Environmental Awareness and Action Facilitator

The Peace Corps is seeking an Environmental Awareness and Action Facilitator in Mexico City, Mexico. The role involves collaborating with SEMARNAT to enhance community resilience against environmental change through education and sustainable practices. Volunteers will engage with community members of all ages, facilitating workshops, training sessions, and implementing conservation efforts. The position requires living in rural communities, working closely with local stakeholders to promote environmental stewardship and lasting impact.
Job Description
Since 2006, Peace Corps Mexico has worked in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) to strengthen the resilience of individuals and rural communities in Mexico in the face of environmental change. Peace Corps Mexico supports community-based efforts to instill a deep appreciation for the environment and local ecosystems within individuals and communities, while empowering them to take action to enhance local resilience. The program works with community members of all ages, from children to adults.

The program is guided by two core objectives. The first seeks that community members have greater knowledge and capacity to address the adverse local impacts of environmental change on both people and the natural environment, while the second strives to facilitate actions that reduce these adverse impacts and promote increased resilience within the community.

To achieve the first objective, Volunteers engage in a range of activities. They co-facilitate educational activities through classes, workshops, environmental fairs, or talks that enhance individuals' understanding of local environmental change impacts and seek to foster an appreciation for nature, which may include collaboration in the development of environmental education resources. Additionally, Volunteers co-train sessions to equip individuals with techniques to increase their resilience to environmental change such as vegetable gardening for food production or the construction of cisterns to harvest and store rainwater.

To accomplish the second objective, Volunteers support the efforts of SEMARNAT and the community to implement sustainable soil and water conservation practices, as well as basic practices for responsible waste management such as composting, recycling, etc. Furthermore, Volunteers support the implementation of locally appropriate biodiversity conservation practices to preserve the unique ecosystems that surround rural communities such as monitoring biodiversity with the use of camera traps, creating gardens for pollinators, etc.

The focus of any Volunteer’s work will depend on local priorities as defined by SEMARNAT and the community, and as revealed through the “discovery” phase of a Volunteer’s service. Peace Corps Mexico Trainees visit their assigned communities during the fourth week of Pre-Service Training, which provides invaluable insight into the reality of their community and informs the remainder of their training.

Volunteers live in rural communities or small cities, and work under the supervision of SEMARNAT. They collaborate with local stakeholders—including community leaders, schools, and local organizations—to carry out program activities effectively and to ensure a lasting impact.

By joining the Environmental Awareness and Action Program, you will have an opportunity to make a tangible difference in the lives of individuals and communities in Mexico, not only for today but into the future. You will play a crucial role in building resilience, fostering environmental stewardship, and empowering local stakeholders to take meaningful action. Together we can inspire positive change and contribute to creating a sustainable future.

Required Skills
Qualified candidates will have an expressed interest in promoting environmental awareness in schools and communities, and one or more of the following criteria:
•Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Science degree in any field
OR
•5 years' professional work experience

Desired Skills
Competitive candidates will have at least one or more of the following:

• BA/BS in Environmental Science, Environmental Studies, Environmental Education, Natural Resources Management, or a related field.
• One or more years of professional work experience in environmental education, environmental or natural resource-related activities, and/or resilience or adaptation activities.
• A basic understanding of environmental issues, ecology, and/or environmental change.
• Experience organizing and/or facilitating environmental activities.
• Experience teaching environmental content to all ages,
• Experience with effective classroom management and informal education.

Additional skills:
• Community mobilization.
• Experience working with adults, children, and/or youth.
• Experience with group management/participatory methodology.
• Teaching in formal or non-formal setting, lesson planning, etc.
• Experience in project design and management.
• Monitoring and evaluation, including the use of data collection and reporting tools.

Living Conditions
SPECIAL NOTICE ABOUT CITIZENSHIP: Candidates who are either dual citizens of Mexico and the U.S., or who were born in Mexico and became U.S. citizens after 1998, are not eligible to serve with Peace Corps Mexico. Volunteer safety is of paramount importance, and the protections of U.S. citizenship promote Volunteer safety. Under Mexican law, anyone born in Mexico who became a U.S. citizen after 1998, or anyone holding dual U.S. and Mexican citizenship, is considered a citizen of Mexico and not of the United States. If such an individual were to face a legal, safety, or other emergency situation in Mexico, the Peace Corps' ability to intervene would be limited. If you fit either of these categories, we encourage you to look at other opportunities with Peace Corps.

Most Volunteers are assigned to small rural communities (200 to 5,000 people) or small to medium-sized towns (up to 50,000 people) in central Mexico. Some cities or towns may be more progressive, while rural areas and small towns tend to have more traditional and conservative values; these may be quite different than what Volunteers are accustomed to and require significant adaptation.

A Volunteer’s community could be located up to 10 hours from the Peace Corps Mexico Office. Routine travel could range from a short walk or bike ride of 15-20 minutes to several kilometers. Travel to a larger community with access to services, better communication, and transportation could take up to two hours by vehicle, depending on road conditions. However, all communities are located within a one-hour walking distance from public transportation.

