Sustainable Agriculture Educator

For assignments with departure dates through 2027, the Peace Corps is offering Volunteers additional benefits for serving where they're needed most.

Volunteers serving on this project will receive $800 per month toward their readjustment allowance — approximately $20,000 pre-tax at the end of two years — to help them take the next step after service.

Project description

Since the Peace Corps first partnered with the Government of Togo in 1962, over 3,000 Volunteers have served in Togo. The current agriculture sector program, Promoting Agricultural Education for Sustainability (PAGES), was co-designed with the Togolese Ministry of Agriculture, Water Resources and Rural Development. In alignment with the vision of the Togolese Ministry, PAGES Volunteers work alongside ministry technical agriculture agents, partner NGOs, and community farmers on the goal that smallholder farm households in Togo achieve food and nutrition security, sustainable livelihoods, and increased resilience. This involves promoting the incorporation of technology, sustainable farming methods and initiatives, and taking into consideration the local context and farming environment.

PAGES Volunteers’ work involves:

Community Engagement: Building strong relationships with community members and local technical agriculture agents and/or NGO workers. This involves understanding their needs, gaining their trust, and working collaboratively to address agriculture and food security challenges.

Agricultural Education: Increasing farmers’ capacity to improve diversity, productivity, and/or sustainability of smallholder farmer agricultural production. This includes co-facilitating field-based farmer-to-farmer demonstrations and trainings for community farmers on agricultural technologies and management practices. Volunteers conduct group trainings, organize practical demonstration events, and engage with individual farmers, households, and school students to raise awareness about sustainable farming and food security issues.

Nutritional Education: Increasing the capacity of women and/or key household decision-makers to increase dietary diversity of household meals. Co-facilitating trainings and conducting one-on-one field-based instruction to educate women of reproductive age and/or key household decision makers on the importance of consuming a diverse diet and on how to cook recipes that incorporate a wide variety of locally available nutrient-rich foods.

Peace Corps Togo takes pride in its robust monitoring, reporting, and evaluation (MRE) culture. This culture empowers Volunteers, host communities, and partners to:

Track the Impact of Joint Projects: By systematically monitoring and reporting on project activities, we can measure the effectiveness of our interventions and make necessary adjustments to improve outcomes.

Inform Data-Driven Decisions for Future Initiatives: The data collected through our MRE processes helps us make informed decisions about future projects and initiatives, ensuring that our efforts are aligned with the needs of the communities we serve.

By fostering a strong MRE culture, we ensure that our collaborative efforts with the Togolese government yield meaningful results and drive sustainable change. This commitment to continuous improvement and accountability maximizes the impact of Volunteers’ work with their counterparts and contributes to the long-term health and well-being of rural Togolese communities.

Environmental adaptation and resilience

As an Agriculture Volunteer, you will be trained on best practices for smallholder agriculture to improve household food security and nutrition and adapt to a changing and uncertain environmental context. As the impacts of environmental degradation and unsustainable natural resource management practices become more evident, the social, economic, and environmental contexts that smallholder farmers operate within will continue to change. This will add to the challenges of smallholder farming, particularly for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged communities.

As an Agriculture Volunteer, you will be trained to support food security and livelihood improvement while increasing community resilience and adaptation to global change through your activities. These activities will:
• Promote the adoption of improved, appropriate, and adaptive agricultural practices and technologies that increase productivity, including practices that:
• Improve soil health and promote circularity of on-farm organic waste
• Reflect indigenous knowledge of nature-based solutions and
• Preserve and enhance forests, biodiversity, and ecosystem services.
• Build and strengthen household resilience by integrating and diversifying existing and new agriculture-related income-generating opportunities
• Improve household nutrition, particularly that of the most vulnerable household members

Required skills

Qualified candidates will have an expressed interest in working in agriculture 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

The most successful candidates will also have one or more of the following relevant qualifications:

• Experience working or volunteering in a farm setting on at least one of the following activities: crop cultivation, vegetable garden planting or maintenance, small animal husbandry, agroforestry or tree nursery/planting, post-harvest management and food transformation/conservation
• Experience working or volunteering with agricultural/farming business organizations, co-operatives, community-based organizations, etc.
• Experience with youth engagement in classrooms or extracurricular clubs
• Skills in training and/or facilitation, and knowledge of adult learning principles
• Knowledge of human nutrition, food insecurity and nutritional diseases
• Desire to learn about local agriculture/farming approaches and practices in Togo

Required language skills

There are no pre-requisite language requirements for this position. Togolese people place a high value on personal relationships. Volunteers are expected to develop amicable working relationships with their counterparts, supervisors, partners, and community members. Linguistic competencies are essential for nurturing and strengthening these relationships.

