Apply by
January 1, 2025
Know by
March 1, 2025
Depart on
August 30, 2025
Duration
2 years, plus 3 months training
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, Peace Corps seeks applicants like you who have the passion, flexibility, and resiliency to support Education for the Deaf (E4D) initiatives in Kenya.
Deaf Educator 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 four 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 gender-based 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 math competitions, science fairs, camps, clubs, school enhancement projects, sports teams, youth conferences, and school gardens. Deaf Educator Volunteers also work with counterparts to integrate HIV/AIDS and malaria prevention and gender equality work into their teaching and community development activities in a culturally effective and appropriate manner.
Corporal punishment is illegal in Kenya, but it is a long-entrenched norm. While schools agree in principle to stop the practice, these rules are not always followed or enforced. Volunteers may be challenged by encountering different forms of corporal punishment, particularly when it is necessary to develop good working relationships with colleagues in the classroom. Volunteers cannot intervene in this practice, but Peace Corps Kenya encourages open dialogue between Volunteers and their colleagues to explore culturally appropriate and acceptable alternatives to corporal punishment. Volunteers receive training and resources on how best to manage situations of corporal punishment in the classroom, and they are encouraged to model alternative and culturally appropriate disciplinary measures.
Peace Corps Kenya partners with community counterparts to promote gender awareness and girls’ education and empowerment. Volunteers are trained on gender realities in Kenya and together with their Kenyan counterparts they have the opportunity to co-implement gender-related activities that are contextually and culturally appropriate, promoting gender-equitable 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 visually- or hearing-impaired)
- Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Science degree in any discipline with state certification in special education (general or with emphasis in visually- or hearing-impaired)
- Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Science degree in Education with experience working with persons who are learning disabled, developmentally disabled, emotionally handicapped, physically handicapped, multiply handicapped, hearing-impaired, or visually impaired
- Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Science degree in any discipline with experience working in classrooms or residential homes with persons who are learning disabled, developmentally disabled, emotionally handicapped, physically handicapped, multiply handicapped, hearing-impaired, or visually impaired
Desired Skills
The most successful candidates will have one or more of the following relevant qualifications:
- Prior teaching experience, preferably with primary school age children
- Experience teaching early childhood literacy to learners with special needs
- Experience designing or editing educational content and teaching resources adapted for learners with special needs
- Familiarity with American Sign Language or another sign language
- Experience living and working with the Deaf community
- Experience teaching Deaf children or youth
- Experience in school and/or community presentations with children, youth, or adult learners
- Experience with youth development, particularly life skills development, promotion of healthy lifestyles, camps, youth clubs, scouts, etc.
- Prior work with HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention
- Experience with graphic design, T.V. captioning, filming, editing or creativity in developing visual aids and educational materials
Required Language Skills
There are no pre-requisite language requirements for this position. Kenya has two official languages: Kiswahili and English. Kenyan Sign Language (KSL) is the third National Language and is the language of instruction in schools for the Deaf. There are over 40 other local languages and dialects, with Luo and Luhya languages spoken predominantly in the Western region where Peace Corps Kenya is based. Deaf Educator Volunteers will use KSL in the classroom to communicate with students and some Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) counterpart teachers. Not all Kenyans speak English in their daily lives, so Volunteers' community integration is greatly enhanced with the ability to hold basic conversations in KSL, Kiswahili, or one of the local Kenyan languages used in the community.
During the 12 weeks of Pre-Service Training (PST), Peace Corps Trainees undergo a comprehensive language immersion program. All Deaf Educator Trainees learn KSL during PST and survival Kiswahili or a local language once in their sites. Trainees are tested in Kenyan Sign Language three times during PST and at the end of 12 weeks they are expected to attain an Intermediate High score in KSL. Once they have moved to their permanent host communities, Volunteers continue their language learning with a trained tutor identified and funded by Peace Corps Kenya.
