriate, effective strategies for coping with unwanted attention and about your individual responsibility for promoting safety throughout your service.