The Tragedy of the Peace Corps
For close to half a century the Peace Corps has suffered from a surfeit of easy admiration. President after president has praised the agency, vowed to expand its size or influence, and then left it largely alone, moving on to what were considered more crucial matters. Barack Obama is just the latest. During the presidential campaign, Obama promised to double the number of volunteers, but while planning to triple the number of domestic volunteers, the president has put forth a budget that at best will leave the Peace Corps at its current size.
The sad reality is that if Obama acts on his pledge, he will be presenting the Peace Corps bureaucracy with a problem it does not want and is probably incapable of handling. There are many talented, dedicated employees both in Washington and across the world, but there are too many barracks soldiers with neither the energy nor the ability to face the challenges of the world outside. At what should be the most promising moment for the organization in decades, the Peace Corps is at its most dangerous moment in its history.
The Peace Corps has too many easy political friends in Washington, satisfied with the organization the way it is, unwilling to spend their political time, energy and capital figuring out how to reinvigorate the agency for a new century. One of the problems is that there is a patronizing attitude toward the Peace Corps in the development community in Washington, and a willful dismissal of the important role the Peace Corps should play in a progressive foreign policy.
A case in point is The White House and the World: A Global Development Agenda for the Next U.S. President by The Center for Global Development, an important blueprint for the new administration. The book length document talks of building a foreign policy based on the three stools of diplomacy, defense and development. For all the talk of development, the Peace Corps is mentioned only once substantively almost as a historic relic as "part of the Cold War arsenal aimed both at stemming the spread of communism and at encouraging development in some of the world's poorest countries." The book talks nothing of a role for the Peace Corps as such but proposes a small global health corps.
The report notes: "The Americans' sense of moral obligation to people far away has grown as the international movement of goods, information, and people has accelerated." Nowhere, however, is there any acknowledgment of the role close to 200,000 Peace Corps volunteers have played in educating Americans about the rest of the world. Volunteers have gone on to plan seminal roles in everything from the Gates Foundation to the Foreign Service, and from heading innovative NGOs to developing businesses dealing with the developing world.
What is needed at the Peace Corps is a new director with the vision to create a revitalized organization for the 21st century. Of all the names bandied about, the best by far is Timothy Shriver, the CEO of Special Olympics International. Shriver has overseen a massive expansion of Special Olympics in precisely many of the countries where the Peace Corps serves. Sargent Shriver, Tim's father, was the first Peace Corps director, but his son would be anything but a sentimental choice. Indeed, he would be precisely the opposite of a legacy candidate. Shriver would not take the job unless it came with the mandate and power to rebuild the organization from the ground up.
Shriver has proposed a "Department of Development and Service" to integrate the volunteers with USAID, the UN and NGOs. It is a bold vision if the Peace Corps doesn't end up the little guy carrying the coffee to the big meetings and driving the honchos around in a Land Rover. The genius of the Peace Corps is that it stands apart from the development establishment, and is the daring idea of sending individuals out to live among the people at their economic and social level. Each assignment is an experiment in which success or failure is largely based on the volunteer.
The Peace Corps has been an important part of the American presence in the world for close to half a century, but now is the time for an even more crucial role. The Obama administration must reach out to the developing world with a strong, open hand in which one of the strong fingers is the Peace Corps or the handshake will be less than firm.
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I am an RPCV from Gabon and spent additional years supervising volunteers in West Africa. I hope that the strengths of the Peace Corps - a highly motivated, grass roots extension presence - will not be diluted by trying to create too close ties to USAID. Many Peace Corps volunteers later become USAID workers, but not all USAID workers would have been suited to being PCVs. USAID often has the advantage of resources and lots of cash, but there can sometimes be disadvantages to those things if not used properly. A wise USAID officer would certainly visit PCVs at times to have an "ear to the ground" of what are priorities of everyday people, but tying volunteers too closely to USAID could drain them of some of their traditional effectiveness. The accomplishments of Peace Corps go both ways - what the PCV brings to the host country and the understanding the PCV gains for him/herself and for other Americans with whom he/she is in contact. I just hope that people making decisions on and for Peace Corps have a real understanding of the organization to guide them in any changes they make.
I am also a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer and can attest to the strong influence volunteers have in the positive development of the countries we serve in. In addition to important development work, we go as ambassadors of peace, serving to improve foreign relations between the US and the countries we serve in. During my service, I brought potable water to a village and taught adolescents about HIV/AIDS prevention, but I also made many friends amongst the villagers, many of whom who had previously held negative opinions regarding Americans. The experience also helped to shape my values and has inspired me to seek out a profession of service to others, both working internationally and here in the US, as a nurse. Serving as a Peace Corps volunteer profoundly changed my life, and I know it also changed the lives of many others. I hope that our leaders will choose to prioritize funds for peace instead of war and fulfill their promise to expand the Peace Corps!
