2007.07.27: July 27, 2007: Headlines: Congress: Legislation: Speaking Out: PCOL Exclusive: 07. Testimony of Chuck Ludlam and Paula Hirschoff on S. 732: The Peace Corps Volunteer Empowerment Act: A Culture of Listening to Volunteers
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2007.07.27: July 27, 2007: Headlines: Congress: Legislation: Speaking Out: PCOL Exclusive: 07. Testimony of Chuck Ludlam and Paula Hirschoff on S. 732: The Peace Corps Volunteer Empowerment Act: A Culture of Listening to Volunteers
07. Testimony of Chuck Ludlam and Paula Hirschoff on S. 732: The Peace Corps Volunteer Empowerment Act: A Culture of Listening to Volunteers
The Peace Corps managers may argue that such reviews will undermine their authority to discipline the Volunteers. They may remark, "This is like putting the inmates in charge of the asylum," or "What do these young people know about management?" Further arguments might be that the system would reduce management to a popularity contest or prevent them from recruiting good managers. Finally, they might complain that it's inconsistent with the culture of host country nationals to be openly criticized.
07. Testimony of Chuck Ludlam and Paula Hirschoff on S. 732: The Peace Corps Volunteer Empowerment Act: A Culture of Listening to Volunteers
A Culture of Listening to Volunteers
As Peace Corps Volunteers, we often think in terms of culture—the values, customs, and behaviors of a people. The Peace Corps, too, has a culture—one that should be a living example of the values, customs and behaviors as they express participatory democracy and service. Our values, customs and behavior should model what our country stands for in the countries we serve across the globe. The Peace Corps needs to embrace a culture where bureaucratic imperatives are minimized and where everyone shares the goal of hearing, respecting and supporting Volunteers in the field.
Enactment of the legislation is a crucial step towards this goal. We've heard from reliable sources that the Peace Corps will implement some of the individual reforms in the legislation in order to head off enactment of the overall legislation, a common legislative tactic. Implementation of any of the reforms is, of course, welcome. However, the legislation should also be enacted to ensure that these reforms are not jettisoned when the "coast is clear."
To emphasize again, the most relevant provisions of the legislation for restoring the Peace Corps culture are those mandating Volunteer engagement in senior staff and program reviews, Sections 201(a) and (b). Unfortunately, this reform is the one that the Peace Corps is least likely to implement, or implement least enthusiastically, and the one that it's most likely to jettison at the first opportunity.
Some Peace Corps staff will welcome the reviews. A former Country Director in West Africa emailed me to say: "Reviews of staff (360 reviews) are standard in the private sector, why not the public sector?" But his positive response may be atypical.
The Peace Corps managers may argue that such reviews will undermine their authority to discipline the Volunteers. They may remark, "This is like putting the inmates in charge of the asylum," or "What do these young people know about management?" Further arguments might be that the system would reduce management to a popularity contest or prevent them from recruiting good managers. Finally, they might complain that it's inconsistent with the culture of host country nationals to be openly criticized.
Similar defenses have been raised about RateMyTeachers.com, but it has responded persuasively. 14 No one in authority likes to be held accountable. Those in authority want to be free to exercise power. Naturally, they want the minimum of uncertainty about their job tenure. So it's understandable that they will resist Volunteer input in their personnel reviews.
Peace Corps Volunteers have certain common characteristics that will ensure that this technology is well applied to rate their supervisors—they are persistent, resourceful, computer/web literate, and kind. The flat world is coming, like it or not. It's time to take the initiative and set up an upward feedback system to increase management effectiveness.
