Start date
May 5, 2026

End date
September 22, 2026

Duration
20 weeks

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

Activity/project background

The Sam Nujoma Multi-Purpose Centre (SNMPC) is a local NGO that serves as a social welfare facility located in Ongwediva, Oshana Region, Namibia. The SNMPC implements programs which focus on health promotion, psychosocial support, behavioral change communication, youth development, intimate partner violence awareness, and support for vulnerable children. Through its outreach activities, the center regularly engages community members, youth, school learners and vulnerable individuals, providing life skill education, counseling, referrals, and basic social support services.

Despite its wide community reach, the center faces a critical challenge related to staff well-being and psychosocial capacity. Staff and volunteers frequently interact with individuals experiencing trauma related to poverty, intimate partner violence, illness, grief, and social exclusion. While staff provide frontline support, they have limited formal training in psychosocial support, trauma-informed care, professional boundaries, and self-care. This gap has resulted in emotional strain, secondary trauma, and burnout for staff, affecting service quality and staff resilience. There is a clear need for structured capacity-building to strengthen ethical practice, emotional resilience, referral systems and sustainable service delivery.

The center is requesting a Virtual Service Pilot Participant (VSPP) to provide specialized remote training and technical support to address these gaps. The VSPP will facilitate 16 virtual training sessions over a 20-week period, reaching 10–15 staff and volunteers aged 23–45 years. The engagement will focus on psychosocial support principles, trauma-informed care, psychological first aid, ethics, confidentiality, burnout prevention, and self-care strategies. The VSPP will also support the implementation of an internal psychosocial support policy and provide guidance on referral pathways and staff wellbeing practices.

The organization has previously collaborated with the Peace Corps. They understand that the role of a VSPP is very different than a Peace Corps Volunteer or Peace Corps Response Volunteer.

Engagement and tasks

The VSPP will engage in the following tasks, in collaboration with their host country partners:

• VSPP will meet their counterpart and team who will provide an orientation during the first week of the organization and the training priorities, participant numbers and session schedules
• Co-develop a structured psychosocial support and staff well-being training plan for the center, which includes session outlines, learning objectives, and practical tools following the orientation session
• Facilitate 16 online one-hour weekly capacity-building training sessions focused on psychosocial support, trauma-informed care, ethics, confidentiality, and burnout prevention for about 10–15 staff and volunteers
• Provide monthly reflective debrief and peer-support sessions to strengthen staff resilience, encourage ethical practice and reinforce self-care strategies (one-hour session, once per month)
• Support the adaptation and implementation of the center’s psychosocial support and staff well-being policy, including guidance on referral pathways and internal support mechanisms, during the final four weeks of the engagement
  
  

Each VSPP is expected to engage on the tasks listed above for an estimated 5–15 hours per week. This engagement is estimated to be 8–10 hour per week.

Online collaboration will generally occur on Tuesdays from 4:00–5:00 p.m. Namibia time. Specific times will be determined during orientation.

The Host Country Counterpart will have access to virtual tools for regular communication 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 any field

Experience:

• 2 years of volunteer, academic, or professional work in one or more of the following areas: psychosocial support, mental health promotion, trauma-informed care, staff wellbeing, community health, or social services
• Facilitating or co-facilitating virtual or in-person trainings or workshops for adult learners
• Collaborating remotely with teams using virtual platforms such as Zoom, email, or messaging applications
  
  

Intercultural skills and motivation: Flexible, strong intercultural agility, high tolerance for ambiguity, able to work independently, resourceful, creative, and genuinely motivated and capable to serve virtually