Living conditions
Trainees live with Kenyan host families throughout Pre-Service Training (PST). After PST, Volunteers are placed in rural communities in Western Kenya. Housing is provided by the work partner and may be a private structure in a family compound, staff housing at the school, or a stand-alone house in the community. Structures vary from mud houses with metal roofs to concrete houses with glass windows. In their permanent host communities, Volunteers have private latrines and cooking and bathing areas. They may have to fetch and carry water from a local water source up to 100 meters from their home and may not have electricity.
Volunteers in Kenya live within three kilometers of their work sites and are placed no more than five hours by public transportation from the regional capital, Kisumu, where the Peace Corps office is located. Volunteers ride matatus (minivans) as a main mode of public transportation to and from the nearest county capital to access banks, a variety of shops, markets, restaurants, and guesthouses. Peace Corps Kenya provides an allowance for Volunteers who wish to purchase a bicycle.
Cell phone coverage is not consistent in all communities, and text messaging may be more reliable. Peace Corps will issue a Kenyan SIM card, and certain staff will be on call 24/7. Internet is available through cellphone service providers, and Volunteers are advised to bring a laptop to complete assignments such as monitoring, evaluating, and reporting activities.
Kenyans regard attention to dress and appearance as demonstrating respect, and Volunteers must take care to dress in a culturally appropriate manner 24/7. In training and on the job, Volunteers are expected to dress in modest, comfortable, business casual clothing.
Hair should be clean and neat, with beards and mustaches neatly trimmed. Long hair and ear piercings on men and tattoos and piercings beyond the earlobe on any Volunteer may have a cultural stigma and could impede a Volunteer from building trust with and integrating into their host community. Volunteers with visible facial or body piercings or tattoos will need strategies to conceal them during the process of integration into their communities.
Food availability and variety will vary by community within Kenya. The staple food is ugali, which is made from maize meal and is eaten with cooked vegetables, fish, meat, beans, or chicken, typically with the right hand. Vegetarians and vegans can maintain a healthy diet, but vegetarianism is relatively uncommon and many prepared foods are made with animal products.
LGBTQIA+ Volunteers have served successfully in Kenya, but safe and successful service requires a clear understanding of the dynamic LGBTQIA+ cultural, political, and social context. The U.S. State Department provides guidance to LGBTQIA+ travelers to Kenya at the following link, under the “Local Laws and Special Circumstances” drop-down menu: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/Kenya.html
For safety and security reasons, LGBTQIA+ Volunteers in Kenya are advised not to disclose this aspect of their identity. All Volunteers are asked to refrain from discussing the topic of LGBTQIA+ rights with community members, given the risks of being suspected of being part of or supporting the LGBTQIA+ community. Due to these restrictive laws, same-sex couples are not currently eligible to serve together in Kenya.
While all Peace Corps staff have received training in ICDEIA, certain staff in Kenya have “Safe Space” identification on their office doors and are able to provide more direct support to LGBTQIA+ Trainees and Volunteers.
Learn more about the Volunteer experience in Kenya: 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
Peace Corps Kenya Welcomes Couples Serving Together During Service. For Any Couple To Be Considered, Both Partners Must Qualify For And Be Invited To Any Of The Following Projects
- Public Health Facilitator
- Secondary Education Math Educator
- Secondary Education Science Educator
- Deaf Educator
Volunteers in the Health and Education sectors undergo different technical training programs, and during Pre-Service Training (PST) they live in different training villages around the main training site. Couples who serve in different sectors should note that they may not be living in the same villages during the 12 weeks of PST, and that their additional compulsory trainings such as In-Service Training may be held at different times. Couples serving in the same sector will live with the same host family during PST. After PST, all couples will live together in their host communities while working at different host organizations.
Due to Kenyans' expectation that whenever a man and woman live together they are by default married, unmarried couples should be prepared to present themselves as married throughout their service. Due to the country’s restrictive laws regarding the LGBTQIA+ community, same-sex couples cannot serve together in Kenya at this time.
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/.