All Volunteer communities have some form of communication, whether by landline or cell phones, telephone booths, or internet access. However, due to the isolation of some communities or adverse weather conditions, service can be slow or intermittent and may be inactive for several days. Nevertheless, there is always a larger community within a two-hour distance where communication is more reliable. In most of central Mexico, especially in mountainous areas, it can be cold in the evening throughout much of the year. Daytime highs can be very hot, but a jacket and hat can be useful in the evening. Temperatures can range from freezing to the upper 90s. Layering is a good strategy year-round, and Volunteers should be prepared for rainy weather.

To promote community integration and language learning, host family stays are required during the 10-week Pre-Service Training (PST) and the first three months of service. A host family could be a couple with children, a grandmother living alone, a single parent who works, or any other type of family. Regardless, it’s important that the Volunteer integrate with the family and respect its rules and norms. After living with a host family for the first three months, some Volunteers decide to live independently if suitable and affordable housing is available. Other Volunteers continue to live with a host family. Through recruitment and retention of staff and Volunteers, the Peace Corps seeks to bring a variety of perspectives and solutions to locally defined priorities in Mexico.

Language Skills Additional Information
Candidates must meet the minimum language requirements to be considered for an invitation.
Spanish is essential in order to develop good relationships in the community and for a successful, satisfying, and safe service. Candidates who have more than the minimum Spanish required are better able to integrate into their communities and work environments.
During Pre-Service Training, Peace Corps Mexico offers Language and Culture training for all Trainees, regardless of language level. The sessions will focus on developing and practicing communicative tasks in order to integrate different aspects of the language: vocabulary, grammar, and culture. This is not a traditional grammar course, and it requires the active participation of all Trainees, despite their level of Spanish proficiency. Training groups could be multi-level, and the facilitator will prepare activities to include all. Facilitators will provide different resources so that trainees may keep practicing and learning on their own. The ten weeks of Language and Culture training will be high-quality but limited, due to the time and the number of facilitators available to cover all specific needs.
For candidates with good to high language skills, classes will focus on cultural aspects of the language and communication within the Mexican context. Peace Corps Mexico does not provide training to achieve advanced language proficiency in Spanish.
Trainees are expected to integrate as much as possible with their host families, maximizing exposure to Spanish throughout the ten-week training program. Every Trainee will take a Language Proficiency Interview (LPI) evaluation at the end of Pre-Service Training and must achieve an ACTFL-certified level of Intermediate Mid in order to swear in as a Peace Corps Volunteer. For that reason, candidates are strongly encouraged to work on improving their language skills before departing for Peace Corps Mexico.

When Volunteers are in their community, the Language and Culture Team will offer 30-minute Spanish tutoring every other week for those Volunteers who still need support, and there will also be resources available to keep learning and practicing, depending on individual need.

Couples Comments
Mexico can accommodate couples that serve together in the same sector. In this case, both partners must apply and qualify for:

Environmental Awareness and Action Facilitator

Couples can have a very positive and productive experience serving in Mexico. During the 10-week Pre-Service Training, couples have the option of living with the same host family or living separately in order to maximize Spanish language learning.

During their first three months of service in their community, couples live together with the same host family. After this time, couples may choose to stay with the host family, or rent an apartment or small house.

Some couples may encounter challenging situations such as being asked questions about having children or be the subject of comments or jokes about being monogamous. During Pre-Service Training, staff and Volunteers address these issues, and Volunteers develop their own strategies for resilience and to adapt to such realities.

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. In the case of Peace Corps Mexico, the Environmental Awareness and Action Facilitator Program is unable to accept same-sex couples at this time because Volunteers are placed in communities that tend to maintain conservative values, which could threaten the Volunteers’ well-being or ability to work.

Language Requirements Information
Candidates must meet one or more of the language requirements below in order to be considered for this position.

A. Completed 4 years of high school Spanish coursework within the past 8 years
B. Completed minimum 2 semesters of Spanish college‐level coursework within the past 6 years
C. Native/fluent speaker of Spanish

Candidates who do not meet the language proficiency levels above can take the language placement exams to demonstrate their level of proficiency. Competitive applicants must attain a score of 50 on the Spanish College Level Examination Program CLEP exam or a score of Novice‐High on the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL OPI).

Climate Change Volunteer Activities (Public Information)
As an Environment Volunteer, you will be trained on best practices to protect natural resources and promote an understanding of environmental changes and challenges, including their causes. As environmental challenges become more evident, the social, economic, and environmental conditions faced by communities will become increasingly problematic, particularly for vulnerable households in low-lying areas and in historically marginalized communities.
As an Environment Volunteer, you will be trained to support communities’ adaptation to global change through your activities. Such activities may include:
• Rehabilitating natural ecosystems, including by planting trees to manage coastal erosion, extreme heat, inland flooding, and other emerging natural hazards
• Promoting disaster preparedness to increase the resilience of vulnerable households and communities and their ability to respond to extreme weather events such as cyclones, hurricanes, and typhoons
• Promoting environmental education to enable community members, particularly youth, to care for nature and be mindful of environmental health, considering trends in heat, precipitation, and natural resource availability
• Assisting in the sustainable management of natural resources and ecosystem services that promote economic, health, and other benefits to the community
• Promoting nature-based solutions that the community has found successful for addressing emerging environmental issues