1. Description of Service
Mr. Casey Koleski
Republic of Zambia, Southern Africa
Project Overview
Mr. Koleski arrived in Zambia July 23, 2010 to begin 9-week training as an extension agent in the Rural
Aquaculture Promotion (RAP) Program of the United States Peace Corps. The RAP Program is a joint
effort of the US Peace Corps and the Zambian Department of Fisheries, focused primarily on training
rural farmers in sustainable fish farming. Emphasis is also placed on business planning, financial
management, sustainable/organic crop and vegetable gardening and animal husbandry. Through these
trainings, Mr. Koleski helped increase food security and income generation for subsistence farmers in
various districts throughout Zambia.
Formal Training
Upon arrival in Zambia, Mr. Koleski participated in an intensive 9-week Pre-Service Training (PST) at the
Farmer Training Institute. He received extensive technical, cultural, medical and language instruction as
follows:
 94 hours of technical training in small-scale rural aquaculture techniques, sustainable
agriculture, rural extension methodology, small farm business skills and farmer capacity-building
strategies.
 104 hours of language training in the Bantu language Bemba, which is spoken by people
throughout Zambia, especially Luapula, Northern, Copperbelt and Central Provinces. At the Final
Language Proficiency Interview (LPI), his proficiency level in Bemba was recorded as
“Intermediate Mid”.
 24 hours of cross cultural lessons that informed his of local mores, traditions within tribes, social
taboos and other aspects of Zambian life that he would encounter in the field. This was in
addition to 9 weeks living with a Zambian family in their home.
 17 hours of medical sessions including information pertaining to first aid, maintaining volunteer
health in the village and diseases common in Zambia, like malaria.
 8 hours of HIV/AIDS education designed to sensitize the trainee to the disease and pandemic
and to give his tools for facilitating discussions and workshops in his community.
 In addition to PST, Mr. Koleski also attended several In-Service Trainings (IST), while many
project-related topics were explored in detail. Topics included Alcohol Awareness and Harm
Reduction, PEPFAR (HIV/AIDS) and Behavior Change.
 Mr. Koleski successfully completed PST and was sworn in as a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) on
**September 2010. He was then posted to Chibuye Village, Samfya District in Luapula Province.

2. Service
The Peace Corps philosophy emphasizes the need for Volunteers to live at the level of those with whom
they work in order to better integrate into the community, understand the challenges faced by the
community and identify and teach realistic solutions. During his service, Mr. Koleski lived in a mud-brick,
thatch-roof dwelling without electricity or running water and while he was on call to farmers 24 hours a
day. His main mode of transportation was a bicycle issued by Peace Corps, as well as public buses and
hitch hiking.
During his service, Mr. Koleski trained Zambian farmers on RAP standard aquaculture, integrated
agriculture and small business skills. As the first and last generation volunteer at his post, he trained fish
farmers to improve their pond management, harvests and yields, to integrate his farming activities for
increased efficiency and decreased reliance on unsustainable methods, and to plan how they can scale
up their activities to increase food security and household income. He worked with 103 farmers- 42
men, 47 women and 14 youths under 25.Thefarmers owned and managed 25 ponds with a combined
size of 7200 square meters. Mr. Koleski's project achievements in the village included:
 Prepared and distributed fish farming materials in local language to 4 farmers and 5 PCVs in
order to build local capacity among farmers to teach each other about fish
 Assessed 4 new work sites for their feasibility for fish farming, 3 of which were feasible
 Demarcated 3 ponds and supervised the construction of these ponds
 Supervised 4 fish pond harvests. This included the draining of ponds, collection of fish,
marketing and selling of fish and business record keeping. Two of the harvests resulted in
approximately 75 kilograms of fish for sale or consumption.
 Facilitated a workshop in conjunction with local agriculture officer to train 14 farmers in Dambo
(wetland) utilization for gardening
 Introduced pineapple production to 10 farmers and introduced over 100 pineapple plants
 Demonstrated to 10 farmers organic gardening techniques which included using compost and
tea manure for their gardens
 Demonstrated to 47 women how to cultivate soybean which included plant spacing and
harvesting period
 Trained 11 youths to use locally available plant species and materials to be used for fish farming
feeds
Mr. Koleski also worked on other community-identified projects, which included:
 Connected the local basic school with a high school in America, where students received books
that were created by American high school students
 Demonstrated to 43 women who belonged to women support groups how to cook and prepare
soybeans. The demonstration not only taught the nutritional value of soybeans but also how to
add the soybeans to traditional meals
 Introduced selling vegetable seeds as an income generating project to a mother support group