If someone is serious about the PC, it will happen, if not, it will be business as usual. Working here in DC, we know the strains on the budget, but why F w/the PC now?
We'll see if Obama is a man of his word or not.
RPCV Ukraine
1996-1998
I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Silistra, Bulgaria in the education program. Iserved for two years. Although I did not change the world I do believe this program is one of the most effective for spreading good will. It truely saddens me that the 23 new countries who have requested volunteers will probably not get them. Is this how we want the world to see us? This is also an opportunity for us to partner with other organizations that have similar goal as the Peace Corps. I hope the President fulfills his promise of doubling the number of volunteers from 8,000 in 1961 to 16,000 in 2011. Yes you can Mr. President.
I also am a returned Peace Corps volunteer and feel very strongly that this program is one of the best foreign relations programs that the United States can invest in. Especially in these troubled times this program should be expanded at least to the levels that were promised. It offers our citizens a chance to give service to their country and the world in ways that are profound and meaningful.
I completely agree!!! The Peace Corps needs to be funded and must meet the goals that were set! We can do this, YES WE CAN!!!
I am so sorry to hear that President Obama may not make good on his promise to double the number of volunteers for the Peace Corps. In a world where we are trying to mend relations and support the development of both poor nations and our own collective conscience, the Peace Corps is one positive step. I volunteered in Morocco. I did not expect to change anything but myself, and while there were a lot of things that we as a village accomplished (putting in latrines and a water tower, both strides in health and sanitation), our greatest accomplishment was somehow decreasing the distance between us. I realized that when it came down to it, we are all just people struggling to create a safer, healthier world for our children. I left days before September 11th, and while I was not yet home, my parents received a call very early the next morning... someone had traveled 2 hours to the nearest phone to see if I was okay.
What strikes me about President Obama's lack of follow through is that no one can understand more intimately the importance of foreign work and education. He is a product of Kennedy's Airlift which brought 800 young Africans to study at American universities. It produced great leaders, educators, and business people, like Wangari Maathai, the Nobel Peace laureate. It brought Obama Sr. to study at the University of Hawaii and Harvard. Foreign exchange is such a wonderful and peaceful means of diplomacy.
I joined the Peace Corps because my college class researched aid organizations and found it's approach of skills-transfer to the world's poorest to be the most effective.
My husband joined because the Moroccans he'd met while studying abroad in France thought Americans were the most compassionate, culturally-sensitive people because of the Peace Corps Volunteers they'd met.
Our oldest son is preparing to join the Peace Corps because he has a heart for serving the world's poorest, and knows that we learned more than we taught.
You should write your congressional representatives to support the Peace Corps, and apply to be a volunteer because you will grow and gain personally even more than you make America a better place, and improve the lives of the world's poorest.
Imagine if all Americans did a 27 month Peace Corps service, and came back to share what they learned with the rest of America. Terrorism would shrivel up, as we made more friends in the world, and learned from and served our would-be enemies...
"There is no way to peace, peace is the way."
I support the Peace Corps!
In just a few short months, my wife and I will begin our service with the Peace Corps. Like many other young Americans, President Obama’s emphasis on service and volunteerism combined with a desire to improve our country’s relationships abroad has inspired us. Now, as we prepare to begin our 27 months of service, our confidence in the Administration’s intention to support the Peace Corps as described during the presidential campaign has decreased a bit. My wife and I both believe very sincerely in the goals of the Peace Corps: 1. helping the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women, 2. helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of people served, and 3. helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans. But it may become more difficult for volunteers to make a contribution to these objectives if the Administration does not provide the necessary resources. The lack of support is concerning to us, not only because we will soon become volunteers, but also because there may be many qualified prospective volunteers who will either be turned away, or discouraged from applying altogether. Despite the grim assessment of the agency’s future, we remain optimistic because we believe in President Obama. We hope that the Administration’s decision to underfund the Peace Corps is only a temporary repercussion of the difficult economic times that have befallen our country, and not an indication of the President’s long term agenda.
