Deadline for Applications: August 01, 2017
Before You Apply
You can only have one active Peace Corps Volunteer application, so choose a position that best fits your skills and interest. You have the opportunity to tell us if you’d like to be considered for other openings and more about the ones that interest you most!
Project Description
Volunteers in the Community and Organizational Development Project provide assistance to community-based organizations and local public administrations to strengthen their leadership skills and organizational capacity in order to better respond to community-identified needs and interests. The Community Organizational Development Project aims to strengthen civil society and local public agencies for sustainable community development and is focused on partnerships with communities with limited access to external resources and expertise. Positions are largely in rural locations and involve work with host organizations that tend to routinely have more informal work plans/schedules and may only have basic facilities and/or minimal staff.
Community Development Workers promote gender awareness and girls’ education and empowerment through their activities. All Volunteers in this program will receive in-depth training on the incorporation of gender analysis into community assessment and development efforts. Volunteers will be encouraged to find culturally appropriate ways to incorporate gender awareness and the promotion of youth into their work and projects.
Community Development Workers may work with public libraries, local NGOs or local administrative offices and will assist local partners in community development and in organizational development. Volunteers will be tasked to conduct surveys and interviews with community members and to plan activities which promote civic engagement. They will help motivate individuals to volunteer, train community groups to take action, and assist partners with planning, budgeting, project proposal writing, and evaluation of activities. Popular community projects include development and renovation of community resources (e.g. playgrounds, libraries, parks, community resource rooms, etc.), environmental cleanup (e.g. increase access to clean water), promotion of healthy lifestyles (e.g. develop sports rooms) and creation of local volunteer clubs and service-learning/civic engagement programs. Community Development Workers will support youth by planning and facilitating non-formal education programs including income-generating efforts, English language-learning and development of basic IT skills for youth and adults.
Volunteers placed with NGOs will work alongside local partners to support their organizational development. They may assess the organizational capacities, develop SWOT analyses, or establish new work systems, methods or services. They may also design promotional materials to improve the organizational image and visibility in the community. The Community Development Workers will have unique opportunities to experience the challenges and rewards of grassroots community development alongside Moldovans.
Required Skills
Qualified candidates will have an expressed interest in working in community organizational development, youth, and underserved communities demonstrated by significant relevant volunteer or work experience and one or more of the following criteria:
• Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Science degree in any field
OR 5 years’ professional work experience
•Ability to function in unstructured, unpredictable and slower-paced work environments
•Ability to transform opportunities into work activities with the engagement of local partners
For more information, and to apply, click here.