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Orientation and Training
Pre-service training sets you up for success
Pre-service training is conducted by Peace Corps staff — most of whom are residents of the host country — with the participation of current Volunteers.
Peace Corps Trainees integrate into host communities and develop intercultural competency and immersive language through a variety of activities. Living with local families, partnering with community members, and participating in collaborative projects are ways Trainees can develop appropriate and effective strategies to maintain health, wellness, and safety and security in the local context.
Peace Corps staff design training and learning experiences and assess your development and performance of the competencies to perform the following job functions required of all Volunteers:
- exemplify commitment to service and resilience,
- integrate into communities,
- facilitate participatory development,
- and demonstrate responsibilities for health, safety, and security.
You are required to meet established competency benchmarks, including language proficiency benchmarks in the local language, in order to be eligible to swear-in as a Peace Corps Volunteer.
Orientation and training for Peace Corps Response Volunteers
Peace Corps Response Volunteers are considered Volunteers upon departure from your home of record for service and undergo an initial orientation period.
Typically two weeks in length, the training is designed to orient you to your host country and to convey important information regarding Peace Corps’ development model, health, safety and security, and other topics.
During pre-service training, Peace Corps medical officers prepare you to demonstrate responsibility for your personal health and wellness in service. Trainees are required to attend all medical sessions.
This training focuses on preventive strategies, medical guidelines, and policies for reporting and response when urgent/emergent health needs present. You will be expected to practice preventive health care and to take responsibility for your own health by adhering to all medical policies.
Technical training builds on skills you have and emphasizes how to adapt and transfer those skills in partnership with host country partners and community members.
During this training, you develop the technical competencies required of your assigned project to implement project activities; monitor, learn, adapt and report progress; and to engage in mutual learning and respectful collaboration with others.
During pre-service training, you participate in language instruction with a mix of classroom, field-based learning, and self-directed language learning.
This training enables you to perform a number of social, workplace, and survival tasks; communicate in everyday situations; and gain ongoing language learning skills.
You must meet a minimum language proficiency benchmark for oral communication in order to swear-in as a Volunteer.
Maintaining personal safety and security for Volunteers and community partners during service is a priority to the Peace Corps.
During pre-service training, you learn what you can do to reduce risks in your home, in your workplace, and while traveling in-country. You learn to identify and mitigate safety risks, as well as about the support the Peace Corps provides in the event you become the victim of a crime.
Your orientation will begin with a self-paced online course before being introduced virtually to the partner organization during the first week of your engagement.