3.  Organized for 1 cleft lip patient and 1 burn victim to receive plastic surgery through the Smile
Train program.
 Taught 8 students the nutritional importance of vitamins and which foods contain substantial
amounts of each vitamin
 Tutored individual students from the local basic school in Math, Physics, and English. Also held a
math review session for 10 students to review for an exam.
Recognizing the need for an income generating project for the local basic school, Mr. Koleski submitted
a project proposal to the Peace Corps Partnership Program (PCPP). The project consisted of a fenced-in
garden and fruit orchard to help raise funds for the local school. PCPP connects rural communities
seeking funding for larger scale project with willing donors abroad. As per PCPP policy, all communities
are required to make a 25% self-help contribution to the project cost. Mr Koleski’s work with this project
included:
 Wrote the Project Proposal, which included budget and design
 Worked with community leaders to mobilize stakeholders
 Purchased all material and monitored the construction of garden
Mr. Koleski also had an opportunity to voluntarily participate in a study with the CDC in collaboration
with PMI/USAID/Peace Corps the information on the project is as follows:
 Study: Durability and Insecticide Persistence in Long-Lasting Insecticide-treated Nets (LLINs) in
Zambia
 Position: Village Research Assistant
 Research Institute: CDC in collaboration with PMI/USAID
 Role Description and Qualifications: Trained in the household random selection, good clinical
practices, ethical issues around research, and administering questionnaires
 Activity: Mapped villages for household selection, collected consent forms from 25 (number can
change) households, administered 25 (number can change) initial and net questionnaires,
removed one net for further investigation
During his service, Zambia's rate of HIV infection was approximately 14%. As a result, all PCVs were
expected to incorporate HIV/AIDS education into their work. Mr. Koleski did this through:
 Participated in the planning and organizing of an HIV/AIDS Voluntarily Counseling and Testing
(VCT) event. 80 men and women were counseled and tested for HIV at the event.
 Sensitized youths and adults to HIV/AIDS in the community by playing the outreach board game
Edukator and answering their questions.
Peace Corps Activities
Mr. Koleski also engaged in activities specific to Peace Corps, which included:
 Serving as a Resource Trainer for the RAP 2011 PST

4.  Organized and presented the RAP booth to the public at Peace Corps 50th
anniversary event at
the Lusaka Peace Corps office
 Organized and presented the RAP booth to the public at two outreach events at the Mansa
Provincial House
 Acting as Peace Corps Volunteer Leader (PCVL) when asked to fill in for incumbent
Pursuant to Section5(f) of the Peace Corps Act 22 U.S.C. 2504 (f), as amended, any former volunteer
employed by the United States Government following his Peace Corps service is entitled to have any
period of satisfactory Peace Corps service credited for purposes of retirement, seniority, reduction in
force, leave and other privileges based on length of Government Service. Peace Corps service shall not
be credited toward completion of the probationary or trial period or completion of any service for
career appointment.
This is to certify that, in accordance with the Executive Order no. 11103 of April 10, 1963. Mr. Koleski
served satisfactorily as a Peace Corps Volunteer. His service ended September 21, 2012. He is therefore
eligible to be appointed as a career-conditional employee in the competitive civil service on a non-
competitive basis. The benefit under Executive Order extends for a period for up to three years for a
formal volunteer who enters military service, pursues studies at a regional institution of higher learning,
or engages in other activities which, in viewing of the appointed Agency, warrants extension of the
period.
Thomas Kennedy Date
Country Director
Peace Corps Zambia