Special cross-cultural issues may arise regarding Volunteer ratings of host country nationals who work for the Peace Corps. In many cultures confrontation and personal criticism are commonly avoided and saving face is a high value. For example, in one case a host country trainer responded poorly to the routine evaluations that Volunteers submitted at the close of training. The trainer, new to the Peace Corps, highlighted in red the negative points on the evaluation, approached the students with it, tore it up, and quit the job. In implementing the Volunteer evaluations we need to realize that Americans are among the bluntest and most direct people in the world. We consider this to be a form of honesty and a mechanism for holding people and institutions accountable. Compared to other peoples, Americans have a high tolerance for confrontation and personal revelation. Most host country nationals who work with the Peace Corps come to understand and appreciate this cultural style. Explaining the Volunteer evaluations to host country nationals should become part of the recruitment process or at least the initial orientation. Since most overseas Peace Corps staff are host country nationals, excluding them from the Volunteer evaluation process would exclude many of the staff whose work directly impacts Volunteer effectiveness.
The key to an effective upward feedback system work is to communicate the results to each rated senior staff member. Effective upward feedback, like all evaluation feedback, must focus on reinforcing existing strengths and developing areas rated as needing improvement. Communicating personal development needs always takes tact and sensitivity, and probably cross-cultural skills, a Peace Corps specialty.
The legislation does not dictate the design of the reviews, except for one question: Should the staffer's contract be extended? Other questions can focus on the staffer's specific effectiveness, e.g., in training, selecting and preparing sites, and providing technical and emotional support. Another question that should be asked is how the Peace Corps staff being reviewed can better support the Volunteers.
All of the reviews will be filled out online. Procedures need to be established to preserve the confidentiality of the reviews, as dictated by the legislation, because Peace Corps staff have power over Volunteers, including the power to terminate their service. To ensure that reviews of staff are honest, the confidentiality of Volunteer reviewers must be maintained. Confidentiality is more important to younger Volunteers who tend to feel more vulnerable than experienced Volunteers, bring less confidence to their work, and have less experience in the work world upon which to base their reviews. This makes them less likely, absent confidentiality, to express their views to management.
Volunteers in consultation with the Country Director should draft the review form and procedures. For the Country Director to dictate the form to be used would be inconsistent with the thrust of the legislation. This is the Volunteers' opportunity to provide input on the support they are given by the Peace Corps, so they should determine how to provide that input. They know best what questions will reveal how managers support or do not support them and how to increase that support. It may be helpful for Peace Corps Washington to supply the Volunteers with sample review forms that can be modified so that Volunteers in each country don't have to draft the review forms entirely from scratch.
The Peace Corps culture must focus on continual review and reform, constantly guarding against bureaucratic responses, condescension, and dictatorial behavior. Only Volunteer participation in these reviews will yield such a process.
This is one section from the testimony read into the record on the Peace Corps Volunteer Empowerment Act by Chuck Ludlam and Paula Hirschoff, two RPCVs who are now serving their second tour in Senegal. The rest of the sections can be found by following this link. Their entire report in MS Word format can be downloaded by following this link.
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Headlines: July, 2007; Congress; Legislation; Speaking Out; Peace Corps Library; Peace Corps Countries of Service; Peace Corps History; Peace Corps Message Board; Recent Peace Corps News
When this story was posted in July 2007, this was on the front page of PCOL:




Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
 | Senator Dodd's Peace Corps Hearings Read PCOL's executive summary of Senator Chris Dodd's hearings on July 25 on the Peace Corps Volunteer Empowerment Act and why Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter does not believe the bill would contribute to an improved Peace Corps while four other RPCV witnesses do. Highlights of the hearings included Dodd's questioning of Tschetter on political meetings at Peace Corps Headquarters and the Inspector General's testimony on the re-opening of the Walter Poirier III investigation. |
