2007.07.27: July 27, 2007: Headlines: Congress: Legislation: Speaking Out: PCOL Exclusive: 02. Testimony of Chuck Ludlam and Paula Hirschoff on S. 732: The Peace Corps Volunteer Empowerment Act: Peace Corps Changes Over Four Decades
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2007.07.27: July 27, 2007: Headlines: Congress: Legislation: Speaking Out: PCOL Exclusive: 02. Testimony of Chuck Ludlam and Paula Hirschoff on S. 732: The Peace Corps Volunteer Empowerment Act: Peace Corps Changes Over Four Decades
02. Testimony of Chuck Ludlam and Paula Hirschoff on S. 732: The Peace Corps Volunteer Empowerment Act: Peace Corps Changes Over Four Decades
Many RPCVs would be as dismayed as we are to learn how the Volunteer experience has changed. We see a Peace Corps where many Volunteers in the field believe that they serve despite the Peace Corps bureaucracy. Because village development work is often frustrating, it is especially demoralizing when Volunteers find that their biggest challenge is dealing with a Peace Corps bureaucracy that is insensitive to their struggles and needs.
02. Testimony of Chuck Ludlam and Paula Hirschoff on S. 732: The Peace Corps Volunteer Empowerment Act: Peace Corps Changes Over Four Decades
Peace Corps Changes Over Four Decades
Our testimony focuses on "flattening" the Peace Corps as an institution—the term used in Tom Friedman's book—The World is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century—to refer to the changes in technology and connectedness that are transforming the Twenty-first Century. We will explain how the legislation you have introduced, the Peace Corps Volunteer Empowerment Act, S. 732, will effectively accomplish this transformation.
First, let us say that the Peace Corps Volunteers with whom we serve today continue to embody America's idealism and generosity. They tackle seemingly intractable problems with resourcefulness and perseverance. Any negatives attributed to the "Post Gen X'ers" do not apply to the Volunteers with whom we serve. You can be as proud of the Volunteers in the field today as you have been of those who served in the past.
However, a comparison of the Peace Corps institution today to the one we knew as Volunteers in Nepal and Kenya is less positive. We regret to report that the institution has become more risk averse, more command and control oriented, and less attentive to the concerns and needs of Volunteers. Too often the institution fails to respect and support us. Often it seems to be the opposite of the "flat" organizational style that Friedman explains is coming to dominate the 21st Century. The pendulum has swung away from Volunteers towards the bureaucracy with predictably unproductive results.
Many RPCVs would be as dismayed as we are to learn how the Volunteer experience has changed. We see a Peace Corps where many Volunteers in the field believe that they serve despite the Peace Corps bureaucracy. Because village development work is often frustrating, it is especially demoralizing when Volunteers find that their biggest challenge is dealing with a Peace Corps bureaucracy that is insensitive to their struggles and needs.
We report that the Peace Corps as an agency has established rules and regulations that Volunteers routinely or unwittingly disobey because they are unreasonable, complicated, and poorly defined. Perhaps our litigious society is partly to blame. And of course, the need for greater attention to safety and security in today's world is another source of additional rules. But sadly, it sometimes seems that the Peace Corps has lost its vision of Volunteers as independent beings who can be trusted to make mature decisions. We believe it's time for the Peace Corps to renew its bond of trust with Volunteers through reforms that would lead to better support and training, more effective programs, and higher morale for Volunteers. We have confidence that Director Ron Tschetter will lead the reform effort, aided by this well-crafted and timely legislation.
Two areas where Peace Corps supplies better support to Volunteers are security and health care. Each Peace Corps country has an Emergency Action Plan (EAP) that it rehearses regularly. Every Volunteer's site is marked for its GPS coordinates. Countries have hired security officials who are diligent in identifying security threats to the Volunteers. Medical training is more thorough and comprehensive and response to medical emergencies is much improved. (We have, however, advanced proposals below regarding certain medical systems that seem to be deficient – see "Proposed Additions to the Legislation.") See also below our proposal that the Peace Corps conduct a comparative analysis of staff salaries and benefits to ensure that they can still attract the top talent the Peace Corps needs.
Our observations are based, of course, partly on our personal experience, but also on input from Volunteers serving in other countries. We have not conducted a worldwide Volunteer survey. And we know that many Peace Corps managers and program staff respect, trust, and empower Volunteers. We speak out, however, because we believe our observations are far too typical of Peace Corps country programs today. Even if our observations apply only to a few programs, the legislation is highly relevant because its mandate is to increase support for and empowerment of all Volunteers. The legislation will lock in certain reforms to ensure that the Peace Corps listens to and respects Volunteers.
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 Directory; 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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