The official language of Togo is French, and over 40 local languages are spoken throughout the country. Many Togolese speak French as a second language, but not all. Peace Corps Volunteers in Togo are expected to learn both French and a local language spoken in their host communities. Language acquisition and intercultural immersion are crucial components of service, and Volunteers spend time developing their language skills and getting to know their community members to better understand their traditions, culture, and local norms.

During the 11 weeks of Pre-Service Training (PST) and again at follow-up trainings later in service, dedicated Language and Cultural Facilitators teach intensive lessons in French and local languages. While there is no local language testing requirement, Trainees must attain intermediate-mid-level oral proficiency in French before starting to learn a local language and officially swearing in as a Volunteer at the end of PST. In recent years, while most Trainees have arrived in Togo with novice-level French skills, the majority have surpassed the intermediate-mid benchmark and achieved advanced French proficiency by the end of their terms of service.

Trainees who arrive with the required French proficiency start learning a local language immediately. Trainees who do not achieve the required intermediate-mid proficiency in French by the end of PST are supported with additional language classes. To support Volunteers’ language learning throughout service, Peace Corps Togo trains a language tutor in each host community. Peace Corps Togo expects Volunteers to take advantage of all language acquisition opportunities throughout service to advance professionally and strengthen relationships with host community members.

Living conditions

Peace Corps Togo has enjoyed over 60 years of friendship with the Government of Togo, partner organizations, and host communities. Volunteers are seen as co-development partners and are welcomed as family and friends. Volunteers are expected to serve with respect and humility, adapting to the community’s way of life, and demonstrating the flexibility needed for effective service. With over 40 ethnic groups in this small country, each Volunteer experiences a unique Togo.

During the 11-week Pre-Service Training (PST), Trainees live with host families and complete a work practicum while immersed in an assigned and Peace Corps-approved village. This Village-Based Training model enables Trainees to practice speaking French and other Togolese languages with community members, adapt to the local culture, develop and practice technical skills to achieve success in their work, and learn to live independently, healthily, and safely during their Peace Corps service.

After PST, each Volunteer is placed in a separate rural community across Togo, where each has their own bedroom, kitchen, and latrine within a compound shared by neighbors. Living in a shared compound eases Volunteers’ integration into the host community, providing continued opportunities for language practice and intercultural exchange. Peace Corps Togo has a rigorous selection, preparation, and approval process for host communities and Volunteer housing, to ensure each meets minimum Peace Corps standards for health, safety, security, and availability of program activities. Volunteers continue to receive support from Peace Corps throughout service to work with their counterparts and communities and manage safety and health risks.

Many Volunteers in Togo do not have electricity or running water in their homes, and fetch water from community wells or village pumps. Volunteers receive a water filter and training to properly treat water for drinking. Peace Corps Togo also provides a simple gas cooking stove with two gas tanks, carbon monoxide/smoke and gas detectors, and a local SIM card. Cellphone data is widely available but not guaranteed. Volunteers live within 60km of the nearest regional capital, and travel via bicycle, public transportation, and shared vehicles.

The diet consists of both locally grown foods and preserved foods. The staple food in Togo is “pâte” made of corn flour, usually accompanied by a hot sauce or stew. Meat, dried fish, tofu, and beans are common, while fresh fish and seasonal fruits and vegetables are less available in rural areas.

Togo 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 in their communities and host countries. Staff and currently serving Volunteers will address this topic during Pre-Service Training and identify support mechanisms for incoming Trainees.

Peace Corps Togo welcomes Volunteers from various backgrounds, and Peace Corps Togo staff and currently serving Volunteers are committed to supporting Volunteers through challenges. Throughout service, Volunteers are trained and supported to work in partnership with their counterparts, host communities, and fellow Volunteers to prevent, mitigate and/or manage potential safety-, security-, and health-related risks and challenges. These trainings permit Volunteers to work alongside community members within the policies and rules of Peace Corps and the local and national laws of the government of Togo.

Learn more about the Volunteer experience in Togo: Get detailed information on culture, communications, housing, and health/crime statistics in order to make a well-informed decision about serving.

Medical considerations

Before you apply, please review medical clearance and legal clearance to learn about the process.

Couples information

Peace Corps Togo is proud to accept couples. A Sustainable Agriculture Educator’s partner must qualify and apply for one of the following positions in Togo: Middle School English Teacher or Community Health Educator.

A couple serving in Togo must work in two different sectors, and during the 11 weeks of Pre-Service Training (PST) they live with different host families, in different host communities. During PST, couples may spend time together on weekends after training activities and are responsible for their own transportation between communities. During the subsequent two years in their permanent host community, a couple lives together in the same accommodation.

Due to the country’s restrictive laws, same-sex couples cannot serve in Togo at this time. The Peace Corps works to foster safe and productive assignments for same-sex couples, and same-sex couples are not placed in countries, like Togo, where homosexual acts are criminalized. During the application process Recruiters and Placement Officers work closely with same-sex couple applicants to understand current placement opportunities.