 | Dodd issues call for National Service Standing on the steps of the Nashua City Hall where JFK kicked off his campaign in 1960, Presidential Candidate Chris Dodd issued a call for National Service. "Like thousands of others, I heard President Kennedy's words and a short time later joined the Peace Corps." Dodd said his goal is to see 40 million people volunteering in some form or another by 2020. "We have an appetite for service. We like to be asked to roll up our sleeves and make a contribution," he said. "We haven't been asked in a long time." |
 | Public diplomacy rests on sound public policy When President Kennedy spoke of "a long twilight struggle," and challenged the country to "ask not," he signaled that the Cold War was the challenge and framework defining US foreign policy. The current challenge is not a struggle against a totalitarian foe. It is not a battle against an enemy called "Islamofascism." From these false assumptions flow false choices, including the false choice between law enforcement and war. Instead, law enforcement and military force both must be essential instruments, along with diplomacy, including public diplomacy. But public diplomacy rests on policy, and to begin with, the policy must be sound. Read more. |
 | Ambassador revokes clearance for PC Director A post made on PCOL from volunteers in Tanzania alleges that Ambassador Retzer has acted improperly in revoking the country clearance of Country Director Christine Djondo. A statement from Peace Corps' Press Office says that the Peace Corps strongly disagrees with the ambassador’s decision. On June 8 the White House announced that Retzer is being replaced as Ambassador. Latest: Senator Dodd has placed a hold on Mark Green's nomination to be Ambassador to Tanzania. |
 | Peace Corps Funnies A PCV writing home? Our editor hard at work? Take a look at our Peace Corps Funnies and Peace Corps Cartoons and see why Peace Corps Volunteers say that sometimes a touch of levity can be one of the best ways of dealing with frustrations in the field. Read what RPCVs say about the lighter side of life in the Peace Corps and see why irreverent observations can often contain more than a grain of truth. We'll supply the photos. You supply the captions. |
 | PCOL serves half million PCOL's readership for April exceeded 525,000 visitors - a 50% increase over last year. This year also saw the advent of a new web site: Peace Corps News that together with the Peace Corps Library and History of the Peace Corps serve 17,000 RPCVs, Staff, and Friends of the Peace Corps every day. Thanks for making PCOL your source of news for the Peace Corps community. Read more. |
 | Suspect confesses in murder of PCV Search parties in the Philippines discovered the body of Peace Corps Volunteer Julia Campbell near Barangay Batad, Banaue town on April 17. Director Tschetter expressed his sorrow at learning the news. “Julia was a proud member of the Peace Corps family, and she contributed greatly to the lives of Filipino citizens in Donsol, Sorsogon, where she served,” he said. Latest: Suspect Juan Duntugan admits to killing Campbell. Leave your thoughts and condolences . |
 | Warren Wiggins: Architect of the Peace Corps Warren Wiggins, who died at 84 on April 13, became one of the architects of the Peace Corps in 1961 when his paper, "A Towering Task," landed in the lap of Sargent Shriver, just as Shriver was trying to figure out how to turn the Peace Corps into a working federal department. Shriver was electrified by the treatise, which urged the agency to act boldly. Read Mr. Wiggins' obituary and biography, take an opportunity to read the original document that shaped the Peace Corps' mission, and read John Coyne's special issue commemorating "A Towering Task." |
 | Chris Dodd's Vision for the Peace Corps Senator Chris Dodd (RPCV Dominican Republic) spoke at the ceremony for this year's Shriver Award and elaborated on issues he raised at Ron Tschetter's hearings. Dodd plans to introduce legislation that may include: setting aside a portion of Peace Corps' budget as seed money for demonstration projects and third goal activities (after adjusting the annual budget upward to accommodate the added expense), more volunteer input into Peace Corps operations, removing medical, healthcare and tax impediments that discourage older volunteers, providing more transparency in the medical screening and appeals process, a more comprehensive health safety net for recently-returned volunteers, and authorizing volunteers to accept, under certain circumstances, private donations to support their development projects. He plans to circulate draft legislation for review to members of the Peace Corps community and welcomes RPCV comments. |
 | He served with honor One year ago, Staff Sgt. Robert J. Paul (RPCV Kenya) carried on an ongoing dialog on this website on the military and the peace corps and his role as a member of a Civil Affairs Team in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have just received a report that Sargeant Paul has been killed by a car bomb in Kabul. Words cannot express our feeling of loss for this tremendous injury to the entire RPCV community. Most of us didn't know him personally but we knew him from his words. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends. He was one of ours and he served with honor. |
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