About The Job

Apply by :

October 1, 2025

Know By

December 1, 2025

Depart On

June 11, 2026

Duration

2 years, plus 3 months training

ELIGIBILITY: Must be at least 18 years of age. Must be a U.S. citizen.

Project description

Situated in West Africa with a rich and complex history, Liberia was founded in the early 1800s by formerly enslaved African Americans. Liberia holds the unique distinction of being Africa’s first and oldest modern republic. The country has faced significant challenges, including two civil wars in the late 20th century and the 2014 Ebola outbreak. Through all this Liberia and its people have shown remarkable resilience and a strong spirit of recovery and development. With the strategic support of partners, Liberia has restructured and continues to rebuild its health sector, emphasizing maternal and child mortality reduction. The new national community health plan establishes a cadre of Community Health Workers tasked with providing essential health services to the approximate 30% of the population living five kilometers or farther from a health facility. Peace Corps, which is widely known and respected throughout Liberia, is well-positioned to play a meaningful role in this effort.

In light of the National Community Health Services Program, Peace Corps Liberia has launched a Community Health Project. Health Extension Volunteers work closely with the Community Health Program and community counterparts to build the capacity of local service providers and support health practices at a household level, with the ultimate goal of improving child and maternal health throughout the country alongside Liberian counterparts.

Volunteers’ primary work is to support local service providers at the health facility and community levels by:

• Promoting foundational soft skills that support behavioral change through formal and informal training, mentoring, and modeling
• Promoting monitoring and data utilization skills to track and report on diseases and vaccination rates
  
  

Volunteers and their counterparts will directly support households with pregnant women by:

• Providing health education
• Counseling and encouraging behavioral change
• Actively linking households with health services
  
  

Volunteers will work with and support households from pregnancy through the child’s first year of life by:

• Encouraging positive health practices during mothers’ pregnancies
• Developing birth plans
• Promoting breastfeeding and immunizations
• Providing education on child nutrition and childhood illness prevention
  
  

In addition to primary sector work, many Volunteers find constructive outlets through engaging in supplementary projects. While Volunteers are free to explore their personal interests, such as music, art, and sports through community engagement, Peace Corps Liberia works to provide basic guidance to Volunteers interested in school-based agricultural and nutrition education, girls’ empowerment, malaria prevention campaigns, and environmental clubs.

While Volunteers will spend much of their time on the activities described above, they will also be developing relationships with their community. They will be picking mangos with neighbors, learning to build a cook fire to make cassava gravy, playing sports with their community members and getting clothes made of the traditional “lappa”.

Required Skills

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

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

OR

• 5 years' professional work experience