HIV/AIDS and Adolescent Health Advocate
Project Description
Bo-‘M’e le Bo-Ntate (Ladies and Gentlemen), take a closer look at the Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho and consider working hand-in-hand with the Basotho people to deliver on the promise of an HIV/AIDS-free generation.
In Lesotho, a country encircled by the Republic of South Africa, the prevalence of HIV among adults is over 22.7%. Among children, however, the rates are slightly over 2%. Adolescents and young people represent the key to ending the HIV epidemic in Lesotho, however, they face many challenges accessing prevention, care, and treatment services, resulting in new infections and lower rates of viral suppression.
As an HIV/AIDS and Adolescent Health Advocate you will work in the prevention of new HIV infections among adolescents, increase access to gender-equitable care, support, and treatment services for adolescents, and support the strengthening of health systems in Lesotho. Volunteers work within governmental and Christian Health Association of Lesotho health clinics, international and national non-governmental organizations. Working in collaboration with their counterpart organization staff and community members, Volunteers are involved in facilitating, mentoring, training, linking services, and drawing services to their communities by networking with organizations working across the spectrum of health services and support.
Volunteer activities may include co-facilitating the following activities:
• Clubs and camps that provide age and culturally appropriate messaging on HIV prevention.
• Gender-equitable sessions on HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and treatment.
• Sessions on positive living for adolescents living with HIV.
• Sessions on economic strengthening for groups of orphans and vulnerable children and their caregivers.
• Evidence-based trainings to improve the knowledge and skills of health care workers to provide gender-equitable and age-appropriate youth-friendly services.
Other activities may include:
• Collaborating with health workers to implement the national standard operating procedures for the creation of youth-friendly services at health facilities.
• Building the capacity of clinic staff to manage pharmaceuticals and commodities in their health facilities.
• Working with community organizations and health facilities to ensure quality data is collected and reported.
Peace Corps Lesotho promotes gender awareness and girls’ education and empowerment. You will receive training on gender challenges in your country and you will have the opportunity to implement gender-related activities that are contextually appropriate. During your service, you will look for ways to work with community members to promote gender-equitable norms and increase girls’ sense of agency. As part of your work, you will also report on these efforts and their impact.
Every Peace Corps Volunteer’s experience and daily work differs depending on the resources, needs, and capacity of the community where they serve. During the first three months in their community, Volunteers conduct community assessments, build relationships, and work together with community members to identify community needs and priorities that fit with the Peace Corps Lesotho Health Sector framework and plan the projects that will be implemented throughout the Volunteers’ two years of service.
Should you serve in this position, you undoubtedly will have an incredibly rewarding service ahead of you!
COVID-19 Volunteer Activities
As a Volunteer, you will be trained in how to best protect yourself from COVID-19 exposure and understand the impact of and steps to reduce stigma related to COVID-19. You may also have the opportunity to engage with your community on implementing or enhancing COVID-19 mitigation activities, such as COVID-19 prevention and risk reduction strategies including social distancing, hand washing, mask wearing, addressing myths and misconceptions related to these practices, and vaccine hesitancy. Activities will be tailored to address the COVID-19 circumstances in the communities where you will serve.
Required Skills
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
Desired Skills
Competitive candidates will also have one or more of the following:
• Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Science degree in Public Health
• Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Science degree in Social Work or Licensed Social Worker
• Knowledge and experience working on HIV/AIDS prevention and/or with people living with HIV/AIDS
• Demonstrated leadership and community organization skills, including public speaking and presentation skills
• Demonstrated ability to model, coach, and mentor adolescents
• Experience with vulnerable youth and/or life skills education
• Monitoring and evaluation experience
Required Language Skills
There are no pre-requisite language requirements for this position.
There is a strong emphasis on learning and speaking the local language (Sesotho) spoken throughout the country. Volunteers will be more successful in community integration the more frequently they use their language skills.
Trainees must demonstrate at least an Intermediate-Low level oral proficiency in Sesotho language after 11 weeks of language training.
Please note that there are a few communities primarily in the south of the country where two other languages are commonly used (isiXhosa and Sephuthi). For Volunteers living in these communities, basic communicative language skills will be provided during PST as well.
