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Connect with the Peace Corps
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If you are flexible in where you serve for the two-year Peace Corps Volunteer program, our experts can match you with a position and country based on your experience and preferences.
Serve where you’re needed mostCommunity Health Facilitator
Health
Job highlights
- Develop practical public health skills through community-led partnerships at the grassroots level.
- Build expertise in behavior change communication, participatory facilitation methods, and sustainable, small-scale infrastructure projects.
- Immerse yourself in one of the world's most linguistically and culturally diverse island nations, learning Bislama and the traditions.
Vanuatu • Pacific Islands
In partnership with: Health clinics, village health workers, community committees
Get answers live — every weekday at .
Apply by
November 15, 2026Know by
January 1, 2027Depart on
June 13, 2027Duration
2 years, plus 3 months trainingAbout the project
Eager to jumpstart or continue a fulfilling career in public health? Vanuatu communities are looking to strengthen nutrition and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) practices.
Vanuatu’s 83-island archipelago is home to largely rural communities striving to improve their public health. The country faces a complex double burden of malnutrition: many children suffer from chronic undernutrition while adults experience rising rates of diet‑related noncommunicable diseases, including diabetes and hypertension. Limited access to safe water and adequate sanitation across dispersed island communities drives preventable waterborne illness and further undermines nutrition and wellbeing. These challenges are compounded by geographic isolation, constrained infrastructure, and scarce resources—all of which hinder equitable access to health services and make sustained behavior change difficult to achieve.
As a Community Health Facilitator, you will collaborate with the community to strengthen household nutrition knowledge and practices as well as expand access to clean water and safe sanitation. Together, you will identify opportunities to develop the technical and facilitation skills of health workers. Your efforts to promote sustainable solutions and evidence-based behavior changes will improve family health and community resilience.
Learn more about what Volunteers do in country by visiting our Vanuatu project page.
Required skills
Qualified candidates will have one or more of the following criteria:
Associate degree in any field and at least two years of full-time, post-high school work experience (from any combination of roles).
OR
Bachelor's degree in any field.
OR
High school diploma or GED and four years of full-time, post-high school work (from any combination of roles).
Language: There are no pre-requisite language requirements for this position.
Required behavioral competencies
These competencies are essential for all service assignments and are assessed in the application and interview process:
Motivation for and commitment to service
Adaptability and open-mindedness
Problem solving and resourcefulness
Behavioral maturity and professionalism
Photos from Vanuatu
How you and the community will make an impact together:
Assess household nutrition and WASH needs, using participatory community mapping and data collection tools.
Conduct home visits and facilitate small group education sessions with parents and caregivers.
Facilitate workshops on breastfeeding, dietary diversity, handwashing with soap, and safe water storage practices.
Train families to construct, use, and maintain improved sanitation facilities and handwashing stations.
Strengthen the capacity of health workers in adult-learning principles and behavior change communication techniques.
Support community health committees in participatory project planning and resource management.
Collaborate with community members to design and implement small-scale WASH infrastructure improvements.
You may also work on additional projects that meet the community’s interests and priorities, such as supporting disaster risk reduction (DRR) committees or women's groups with income-generation activities.
Volunteers live in rural and remote island communities, ranging from small coastal villages to provincial centers. Housing is typically modest, often constructed with local materials, and may have limited or no access to running water or electricity. Volunteers should be prepared for tropical heat and humidity, regular boat travel between islands, and walking on varied terrain including, coral paths, beaches, and forested areas.
Learn more about the living conditions, including detailed information on culture, communications, housing, and health/crime statistics on our Vanuatu country page. You can also delve into stories about local communities by reading our blog or Volunteer stories.
Meet a Volunteer in Vanuatu
Sally C.
Tourism Investment Strategy Advisor
"What continues to astound me is people’s language flexibility, flowing between Bislama, French, English and local languages as well as their deep pride and continuance of their kastom (local cultural traditions)."
See full Volunteer profile
As a Community Health Facilitator, you will be trained to support household-level nutrition and WASH behavior change initiatives in partnership with communities. Peace Corps/Vanuatu will teach you Bislama to help you comfortably live in and connect with the community. You will also receive language resources to learn Indigenous languages spoken in your assigned area.
After 10 weeks of training, you will move to a rural community where you will collaborate with health facilities, village health workers, and community committees. You will work with the community to assess needs and develop solutions based on participatory methodologies, asset-based community development approaches, and the strategic priorities of the Ministry of Health.
Only heterosexual couples can be accepted for this program. Each person must apply separately and qualify for a position in a different sector than their partner. Cross-sector couples will live with different host families who may reside in different communities during training. Cross-sector couples may see each other for joint-sector training days or on the weekends but neither are guaranteed. Cohabitating couples are highly encouraged to present themselves as married throughout service due to cultural expectations.
To learn more about serving as a couple in Vanuatu, visit the country page.
Application process
From application to departure takes around nine months. Learn about the application process for Volunteer opportunities.
Medical/legal clearance
You will need to be cleared medically and legally in order to serve in Vanuatu. Review information on medical clearance and legal clearance to learn about the process.
