KATHMANDU: As many as 24 Peace Corps volunteers have been assigned to five districts in western Nepal to work on food security, sanitation and health projects, according to the US Embassy in Kathmandu.

The American volunteers were sworn in by the US Ambassador to Nepal, Alaina B. Teplitz, today before they formally began their two-year service in Nepal.

This is the 203rd group of volunteers serving in Nepal since the Peace Corps programme started in 1961. The programme was suspended in 2004 due to the armed conflict in the country.

The Peace Corps returned to Nepal in 2012 after a seven-year absence.

While swearing in them, Ambassador Teplitz told the volunteers, “As US Ambassador to Nepal, I cannot imagine a finer example of the collaboration between our two nations than the historic relationship between Peace Corps and Nepal, a relationship that began 55 years ago. Together we are addressing the food security challenges in many communities in the western regions to build a more prosperous, democratic and stable Nepal.”

The volunteers arrived in Kathmandu in April and completed 11 weeks of intensive language and technical training in Kavre.

Established by US President John F. Kennedy in 1961, the Peace Corps aims at promoting friendship and a better understanding between Americans and people of the host countries.