Peace Corps Volunteers teach in Community Day Secondary Schools (CDSS) where there is a tremendous need for qualified teachers. Volunteers focus on teaching English and Literacy in the classroom, where they may have 50-120 students in a class. They also build capacity by assisting schools in establishing, maintaining, and upgrading libraries, computer labs, and science labs and by providing key technical support to school clusters for teacher training and other capacity building.

Peace Corps Malawi is proud to participate in the Let Girls Learn Initiative. Volunteers design and deliver in-service training for teachers at their schools and work to build awareness and support among students, teachers and communities to practice gender equity in the classroom while reducing gender based violence.

Peace Corps Volunteers work with the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, Department of Forestry and Ministry of Information, Tourism, and Culture (Department of Parks and Wildlife). Together with local communities and government counterparts, Volunteers develop strategies to increase awareness and understanding of the importance of natural resource conservation and to reduce the impact bordering communities have on protected areas such as National Parks and Forest Reserves. They also teach about the interrelationship of improved agricultural practices and environmental conservation.

Volunteer activities include the development of tree nurseries, promotion of improved cook stoves, and the use of sustainable farming techniques, including permaculture, composting, agro-forestry, and small scale irrigation. They also work with schools and teachers on environmental education.

Volunteers in the health sector work directly with Ministry of Health facilities, usually at community hospitals and rural health centers. Partnering with these organizations, PC Health Volunteers participate in a range of interventions including: prevention of HIV/AIDS, malaria & other communicable diseases, health systems strengthening, nutrition promotion, and life skills training with an emphasis on behavior change. They engage in activities ranging from outreach to improve HIV testing and counseling, adherence and treatment, and nutrition education to promoting youth friendly health services, educating community members on malaria prevention strategies, and promoting good hygiene and safe water practices.

Malawi is a Feed the Future focus country and Peace Corps proudly supports this initiative through permagardening and other activities that allow households and community groups (schools and health centers) to grow nutritious and diversified crops year round. Permagardening training is often paired with nutrition education to promote a balance diet.

Malawi suffers from ongoing food insecurity, which has been exacerbated in recent years due to flooding and drought, and has one of the highest rates of stunting in Africa, affecting 42 percent of children

Peace Corps Malawi partners with the President's Malaria Initiative to eradicate malaria by promoting evidence-based malaria prevention strategies including the use of long lasting insecticide treated bed nets and the importance of seeking early diagnosis and treatment. Volunteers also debunk myths about malaria and encourage pregnant women to take intermittent preventative treatment. Volunteer activities include bed net care and repair demonstrations, creating murals to provide creative and consistent reminders of effective malaria prevention strategies, participating in large scale bed net distribution campaigns, and innovative awareness raising campaigns.

Malaria accounts for approximately 40 percent of hospitalizations in children under five and 30 percent of outpa-tient visits, and is one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality across all age groups.