Training

The Peace Corps uses a competency-based training approach throughout the 27 month 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 and locally hired trainers. Training covers technical, linguistic, intercultural competence, diversity and inclusion, health, and safety and security topics.
• Technical training involves structured sessions, practical in-person assignments in the community and a variety of self-study virtual sessions.
• Language training involves classroom lessons five days a week in small groups. In addition to classroom lessons, you will also do project based learning practices and outside classroom assignments in your host community. The goal for pre-service training is to learn basic survival and technical communication skills, develop own strategies for working with language tutors, gain knowledge about facilitating preliminary work meetings and classroom sessions in local language while intentionally building your own intercultural competence. Your language proficiency will be tested during and at the end of pre-service training to assess your readiness to serve. After pre-service training, PC Mongolia’s language team will continue to provide tools, resources, and tips to support your individual language learning process throughout service. Language proficiency will be tested at two 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.

Peace Corps Medical Staff will present a number of health sessions, which are designed to prepare you to live an independent and maintain a healthy lifestyle while in Mongolia. Face-to-face interviews, provision of medical supplies and kits, and administration of mandatory immunizations are other services to be provided throughout service. Our goal is to keep you healthy and safe.

During safety and security trainings, you will learn knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop your own personal strategies to reduce risks at home, at the workplace, in your community, and during your travels. You will also learn how to identify safety risks in-country, improve your integration at your site by maximizing your local language skills and by adopting local customs to build a community safety and security support network. These trainings will provide you with important information about Peace Corps’ emergency response and support systems.

Volunteers will be provided with training support throughout their service via in-person mandated trainings during In-Service Training (IST), Mid-Service Training (MST) and Close of Service conference (COS) as well as self-study and directed online sessions utilizing the Learning Space platform. In person mandatory trainings provide opportunities for Volunteers to be with your Volunteer cohort and attention will be paid to helping you explore and honor the diversity of US Americans within your group throughout service.

Pre-Service Training

The Peace Corps employs a center/community-based hybrid 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 in small clusters with other trainees, and have ample opportunity to work and learn from a variety of Mongolian professionals assisting with personal and professional cross culture & technical skills development. You will learn to take care of your own needs and work either independently or in small groups to accomplish tasks that build your skill levels. Mongolian 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, competencies, 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.

Technical Training

Technical training will prepare you to work in Mongolia 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 and Mongolia experts 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 Mongolia and strategies for working within such a framework. You will review your technical sector’s goals and will meet with the Mongolia 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 and be a productive member of your community.

Language Training

As a Peace Corps Volunteer, you will find that language skills are key to personal and professional satisfaction during your service. These skills are critical to your job performance, they help you integrate into your community, and they can ease your personal adaptation to the new surroundings. Therefore, language training is at the heart of the training program. You must successfully meet minimum language requirements to complete training and become a Volunteer. Mongolia language instructors teach formal language classes five days a week in small groups of four to five people.

Your language training will incorporate blended learning approach. In addition to classroom time, you will be given assignments to work on outside of the classroom and with your local community. 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 work on strategies to continue language studies during your service.

Intercultural Competence, Diversity, and Inclusion Training

As part of your pre-service training, you will work closely with Peace Corps staff and Mongolian professionals to develop and utilize a range of cross cultural competencies.

Cross-cultural and community development training will help you improve your communication skills and understand your role as a facilitator of development. You will be exposed to topics such as developmental model of intercultural sensitivity, intercultural behaviors and values, cultural dimensions, accepting differences, gender norms, conflict resolution and will define your strategies to manage various cultural experiences.

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 Mongolia. Policies & Procedures, COVID-19 Considerations & Prevention Strategies, Acute Diarrhea Water/Food Preparations, Common Health Problems, Nutrition, Mental Health Adjustment, Mental Health Stress, Alcohol Awareness, Intimate Partner Violence 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

Safety and Security (S&S) trainings are designed to help you identify the most common safety and security incidents in the country. These include thefts/pickpocketing, sexual assaults, physical assaults, transportation incidents, and unwanted attention. S&S sessions provide sessions as to and how these crimes happen to Volunteers, and how they may be mitigated. During S&S trainings you will learn knowledge, skills, and attitudes that will enable you to develop your own personal safety and security strategies to minimize these risks you may encounter during your service. Also, you will learn how to report crimes, what support services are available, and how PC ensures your confidentiality. Sessions cover the overall PC response and support systems available throughout service. The S&S team will provide you with valuable resources such as the MySafety Guide, the Apartment Dweller Handbook, the post specific S&S guide book, and a variety of continuing learning online courses. At the end of PST, you will be required to take the S&S Learning Assessment quiz to test safety and security knowledge.