Apply by
April 1, 2025

Know by
June 1, 2025

Depart on
October 4, 2025

Duration
1 year, plus 3 months training

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

Volunteers on this project can make an impact on an abbreviated timeline with a 15-month commitment. The first 10-12 weeks of the program will be Pre-Service Training followed by the duration of service. Peace Corps Volunteers serving in this assignment may have the option of adding a second year to their service.

Project description

Peace Corps enjoys a long and positive history with The Gambia. The first Peace Corps Volunteers arrived in 1967, and since then more than 1,800 Volunteers have worked with Gambian men and women to build strong relationships and make a lasting impact on their communities.

The Gambia’s Ministry of Health oversee all health activities in the Gambia. For more than five decades, Health Volunteers have helped support their initiatives and by extension improve the country’s health outlook. The Peace Corps The Gambia’s Community Health program seeks to continue to improve the health status and quality of life of Gambian communities, particularly of youth, women, and children, by promoting positive health-related practices using behavior change principles.

Volunteers Work To Support This Goal By

• Co-training community members on behaviors and best practices that promote maternal, neonatal, and children’s health.
• Co-teaching community members appropriate infant and young child feeding practices, including the promotion of exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of life.
• Raising awareness for the prevention of malaria, including promoting the use of insecticide-treated bed nets.
• Promoting Water and Sanitation Hygiene (WASH), including the improvement or construction of community water and sanitation systems.
• Creating linkages to youth-friendly services.
• Sharing best practices on non-communicable disease prevention; and
• Co-teaching youth health and life skills.
  
  

Peace Corps The Gambia promotes gender awareness and empowerment. Volunteers will receive training on gender challenges in the country and will have the opportunity to implement gender-related activities that are contextually appropriate. During service, Volunteers will look for ways to work with community members in a culturally appropriate way to promote gender-equitable norms and increase girls’ sense of agency.

As part of their work, Volunteers will monitor and report on their efforts and impact.

Required Skills

Qualified candidates will have an expressed interest in working in the health sector, working with youth, and one or more of the following criteria:

• Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Science degree in any field
  
  

OR

• 5 years of professional work experience
  
  

Desired Skills

Preferred candidates should have one or more of the following:

• Strong knowledge of a range of community health issues (maternal, child, and neonatal health, malaria, nutrition, non-commutable diseases, and water sanitation and hygiene.
• Experience teaching life skills and behavior change
• Experience working with youth-focused programs.
• Competency in Intercultural Competency Diversity and Inclusion will be an added advantage.
• Community health work experience with an international development organization or U.S. organization
• Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Science degree in Nutrition, Health, or Nursing.
• Master of Public Health degree or Master of Arts/Master of Science degree in Public Health.
• Certified Physician Assistant or Public Health Nurse with expressed interest in public/community health.
  
  

Required Language Skills

There are no pre-requisite language requirements for this position. While the official language of The Gambia is English, Volunteers are expected to learn the predominant local language of the village to which they will be assigned. Instruction in a local language will be provided during Pre-Service Training and additional language support will be available at your work site if needed. Most of the people Volunteers will work with may not speak English, so it is extremely important to understand and be able to communicate in the local language. Languages taught at Pre-Service Training are Pularr, Mandinka, Wollof, Jola, and Serrahulleh.

Living conditions

All Volunteers live in remote, rural communities, and will need to be flexible in housing expectations. You will live in simple, private quarters on the property of a host family for your entire service. Houses are situated on or near a family compound with other neighboring houses. You will have a private pit latrine and will likely need to fetch water from the village water source, up to 300 yards away. While your family compound may not have electricity available, Peace Corps The Gambia provides an allowance for

Volunteers to purchase a solar system to charge electronics (laptops, phones, tablets, etc.). Usually, this solar electricity can also power a standing fan for much of the day and night. You may need to walk or bike up to 3 miles to access public transportation and up to 6 miles to a larger town for shopping.

Communication between staff and Volunteers, as well as among Volunteers, is mainly by phone and text. You will receive a simple cell phone for local texting and calling on arrival if you do not bring your own. The Gambia is a small country. Contact between staff and Volunteers is high and this is appreciated by the Volunteer community. There are a few internet cafes in some of the larger towns, but access is slow, patchy, and depends on intermittent electricity. There is internet access at the Peace Corps office near the capital, the Peace Corps Training Center in Massembeh, and the PC office in the eastern part of the country.

Many vegetarians have managed to maintain a healthy diet here. However, as the supply and range of vegetables in the country is limited, this can present challenges and requires some flexibility. It is difficult for Volunteers to maintain a vegan diet throughout their service.

Please see The Gambia Living Conditions section of the website for information about:

• Communication
• Housing and site location
• Living Allowance and money management
• Food and diet
• Transportation
• Social activities
• Professionalism, dress, and behavior
  
  

Even with newfound democracy that emanated from the 2016 election, The Gambia still has some restrictive laws in law books that target certain sexual acts. Volunteers will need to be mindful of cultural norms and country-specific laws and use their best judgment to determine how to approach topics related to sexual orientation and gender identity in their communities and throughout the country. Staff and currently serving Volunteers will address this topic during Pre-Service Training and identify support mechanisms available for incoming trainees and Volunteers throughout service.

The influence of colonialism and other countries in The Gambia shapes perceptions Gambians may have of outsiders. Americans may be assumed to be wealthy. Black/African Americans may blend in and initially be seen as Gambians; people may assume that they know local languages and culture. Asian Americans may be confused as Chinese citizens working in The Gambia. Peace Corps staff are aware of many of the challenges faced by Volunteers and strive to find meaningful ways to support Volunteers in navigating the complexity of living and working in The Gambia. Additional information is available in the Navigating Identities in The Gambia sections of our website.

Learn more about the Volunteer experience in The Gambia: 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

The Gambia can accommodate couples within the same or different sectors. Your partner must qualify and apply for the Community Food Security and Nutrition Facilitator: Pilot or the Community Health Facilitator: Pilot position in The Gambia.

Couples will live and serve together in a common site that might be in either a larger community or in a village where one partner would focus work in a neighboring village. In the past, this arrangement has worked well especially when the going gets tough. Couples can motivate each other and supplement each other’s work in their respective communities and have been model Volunteers.

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/