I am one of the Returned Peace Corps Volunteers who continues to work with and for the country of service, in my case a full ten years after my return. Peace Corps volunteers not only contribute a full two years of their lives to immersing themselves in a new culture and language, but become a part of that people in the process. On return, many volunteers continue to inform school children about the country of service and their challenges. Many "Friends of" groups raise funds for sustainable projects that help expand education and economic development in the country of service. I can say for myself that I am a patriotic American who also care what happens in the world at large, especially the Republic of Macedonia. I am shocked to find out that Peace Corps is only at half the numbers of its early years in the 60's. It is a people to people diplomacy that is not only effective but also cost effective. Jeanne Smith ('97-'99 Macedonia)
For nearly fifty years the Peace Corps has provided an invaluable service to both the American and foreign communities. At this time of world economic crisis, distrust of Americans, and high unemployment, the Peace Corps is more needed than ever before.
Peace Corps volunteers provide the kind of individual expertise that can be crucial to making small-scale, low-cost, but essential developmental projects in the Third World successful. Volunteers spend the time to learn the language, customs, and people of the communities where they live and work. They work to support education, agriculture, health, and a myriad of other needed areas.
The United States spends millions on large-scale, top-down development projects that all too often involve waste and that do not respond to the real needs of the people. Sometimes these projects are carried out by military personel who do not understand the culture of the people, and who have another agenda. More often than not, this misunderstanding and misuse of resources leads to failure.
Thousands of Americans are out of work, and the Peace Corps can provide a temporary safety net as these people gain work experience and share their expertise at a cost of only a fraction of what is being used to support the executives who are responsible for the current economic meltdown.
I call on Congress and the President to remedy this situation by fully funding the Peace Corps for FY 2010 (HR 1066)
As a former PVC along with my wife, I have seen first hand the impact that Peace Corps can have on others, but mostly it is the impact that those we are called to serve have on us. We are one or two, they are many. No matter how much ones strives to give of oneself and ones talents while one is a PCV, there is no way that one is not going to gain more from what one receives from those one is serving. This is incredibly important as we continue to grow into a world community, for such a global community needs to be built on relationships not on economics. Peace Corps is the most effect avenue for doing that, and it needs to be strengthen. I will do all in my power to help Obama keep his campaign promise regarding the Peace Corps. Taniella RPCV '68-'69
Peace Corps is a life changing event that gears the volunteer towards a lifetime of international service, inspires their American friends and relatives to do something more to understand the world around them, and teaches foreign nationals that our people do not immitate our politics.
It is unfortunate that our politicians can only give lip service to the Peace Corps since they cannot fathom the importance of the Peace Corps in our culture. With more volunteers serving, larger numbers of RPCVs entering government service, and more countries gaining the benefits of a new perspective on the American way of life, the world, and the US, would be a better place.
I am very saddened to see that a great leader like President Obama doesn't see the peace keeping potential and the important diplomatic role that the Peace Corps plays for the United States through-out the world. Peace Corps volunteers have played a role in spreading the news that the "Ugly American" is not necessarily a truth to behold. Peace Corps volunteers help people learn skills to improve their lives which are long term and relatively low cost. Then after their service Peace Corps volunteers are able to bring with them a rich education in the facts of life, allowing their fellow citizens to better understand the developing world, its richness of culture and to in turn appreciate what they have.
I can't imagine American foreign relations without the Peace Corps, but more importanly I think of the thousands of people who won't benefit from the precious help : help that is life altering and often life-saving. Help that is long term, because it educates people - gives them the one thing that won't be taken away later: knowledge.
I would hope that Americans can see over the problems of the day, and support such a positive inititive. In place of soldiers - who are forceably in a position of control - spreading "help", Peace Corps volunteers spend time getting to know the culture before pretending to be in a position to help. Seems logical, doesn't it?
Instead of funding the expansion of the Peace Corps, President Bush and now President Obama (never thought I'd have to use both of their names in the same sentence) find it a better idea to use the military to handle development projects in non-combat zones, in particular in Ethiopia. In September 2007 (one month before PC reopened in the country) Newsweek quoted a U.S. Army Reservist living in eastern Ethiopia doing development projects as saying, "It's the Peace Corps with a weapon." (http://www.newsweek.com/id/40797).
The article goes on to talk about failed wells which were built at a cost of almost $100,000, computers donated to clinics which don't have enough power to run them, and stalled construction of a school house because they were having trouble getting the nearly half a million dollars into the country, yet there was not mention of where the trained teachers would come from to work at the school.
These kinds of projects, which I have recently seen still going on in Ethiopia and I'm sure are still being done in other countries, are taking the funding away which could be used to strengthen and expand the Peace Corps. Is using the military, in particular National Guardsmen and Reservists, to do development work really the most cost effective way to spread the goodwill of the American people? I think we all know the answer to that.
"The Peace Corps" is one of those ideas that everyone loves to hang their hat on. Praising the Peace Corps makes a great sound bite but it is clearly not a priority to this administration if they are not willing to fund it to the extent Obama committed.
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