Volunteers play a crucial role in Project Muso's work. In fact, the entire American team works on a volunteer basis, ensuring that as much money as possible goes to directly impact the communities we work with. Project Muso benefits from the creativity, skills, and commitment of our volunteers. We welcome inquiries from students, recent graduates, and professionals.

Volunteer in Mali

We are currently accepting applications for several field based volunteer positions for our microfinance, education, and health care delivery programs. These are three - four 13-month technical support volunteer posts in Mali for 2010-2011.

Position #1
Community-Based Malaria Prevention and Treatment Program

Project Muso’s Community-Based Malaria Program is a model health care delivery system, which aims to reduce malaria progression and mortality and strengthen primary care through three strategies: (1) Community Health Workers actively find and treat cases of malaria and accompany patients to the clinic, (2) A Solidarity Fund provides free access to healthcare and essential medicines and (3) Clinical capacity building, including a new clinic building and equipment for examinations, testing, counseling, treatment, and laboratory analysis strengthens public infrastructure. The CBMP volunteer works closely with the clinical team and Community Health Workers to assist with ongoing clinical trainings, quality improvement, and troubleshooting. The post also involves collaboration with local, regional, and national Ministry of Health structures and advocating for support in the public sector. This would be a great opportunity for a volunteer with initiative, leadership, diplomacy, patience, advocacy and community collaboration skills.
 

Position #2
Springboard Microfinance Program

The Springboard Microfinance program aims to reach the poorest women excluded from loan access by other financial and microfinance institutions.  We offer individual microcredit loans and training and support through group associations and enterprises.  The goal of the program is to enable women to access capital that allows them to participate in economic activities and, in so doing, to improve the health of their families. Thus far, the Springboard Microfinance Program has helped 247 women receive loans with a cumulative 99.8% repayment success. 

The microfinance technical support volunteer will help with research and evaluation of the program, best practices research, recommendations for model improvement, identifying new markets for lenders’ products, in-the-field troubleshooting, program fundraising, and short and long term strategic planning.  We are looking for a creative, independent, resourceful, motivated, and compassionate individual with strong writing, research, and communication skills to help the women of Yirimadjo to access clean water, nutritious food, safe housing and medical care through their enterprises. 
 

Position #3
Participatory Education Program

The Participatory Education Program exemplifies Project Muso’s integrated approach to tackling Yirimadjo’s dual crises of disease and poverty.  Through an intensive curriculum being piloted in partnership with the award-winning organization Tostan (www.tostan.org), participants train in health, human rights, literacy, community organizing, financial management, entrepreneurship, and professional training skills. 

Through our partnership with Tostan, 28 new classes with approximately 700 participants will open by early 2010.  In concert with this expansion, 14 community organizing committees are being formed and trained to mobilize the communities of Yirimadjo to take the lead in their own development. We are looking for a diligent, energetic, initiative-taking individual to partner with us during this exciting new phase in this program’s growth. The post will involve trouble-shooting, research and evaluation, communications and reporting, and short and long-term planning. The post will also involve envisioning and developing synergies between the education program and Project Muso’s health care and microfinance programs.
 

Position #4
General Support/Marketing

The post will involve technical support to all three programs, as well as marketing, communications, development and strategic planning support for Project Muso at large. The volunteer will work primarily with the microfinance program’s small enterprises and collective associations, helping our women create better products and finding markets for them in Mali and abroad. The volunteer will document the positive synergies between all three programs with pictures, video and written records, as well as undertake the upkeep of the PML website. The post also includes a strong focus on organizational development and strategic planning as Project Muso continues to grow and expand its programs. We are looking for a creative, driven, and independent individual who can think innovatively and work on various things at once. A background in design and/or marketing is a plus.
 

If interested please email volunteer@projectmuso.org for more information and to request an application.

Make an In-Kind Donation

Project Muso is in need of working laptops or desktops that can connect to USB, run Microsoft Office (we have the software and can install it), and connect to internet via ethernet cable. If you have a computer you would like to donate, please email us at info@projectmuso.org with the basic specifications of the computer. We will contact you shortly to discuss logistical information and to make arrangements.

Join our E-mail List

This is another way to stay updated on Project Muso's progress. Joining the list is easy and takes less than a minute. Just send an email to communityupdates-subscribe@projectmuso.org.

Spread the Word!

One of the biggest ways you can support Project Muso is to tell your friends, family, and colleagues about our work.  Spread the word and let people know that you are excited about this project.  Encourage them to visit our website or contact us directly with any questions.