About The Job

Apply by :

January 1, 2026

Know By

March 1, 2026

Depart On

August 31, 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

Can you see yourself presenting a reading lesson in Kenyan Sign Language (KSL) to a class of eager students, or sipping chai (tea) with a group of Kenyan colleagues as you share lesson plans in the teachers' room? Can you envision walking to the local market to buy beans, corn, and peanuts to make “nyoyo” and meeting a group of youth from the Life Skills Club you co-facilitate, who sign greetings to you in KSL? If the answer is yes, the Peace Corps seeks applicants like you who have the passion, flexibility, and resiliency to support Education for the Deaf (E4D) initiatives in Kenya.

E4D Volunteers support teachers to increase knowledge and transfer innovative and effective techniques and methods for teaching reading and early literacy skills and KSL. In collaboration with counterpart teachers, Volunteers develop teaching and learning materials and resources to provide high-quality literacy instruction and use these to support students’ increase in literacy levels. Volunteers also collaborate with students’ parents and community members to promote and encourage E4D, KSL, children’s literacy, and a reading culture within the community.

E4D Volunteers work collaboratively with their local counterparts and communities in five focus areas:

• Building teacher capacity through Communities of Practice
• Supporting Deaf students in strengthening KSL, literacy and/or numeracy skills through direct classroom teaching
• Promoting increased involvement of families and caregivers to support Deaf students’ education
• Adapting and developing teaching/learning materials and increasing access to materials/resources to support E4D initiatives
• Building Deaf students’ capacity to protect themselves from violence, STIs, unintended pregnancies, and sexual assault
  
  

As with all Peace Corps programs, flexibility and a positive and open attitude are important for this project. Volunteers will teach and/or co-teach in the classroom and support activities to collaboratively build capacity with their counterparts and teachers. They may be asked to provide instruction on a variety of subjects aside from those they have been invited to teach. To engage the broader community, Volunteers and their counterparts might co-organize and support extracurricular activities such as educational trips for students, student exchanges, camps, clubs, school enhancement projects, sports teams, youth conferences, and school gardens. E4D Volunteers also work with counterparts to integrate HIV/AIDS and life skills work into their teaching and community development activities in a culturally effective and appropriate manner.

Peace Corps Kenya partners with community counterparts to promote the social and emotional empowerment of Deaf boys and girls. Volunteers are trained on social realities in Kenya and together with their Kenyan counterparts they have the opportunity to co-implement activities that are contextually and culturally appropriate, promoting social norms and co-facilitating empowerment programs to support both girls and boys in exploring a new paradigm together.

Required Skills

Competitive candidates will have one or more of the following criteria:

• Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Science degree in Special Education (general or with emphasis in working with people with visual or hearing disabilities.)
  
  

OR

• Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Science degree in any discipline with state certification in special education (general or with an emphasis in working with people with visual or hearing disabilities.)
  
  

OR

• Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Science degree in Education with experience working with people with disabilities, including physical, cognitive, emotional, and psychological disabilities.
  
  

OR

• Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Science degree in any discipline with 1 year full-time experience working in classrooms or residential homes with people with disabilities, including physical, cognitive, emotional, and psychological disabilities.