Youth Development Facilitator

Volunteers will live with a host family during the 9-week Pre-Service Training in a community near Santo Domingo. Volunteers will live with a second host family for the first 4 months of service in their assigned community to facilitate language acquisition and community integration. Although most Volunteers are able to move out on their own after the obligatory 4-month homestay (in addition to the training homestays), there is no guarantee that independent housing will be available.

Volunteers are assigned to both rural communities and towns. Living conditions and transportation limitations can be physically demanding. Volunteers will have to use the available transportation in their assigned community. Generally, local transportation includes regular or semi-regular service by pick-up trucks, vans, and/or collective taxis. In some cases, Volunteers may have to walk long distances to work engagements. Houses usually have corrugated steel or cement roofs, walls of wood or cement block, and cement floors. They may or may not have amenities such as running water, electricity, or reliable cell service. Although most communities have electricity, power outages are common.

Personal appearance is important for Volunteers representing the Peace Corps and Dominican partner agencies, particularly the Dominican Ministry of Education. Dominicans consider personal appearance to be an important indicator about a person, and a Volunteer’s appearance will influence their relationship with the community. Volunteers are expected to dress to Dominican standards for teachers, which is at minimum a clean polo shirt, dress pants or skirt and closed toed shoes.

Peace Corps Dominican Republic provides support to a all Volunteers. Volunteers use their experiences as members of different underrepresented groups to support their peers as they may navigate social, cultural, political, religious, personal, and other challenges. Current support networks include Peace Corps Volunteer Leaders (PCVLs) and Peer Support Network (PSN). Please see below for additional considerations.

LGB : The country has a Roman Catholic constitution, and a large portion of the population is either Catholic or Evangelical Christian. While same-sex relationships are not illegal in the Dominican Republic, many people reject homosexual relationships. However, LGB Volunteers find spaces within Peace Corps Dominican Republic network and when visiting larger metropolitan areas.

Ethnicity: Different ethnic, racial or national minority American Volunteers are often not viewed as “American.” Volunteers may thus experience negation of their American nationalityy due to local assumptions of what an American looks like. While some Black/African American Volunteers may blend in with the local Dominican population, others including those who choose to wear their hair in its natural state or braided hairstyles, or who have darker skin tones, may be perceived as Haitian. This may lead to one’s citizenship being questioned and ultimately differential treatment. Volunteers find support and representation within active Dominican natural hair movements in larger cities. Similarly, with an increased focus on migration issues around the world, Volunteers of Latin American decent may also have their identity questioned and/or mistaken for Central and South American migrants. Many Volunteers have been able to turn these encounters into learning experiences on the unique dynamics of American culture and successfully complete their services with support from the Peace Corps Dominican Republic network and certain community members.

Learn more about the living conditions, including detailed information on culture, communications, housing, and health/crime statistics on our Dominican Republic country page. You can also delve into stories about local communities by reading our blog or Volunteer stories.