October 24, 2005: Headlines: Speaking Out: Development: First Goal: USA Today: Laura Vanderkam says "Peace Corps needs makeover"
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October 24, 2005: Headlines: Speaking Out: Development: First Goal: USA Today: Laura Vanderkam says "Peace Corps needs makeover"
- October 24, 2005: Headlines: Speaking Out: Development: First Goal: USA Today: Laura Vanderkam says "Peace Corps needs makeover" Wednesday, November 09, 2005 - 9:10 pm [1]
- October 30, 2005: Headlines: Speaking Out: Development: COS - Uzbekistan: First Goal: USA Today: Uzbekistan RPCV George A. Hofheimer says Laura Vanderkam's prescriptions are a bit simplistic Wednesday, November 09, 2005 - 9:08 pm [1]
- October 30, 2005: Headlines: Speaking Out: Development: COS - Ukraine: First Goal: USA Today: Ukraine RPCV Jon Michael Johnson says "I agree with many of Laura Vanderkam's points regarding the organization" Wednesday, November 09, 2005 - 9:05 pm [1]
- October 30, 2005: Headlines: Speaking Out: Development: COS - Romania: First Goal: USA Today: Romania RPCV Renada Rutmanis says Laura Vanderkam's idea of tying Peace Corps volunteers' compensation to some sort of tangible evaluation of their performance is absolutely ridiculous Wednesday, November 09, 2005 - 9:39 pm [2]
- October 31, 2005: Headlines: Speaking Out: Development: COS - Costa Rica: First Goal: USA Today: Costa Rica RPCV Julie Harrold says "Don't change the Peace Corps" Wednesday, November 09, 2005 - 9:00 pm [1]
- October 31, 2005: Headlines: Speaking Out: Development: COS - Congo Kinshasa: First Goal: USA Today: Zaire RPCV Les Everett says Laura Vanderkam's commentary, "Peace Corps needs makeover" misses the point Wednesday, November 09, 2005 - 8:59 pm [1]
Laura Vanderkam says "Peace Corps needs makeover"
While the Peace Corps commercials talk about development, only one of these goals is about that version of helping. Says Mike Ward, former Peace Corps associate director, "The value is more in cross-cultural exchange." Since the focus is exchange, not development, volunteers are encouraged to live as their hosts do. Eschewing toilets is fine, but the roughing-it philosophy also means limiting access to technology, even though it's sprouting all over the developing world. The Peace Corps does well recruiting IT professionals but needs more engineers, agriculture experts and older, experienced volunteers.
Laura Vanderkam says "Peace Corps needs makeover"
Peace Corps needs makeover
By Laura Vanderkam
"How far would you go to help someone?" the Peace Corps commercial asks.
Rajeev Goyal, a recent Brown University graduate, traveled to a remote mountain village in Nepal to teach. Upon arriving in Namje, though, he learned his students had no time for schoolwork.
The village lacked clean water, so children spent six hours a day lugging it up the hillside. Goyal promised the villagers that if they would build a water system, he would find the money and know-how to do so. He did, raising funds mostly from fellow Indian-Americans. Because Goyal had to hike two hours to the nearest phone every time he needed to contact engineers, though, the project took a year and a half.
On one hand, Namje's watering is a success story. It's the kind the Peace Corps is celebrating as it commemorates the 45th anniversary this month of John F. Kennedy's campaign speech on Oct. 14, 1960, calling for its creation. Since then, thousands of volunteers have spent two years of their lives bettering dozens of countries.
But there's another side to the story. The budget for 7,700 volunteers is more than $300 million a year. For the roughly $80,000 it costs to support a volunteer for two years, a team of engineers could have visited Namje to help lay pipes. But the Peace Corps doesn't work that way. Its primary focus is building cross-cultural friendships. To encourage friendships, the bulk of volunteers still serve in situations like Goyal's — remote, alone, living at the locals' level, eking out progress by patience and wit.
That's too bad. Technology and international politics have changed the world since 1960 in ways that make the "roughing it" philosophy counterproductive. The Peace Corps could better the world quicker by changing its focus.
Longtime goals
To understand the program's methods, you have to know its three goals:
• "Helping the people of interested countries in meeting their needs for trained men and women."
• "Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served."
• "Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of all Americans."
While the Peace Corps commercials talk about development, only one of these goals is about that version of helping. Says Mike Ward, former Peace Corps associate director, "The value is more in cross-cultural exchange."
Since the focus is exchange, not development, volunteers are encouraged to live as their hosts do. "There is a funny volunteer competitive thing about who has to 'rough it' more, and people without electricity, running water, etc., seem to get the most bragging rights," says Sara Armstrong, who served in the Philippines.
Eschewing toilets is fine, but the roughing-it philosophy also means limiting access to technology, even though it's sprouting all over the developing world. It means having most volunteers, "except in a few cases," according to spokesman Nathan Arnold, serve by themselves. Because friendship is primary, many find their projects vague or feature little accountability.
