Madagascar is one of the most bio-diverse nations in the world and is lucky enough to grow some of the most valuable crops on the international market. Yet, too commonly, rural communities do not have the access to a diversity of foods needed to raise healthy families. To address food production and household nutrition needs, Peace Corps Madagascar’s Food Security Project seeks to build the capacity of household decision makers, gardeners, and farmers to create and maintain bio-intensive, climate-smart growing spaces that produce nutrient-dense food for family consumption. Agricultural Volunteers can work with lead farmers, NGOs, Community Based Organizations, schools, and key community members to promote a variety of sustainable agricultural practices including bio-intensive gardens, agroforestry and climate smart agriculture. To promote healthy nutrition, Volunteers work with household decision makers (like mothers) to conduct nutrition trainings and cooking demonstrations to encourage both the production and consumption of nutrient dense foods.

The Ministry of Education has recognized the importance of English in developing an international workforce--for continued education, medicine, technology, tourism, and beyond. We’ve matched their effort by establishing a TEFL Certification for all our educators. TEFL Volunteers in Madagascar have the opportunity to participate in the Peace Corps TEFL Certificate program, an externally-validated credential based on 120 hours of training and two years of supervised teaching experience. As English Educators, our primary assignment is to teach at lycée (high school) and/or at a collège (middle school), sharing techniques and building skills among our colleague teachers, and create extra-curricular activities that will strengthen students’ understanding of community and their future roles in the community.

Community Health Advisors are tackling some of the most fundamental public health challenges in the world. Stationed at local clinics and partnered with local community health workers, we’re targeting the causes of stunting, waterborne illnesses, malaria mortality, unsafe drinking water, and the many diseases faced by families in Madagascar. We create care groups to train caregivers and mobilize community leaders, health workers, and partners to prevent disease--building the capacity of local health promoters in the process.