Peace Corps Receives Additional $4.1 Million from the President's Emergency Plan in the Fight Against HIV/AIDS - What the money will go for in Guyana



Peace Corps Receives Additional $4.1 Million from the President's Emergency Plan in the Fight Against HIV/AIDS - What the money will go for in Guyana

Peace Corps Receives Additional $4.1 Million from the President's Emergency Plan in the Fight Against HIV/AIDS

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 24, 2005 -- Peace Corps Director Gaddi H. Vasquez announced today that the Peace Corps will receive $4.1 million from the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief through the Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator. The funding is a four-fold increase on the amount the agency received last summer for HIV/AIDS work.

An infusion of $3.6 million will provide 10 Peace Corps programs in Guyana, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Mozambique, and Haiti the opportunity to expand and enhance their efforts in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Efforts in these countries already include providing training, developing materials, funding volunteer activity support and training, initiating capacity building through Crisis Corps volunteers, and providing additional Peace Corps volunteers to focus on Emergency Plan goals.

In addition, the Peace Corps will receive $500,000 to provide training workshops for staff and volunteers in the field, and for host country counterparts in 10 countries.

"Forty percent of Peace Corps' volunteers are working in HIV/AIDS education and prevention as part of their primary and secondary projects," said Director Vasquez. "This increased funding represents a growing appreciation for the important role Peace Corps volunteers play at the community level where this pandemic is having devastating effects."

Specifically, the Peace Corps will use the funding in these country projects:

Guyana
Approximately $215,000 will be used by the Peace Corps program in Guyana to add five HIV/AIDS Peace Corps volunteers with local organizations. Additionally, Emergency Plan funds will be used to enhance HIV/AIDS training for all volunteers and counterparts, which will give them the skills to train youth peer educators in and out of school, set up of buddy support systems for peer educators, develop a mentoring support system, work with most-at-risk youth, and work with the Guyana Ministry of Health in an adolescent health and wellness program to set up health clubs.

When this story was posted in March 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:


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Crisis Corps arrives in Thailand After the Tsunami in Southeast Asia last December, Peace Corps issued an appeal for Crisis Corps Volunteers and over 200 RPCVs responded. The first team of 8 Crisis Corps volunteers departed for Thailand on March 18 to join RPCVs who are already supporting relief efforts in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and India with other agencies and NGO's. 19 Mar 2005

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March's Feature Stories - only on PCOL Dream Come True - Revisiting India after 34 years The Coyne Column: Read Winning Vanity Fair PCV Essay Tomas Belsky's paintings inspired by service in Brazil RPCV reunites with friend after 40 years RPCV reviews "Los Heraldos Negros" by Cesar Vallejo Photo Essay: Taking it to the Streets

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March 19, 2005: RPCV Groups in the News New Jersey RPCVs host exhibit in Maplewood on April 2 20 Mar Maryland RPCVs eat crab cakes in Annapolis 17 Mar Illinois RPCVs present "Life on the Big Red Island" 13 Mar San Diego RPCVs host reception with Gaddi Vasquez on March 6 4 Mar Western North Carolina's RPCVs sponsor Africa Night on March 6 3 Mar Connecticut RPCVs held fundraiser on March 5 3 Mar RPCVs: Post your stories or press releases here for inclusion next week.

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March 19, 2005: This Week's Top Stories RPCV points out catalytic effect of Iraq 19 Mar PCVs set up Basketball pool in Ukraine 19 Mar Sam Farr introduces bill to monitor ocean fisheries 18 Mar Bridgeland does not rule out run for Congress 18 Mar Jim Doyle promotes Institute for Discovery 18 Mar Newspaper says Bangladesh is safe for PCVs 18 Mar Joan Ruddiman revisits Peter Hessler's "River World" 17 Mar Mark Schneider says Save Haiti from more violence 17 Mar Troy Johnson joins delegation to Indonesia 17 Mar Chris Shays says baseball not exempt from the law 17 Mar "Hurlyburly" benefits gypsy women in Romania 15 Mar Chris Matthews interviews Schwarzenegger 14 Mar Fred Burke dies in NJ, trained early PCVs 13 Mar Mike Honda introduces Student Privacy Protection Act 13 Mar FT details Cheney-McPherson relationship 13 Mar Tucker McCravy reports on Tsunami Reconstruction 10 Mar Dennis Braddock retires with record of accomplishment 9 Mar

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RPCVs in Congress ask colleagues to support PC RPCVs Sam Farr, Chris Shays, Thomas Petri, James Walsh, and Mike Honda have asked their colleagues in Congress to add their names to a letter they have written to the House Foreign Operations Subcommittee, asking for full funding of $345 M for the Peace Corps in 2006. As a follow-on to Peace Corps week, please read the letter and call your Representative in Congress and ask him or her to add their name to the letter.

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Add your info now to the RPCV Directory Call Harris Publishing at 800-414-4608 right away to add your name or make changes to your listing in the newest edition of the NPCA's Directory of Peace Corps Volunteers and Former Staff. Then read our story on how you can get access to the book after it is published. The deadline for inclusion is May 16 so call now.

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March 1: National Day of Action Tuesday, March 1, is the NPCA's National Day of Action. Please call your Senators and ask them to support the President's proposed $27 Million budget increase for the Peace Corps for FY2006 and ask them to oppose the elimination of Perkins loans that benefit Peace Corps volunteers from low-income backgrounds. Follow this link for step-by-step information on how to make your calls. Then take our poll and leave feedback on how the calls went.

Make a call for the Peace Corps PCOL is a strong supporter of the NPCA's National Day of Action and encourages every RPCV to spend ten minutes on Tuesday, March 1 making a call to your Representatives and ask them to support President Bush's budget proposal of $345 Million to expand the Peace Corps. Take our Poll: Click here to take our poll. We'll send out a reminder and have more details early next week.

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