Josh Berger, a recent volunteer, arrived in Mali to learn that his hosts weren't sure what his mission was. While overcoming these obstacles is a character-building experience, isolation, lack of technology and vagueness make service quite inefficient.
That need not be the case. The world has changed since Kennedy's speech. When John Coyne, who runs the website Peace Corps Writers, flew to Addis Ababa in 1962, it was his second time on a plane. Few volunteers can say that now.
Our needs, likewise, have changed. Under Kennedy, we battled the USSR for the developing world's soul. Now there may be a case for Arab world friendship programs, but elsewhere, people need American friends less than they need to stop carrying water six hours a day.
Possible steps
The Peace Corps, with its well-respected brand name, is uniquely positioned to make that happen. Here's how:
Choose sites where technology is accessible. Though it's great that Namje has water, sites near cities can develop faster. Volunteers located near cities could use the global cellphones the Peace Corps should issue them and the Internet access they should be guaranteed, to contact other volunteers or experts.
Some volunteers are this wired. Julia de la Torre, while serving in Moldova, emailed me that technology "has allowed me to create teaching materials and work more effectively as a volunteer."
Charge fees. If groups that request a volunteer must pay something per project, they're more likely to set goals ahead of time.
Staff volunteers in teams. Teams motivate each other and leverage each other's skills.
Hire volunteers with useful skills. Says Berger, "The bulk of us are graduates of small liberal arts colleges. We didn't bring a lot that could benefit subsistence farmers in rural Africa." The Peace Corps does well recruiting IT professionals but needs more engineers, agriculture experts and older, experienced volunteers.
Build in accountability. Peace Corps service is a job, but few volunteers are evaluated on specific metrics, such as how many adults passed a literacy test. Tying the size of a volunteer's post-service transition award (currently about $6,000) to achieving goals would boost efficiency.
Some Peace Corps country programs already incorporate these elements. Most volunteers in Mexico specialize in business development, so they have access to technology. The South Africa program seeks out older volunteers (people listen to elders when they talk about HIV prevention). That's two countries. There are a whole lot more. After 45 years, the Peace Corps should step up the pace.
New York City-based writer Laura Vanderkam is a member of USA TODAY's board of contributors.
When this story was posted in November 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
| Peace Corps at highest Census in 30 years Congratulations to the Peace Corps for the highest number of volunteers in 30 years with 7,810 volunteers serving in 71 posts across the globe. Of course, the President's proposal to double the Peace Corps to 15,000 volunteers made in his State of the Union Address in 2002 is now a long forgotten dream. With deficits in federal spending stretching far off into the future, any substantive increase in the number of volunteers will have to wait for new approaches to funding and for a new administration. Choose your candidate and start working for him or her now. |
| Why blurring the lines puts PCVs in danger When the National Call to Service legislation was amended to include Peace Corps in December of 2002, this country had not yet invaded Iraq and was not in prolonged military engagement in the Middle East, as it is now. Read the story of how one volunteer spent three years in captivity from 1976 to 1980 as the hostage of a insurrection group in Colombia in Joanne Marie Roll's op-ed on why this legislation may put soldier/PCVs in the same kind of danger. Latest: Read the ongoing dialog on the subject. |
| 'Celebration of Service' a major success The Peace Corps Fund's 'Celebration of Service' on September 29 in New York City was a major success raising approximately $100,000 for third goal activities. In the photo are Maureen Orth (Colombia); John Coyne (Ethiopia) Co-founder of the Peace Corps Fund; Caroline Kennedy; Barbara Anne Ferris (Morocco) Co-founder; Former Senator Harris Wofford, member of the Advisory Board. Read the story here. |
| PC apologizes for the "Kasama incident" The District Commissioner for the Kasama District in Zambia issued a statement banning Peace Corps activities for ‘grave’ social misconduct and unruly behavior for an incident that occurred on September 24 involving 13 PCVs. Peace Corps said that some of the information put out about the incident was "inflammatory and false." On October 12, Country Director Davy Morris met with community leaders and apologized for the incident. All PCVs involved have been reprimanded, three are returning home, and a ban in the district has since been lifted. |
| The Peace Corps Library Peace Corps Online is proud to announce that the Peace Corps Library is now available online. With over 30,000 index entries in 500 categories, this is the largest collection of Peace Corps related stories in the world. From Acting to Zucchini, you can find hundreds of stories about what RPCVs with your same interests or from your Country of Service are doing today. If you have a web site, support the "Peace Corps Library" and link to it today. |
| Friends of the Peace Corps 170,000 strong 170,000 is a very special number for the RPCV community - it's the number of Volunteers who have served in the Peace Corps since 1961. It's also a number that is very special to us because March is the first month since our founding in January, 2001 that our readership has exceeded 170,000. And while we know that not everyone who comes to this site is an RPCV, they are all "Friends of the Peace Corps." Thanks everybody for making PCOL your source of news for the Returned Volunteer community. |
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Story Source: USA Today
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Speaking Out; Development; First Goal
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