Living Conditions
Volunteers often walk significant distances on dirt roads or mountain trails to reach more remote villages. Volunteers live in or near camp towns (district capitals) which are smaller towns. Most Volunteers can obtain public transportation near where they work and live; however, some may have to walk a mile or two before accessing a bus or taxi. They might work where there is no electricity and running water.
Volunteers in Lesotho are expected to live at the same level as their fellow community members. The majority of Volunteers live on a family compound. Your house may have one or two rooms, thatched, or corrugated iron (tin) roofed building made of mud, stone, brick, or cement blocks. You should expect to use an outdoor pit latrine and fetch your own water from a standpipe in your home compound or from a village pump. Because you will most likely be without electricity, you will use candles, lanterns, and solar lights for light. Volunteer houses with electricity and running water are extremely rare.
Cell coverage varies throughout the country with some Volunteer communities having excellent coverage and others requiring a walk of up to half a mile to make or receive calls. Volunteers are strongly encouraged to bring a laptop which not only increases options for internet access, but also enables Volunteers to complete required assignments offline and upload them later.
Most entertainment and recreation will be that which you create yourself, spending time with community members, playing sports, exercising, hiking, etc. Lesotho does not have a bustling nightlife or many organized recreational activities.
Most Volunteers shop in their host community or closest camp town, which has larger shops that carry basic supplies. Some camp towns have supermarkets that offer a variety of produce, meats, and other goods. You will soon become familiar with traditional Basotho food that consists of a stiff maize meal (corn meal) porridge called “papa”, well-cooked greens (spinach, Swiss chard, or cabbage) called “moroho”, and a meat dish (mutton, beef, or chicken) called “nama”. Seasonal fruit is available in many parts of the country but can be expensive and vegetable variety can be limited depending upon the season. Patience, flexibility, and tolerance on your part will be very important.
Lesotho has distinct seasons with hot summers and cold winters. Winter is below freezing, and it often snows heavily in the mountains, and therefore it is essential to bring warm clothing (layering is suggested). The Peace Corps will provide a propane heater for your use as well as provide heating allowance during the winter (April-September).
Volunteers’ counterparts, neighbors, and students could be affected by HIV. Some are HIV-positive, while others may be orphaned and/or caring for family members living with HIV. To help manage a social and work environment where support is needed by those affected by HIV, Peace Corps trains Volunteers on healthy and appropriate coping mechanisms and expects Volunteers to be positive role models for those with whom they work and live.
While people in Lesotho may be generally tolerant, values and mores concerning sexual orientation and gender identity may be different from those in some parts of the U.S. Volunteers will need to be mindful of cultural norms and use their judgment to determine the best way to approach sexual orientation and gender identity in their communities and host countries. Staff and currently serving Volunteers will address this topic during Pre-Service Training (PST) and identify support mechanisms for incoming trainees.
Serving in Lesotho
Learn more about the Volunteer experience in Lesotho: Get detailed information on culture, communications, housing, health, and safety -- including health and crime statistics -- in order to make a well-informed decision about serving.
Couples Information
Throughout Pre-Service Training couples will share housing. They will often, however, be separated during some training sessions, particularly in language sessions.
The couple will enjoy the privilege of being addressed as 'ntate' and 'm'e’, which is loosely translated 'father' and 'mother' and a sign of respect by both young and old. The couple should be prepared to share one room throughout training and in some instances even in their communities.
Each member of the couple will be assigned to one primary school. Most likely the house will be located closer to one of the schools, thus one member of the couple will work nearby while the other will work at a farther distance from the house (less than 3 miles).
The Peace Corps works to foster safe and productive assignments for same-sex couples and same-sex couples are not placed in countries where homosexual acts are criminalized. Because of this, same-sex couple placements are more limited than heterosexual couple placements. During the application process recruiters and placement officers work closely with same-sex couple applicants to understand current placement opportunities. For more information please visit: https://www.peacecorps.gov/faqs/lgbtq/.
Medical Considerations
Before you apply, please review Medical Information for Applicants to learn about the medical clearance process.
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