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Co-design a Community Health Volunteer Training Toolkit with Staff
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Activity/project background
Othakarhaka Foundation is a community-based nonprofit organization located in Mulanje District in southern Malawi. The organization works to address barriers to education, healthcare access, and economic opportunity for vulnerable rural communities. Current programs include secondary and tertiary education sponsorship for students, vocational training through a tailoring school, youth empowerment initiatives, agricultural support programs, and community health outreach. The foundation operates a community clinic and a mobile health outreach program providing free medicine and basic medical support to underserved populations. Healthcare professionals and trained community caregivers conduct home visits to support patients suffering from chronic and life-threatening illnesses such as advanced HIV/AIDS, cancer, diabetes, and other long-term conditions, providing monitoring and community-based palliative care. The organization is currently expanding services to include a children’s clinic and basic dental care services to improve preventive and primary healthcare for children and families in surrounding rural communities.
Despite these efforts, rural communities in Mulanje District continue to face significant challenges in accessing reliable health education, preventive care, and specialized services. Young people frequently lack access to accurate information regarding sexual and reproductive health, menstrual hygiene management, contraception, and sexually transmitted infection prevention. These gaps contribute to early pregnancies, untreated infections, and disruptions in educational attainment for adolescent girls. In addition, community caregivers and volunteer health workers who support outreach and palliative care programs often have limited access to structured training materials and technical guidance necessary to deliver effective patient monitoring, health education sessions, and community awareness activities. Strengthening the capacity of approximately 15–20 community health volunteers and caregivers, while also expanding youth-focused health education programs for adolescents aged 12–18, would improve health literacy, preventive practices, and early intervention for common health concerns affecting vulnerable households.
Othakarhaka Foundation is requesting the support of a Virtual Service Pilot Participant (VSPP) to co-design a community health Volunteer training toolkit with staff. The VSPP will collaborate remotely with local program staff to develop structured training materials and health education resources. Othakarhaka Foundation has not previously collaborated with Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) or Peace Corps Response Volunteers (PCRVs), and this engagement represents an initial partnership opportunity with the Peace Corps through the Virtual Service Pilot to strengthen local program capacity and community health education initiatives.
Engagement and tasks
The VSPP will engage in the following tasks, in collaboration with their host country partners:
• Co-design 6–8 modular training guides with Othakarhaka staff for the community health volunteer toolkit (palliative care basics, pediatric health awareness, oral hygiene, and outreach strategies)
• Draft and revise toolkit content based on staff input, creating simple facilitator notes, user-friendly content that can be facilitated by community volunteers, and clear learning objectives
• Review draft modules with Othakarhaka staff in brief feedback sessions to ensure materials align with local needs and build staff capacity in training material development
• Integrate staff feedback and finalize all modules to prepare a complete version of the training toolkit by the end of the engagement period
VSPPs are expected to engage on the tasks listed above for an estimated 5–15 hours per week. This engagement is estimated to require approximately 5–8 hours per week, including 2–3 hours of synchronous collaboration with the host country partner.
Online collaboration will generally occur between 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. Central African Time. Specific times will be determined during orientation based on convenience and mutually agreed availability.
The host country counterpart will have access to Zoom, WhatsApp, email, and Google Docs/Google Drive for regular communication, document sharing, and collaboration.
Per the Child Protection Code of Conduct, when engaging online with minors (0–18), two adults must be present.
Optional additional activities
The Peace Corps mission is to promote world peace and friendship by fulfilling three goals:
- To help the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women.
- To help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.
- To help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.
Goal 1 will be achieved through the VSPP's engagement and completion of the above tasks. The counterpart and VSPP may also choose to identify an activity that aligns with Goal 2. Additionally, the VSPP may identify a Goal 3 activity to implement during their engagement. See recommendations and tools for Goal 3 activities.
Essential qualifications
Education: Bachelor’s degree in public health, community health, nursing, health education, education, or a related field
Experience:
● 2 years in public health, community health education, health promotion, or healthcare outreach through academic, volunteer, or professional roles
● 1 year developing training materials, educational resources, or workshop content for community groups, youth, or volunteers (e.g., lesson plans, facilitator guides, activity sheets)
● 1 year working with or supporting programs related to community health education, health promotion, or patient/community support initiatives (school-based, clinic-based, or community-based)
Intercultural skills and motivation: Flexible, strong cross-cultural agility, high tolerance for ambiguity, able to work independently, resourceful, creative, and genuinely motivated and capable of serving virtually
Desired qualifications
Education: Master’s degree in public health, community health, nursing, health education, education, or a related field
Language: Basic proficiency in Chichewa
Experience:
● Virtual engagement and communication
● Developing or supporting community nutrition or health education programs focused on child and family health
● Supporting sexual and reproductive health education or youth health promotion programs
● Training or mentoring community health volunteers, peer educators, or outreach workers
● Working with community-based organizations and health programs in rural settings across Sub‑Saharan Africa
● Designing participatory training materials or toolkits for community education programs
Terms and conditions of engagement
VSPPs will be engaging with the host country partner, in coordination with Peace Corps post staff, remotely from the US. They should have access to a computer, internet, and telephone in order to enable direct engagement with the Peace Corps overseas office and the Host Country Counterpart assigned by the host country partner.
Orientation with the host country partner will be provided, within the designated virtual service hours, during the first week of virtual service via an online presentation and discussion. The host country partner will provide an overview of its organization, the local context, and how they envision collaborating with the VSPP.
The VSPP will have regular check-ins with their counterpart and bi-weekly check-ins with Peace Corps staff. Spending unstructured time with counterparts can be critical to relationship-building and is encouraged through activities such as coffee chats and informal calls within the weekly 5-15 hours.
Engagement safety and security
The VSPP will receive an orientation on Peace Corps’ Child Protection Policy and how it relates to online engagement along with IT security best practices. The VSPP will be expected to follow safety and security guidelines for online engagement to ensure their safety and that of the Host Country Partner and their counterpart, and any beneficiaries of the engagement.
Supervision requirements
The VSPP will report to a designated Peace Corps staff member. The VSPP will be expected to abide by the Virtual Service Pilot Participant and Donation Agreement and Participant Principles of Engagement. The VSPP will also be expected to check in with the designated host country counterpart as assigned by the host county partner.
