Peace Corps The Gambia’s health project seeks to improve the health status and quality of life of Gambian communities, particularly of women and children, by promoting positive health-related practices using behavior change principles.

Volunteers work towards this goal by:
• Educating community members on behaviors and best practices that promote maternal, neonatal and children’s health;
• Teaching community members appropriate infant and young child feeding practices, including the promotion of exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of life;
• Raising awareness for the prevention of malaria, including promoting the use of insecticide treated bed nets;
• Promoting positive personal hygiene, including the construction and use of ‘Tippy Taps’ for proper hand washing with soap;
• Promoting Water and Sanitation Hygiene (WASH), including the improvement or construction of community water and sanitation systems

Peace Corps/The Gambia promotes gender awareness and girls’ education and empowerment. Volunteers will receive training on gender challenges in country and will have the opportunity to implement gender-related activities that are contextually appropriate. During service, Volunteers will look for ways to work with community members to promote gender-equitable norms and increase girls’ sense of agency.

As part of their work, Volunteers will monitor and report on their efforts and impact.

Peace Corps enjoys a long and positive history with The Gambia. The first Peace Corps Volunteers arrived in 1967, and since then over 1,800 Volunteers have worked with Gambian men and women to make a lasting impact on their communities.

Qualified candidates will have an expressed interest in working in the health sector and one or more of the following criteria:
• Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Science degree in any field
OR
• 5 years' professional work experience

Preferred candidates will have one or more of the following:
• Strong knowledge of a range of community health issues (Maternal, Child and Neonatal Health, Malaria, Nutrition, NCDs, WASH)
• Strong resiliency skills (i.e. some life experience showing ability to achieve in difficult circumstances, )
• Experience teaching life-skills and behavior change

There are no pre-requisite language requirements for this position.

Volunteers are expected to learn the predominant local language of the village to which they will be assigned. Instruction in a local language will be provided during Pre-Service Training. Most of the people Volunteers will work with may not speak English, so it is extremely important to understand and be able to communicate in the local language.

Most Volunteers are assigned to remote, rural communities, without electricity, and where transportation can be infrequent and unreliable. You will live in simple, private quarters on the property of a host family for your entire service. Houses in rural areas are usually made of mud block and are round with thatched roofs. They are generally situated in or near a family compound which contains several other such houses. You will have a private pit latrine, and will likely need to fetch water from the village water source, up to 300 yards away. You may need to walk or bike up to 3 miles to access public transportation and may cycle up to 6 miles to a larger town for shopping. All incoming Volunteers are placed in rural environments, so you must be prepared and able to live in these conditions.

There are a few internet cafes in some of the larger towns, but access is slow, patchy and depends on unreliable electricity. There is internet access at the Peace Corps office near the capital, and in the transit houses on either side of the country. Communication between staff and Volunteers, as well as among Volunteers, is mainly by phone and text (you will receive a cell phone on arrival and will be able to call or text other Volunteers or staff without charge).

Many vegetarians have managed to maintain a healthy diet here. However, as the supply and range of vegetables in the country is limited, this can present challenges and requires some flexibility.

The Gambia is a small country. Contact between staff and Volunteers is high and this is well appreciated by the Volunteer community.

The Gambia has some restrictive laws that target certain sexual acts. Volunteers will need to be mindful of cultural norms and country-specific laws, and use their best judgment to determine how to approach topics related to sexual orientation and gender identity in their communities and the host country at large. Staff and currently serving Volunteers will address this topic during Pre-Service Training, and identify support mechanisms for incoming trainees and throughout a Volunteer’s service.

The Gambia cannot accommodate couples within the same sector. Therefore, your partner must qualify and apply for:

Community Gardening and Agroforestry Facilitator

Couples will live and serve together in a common site that might be in either a larger community or in a village where one would focus work in a neighboring village.

In the past, this arrangement has worked well especially when the going gets tough. Most couples serve in different sectors. They motivate each other and supplement each other’s work at their respective communities and have been model PCVs.