A Call to Peace - Civic Enterprises

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Figure 3: Program Experience by DecadeThese findings are consistent with the Peace Corps’own assessment. In June 2010, the Peace Corpsreleased a Comprehensive Agency Assessment basedon hundreds of responses the assessment teamreceived from Volunteers, RPCVs, agency staff, hostcountry partners, Members of Congress and their staff,and others.As the world has advanced and become moresophisticated through new technologies, and countriesworldwide now have university trained leaders andnational development strategies, the assessment foundthat the Peace Corps must evolve its model for the 21stCentury. Such modernization of the Peace Corps musthelp meet host country expectations and ensure PeaceCorps Volunteers have meaningful and important workto do for which they have received the appropriatetraining and preparation to complete their assignments.The current training process emphasizes generalpreparation for the volunteer experience. Beforethey deploy, Peace Corps Volunteers receive from8 to 12 weeks of initial training that focuses onpreparing them to live in host communities. There iscross-cultural training, language training, health andwellness training, and safety training, all of whichis based on preparing the Peace Corps Volunteer fortheir experience. There is relatively less emphasis,however, on job training or preparing them to carryout skilled work.Technical training to teach Peace Corps Volunteersto carry out assignments is typically done in thehost country once the volunteer arrives. The 2010Assessment found that the number of projectscombined with each post developing its own trainingcontent led to a need for improved technical trainingfor Peace Corps Volunteers. Our survey results supportthis finding and suggest that more effective on-the-jobteacher training for the Volunteers new to teaching maybe among the greatest needs.While language training has improved over thedecades, according to the RPCVs, satisfaction with thepreparation they were given to carry out assignmentshas declined. The share of RPCVs reporting theyreceived “sufficient language training” rose from 56percent among RPCVS from the 1960s to 71 percentamong RPCVS from the 2000s. The share of RPCVSwho “felt your training prepared you to carry out yourassignment,” however, declined from 66 percent amongRPCVs from the 1960s to 55 percent among RPCVsfrom the 2000s.Most assignments are based on the interests of PeaceCorps Volunteers and involve partnerships with localorganizations in the host country. Yet, who sets thegoals for Volunteer assignments is unclear.According to the RPCVs, 80 percent receivedplacements that matched their interests or expertiseprior to joining (figure 4). Also, 77 percent reportedpartnering with a local organization during theirservice to carry out their assignments. But despite thesepartnerships, RPCVs reported that it is not clear whosets the goals for their work, and this in part couldexplain why the majority of RPCVs do not feel confidentthey achieved their goals (30 percent “describes verywell” in figure 2).Figure 4: AssignmentsWhen asked who set the goals for their service (andallowed multiple responses) roughly half said “I did,”the local community did, or the host country PeaceCorps office did (figure 5). Further analysis of thedata determined that just 16 percent in fact set thegoals themselves, while 37 percent set the goals inconjunction with the local partner or Peace Corps,and 47 percent relied entirely on the local partner or| 14A CALL TO PEACE SEPTEMBER 2011
Peace Corps to set the goals of their service.These responses show that to measure impact, theremust be clear goals and accountability for whodetermines them.Figure 5: Who set the goals for yourPeace Corps Service?Measuring impact can become more complicated whenthere are so many local partnerships involved with thePeace Corps. In fiscal year 2009, Peace Corps postsreported 560 collaborations with host governmentagencies and more than 360 collaborations with localNGOs, universities and local private companies. 8While reported partnerships with local organizationsin the communities where Peace Corps Volunteers liveand serve have risen over time, the effectiveness ofthese partnerships has declined according to theRPCVs (figure 6).Figure 6: Local PartnershipsThe result is that despite very high general levels ofsatisfaction, more recent RPCVs give their overall PeaceCorps experience lower scores than do earlier cohortsand a higher proportion characterize it as frustrating(figure 7). This may be due in part to the gradual shiftin the objectives of service from measurable objectivessuch as teaching, agriculture, and engineering to agreater emphasis on personal outreach like communityand youth development that make it more difficultto assess impact. These findings also likely reflectthe difficulty the Peace Corps has faced updatingand adapting a 1960s model for today’s world. Arecommended strategy from the 2010 ComprehensiveAgency Assessment is to improve the Peace Corps’monitoring and reporting systems for measuring impactof the first goal.Figure 7: Satisfaction has DeclinedGoal 2: Helping promote a better understandingof Americans on the part of peoples servedThe Peace Corps has had much greater successhelping promote a better understanding ofAmericans around the world. When the RPCVswere asked how their service impacted attitudestoward Americans in the community they served,more than 90 percent reported positive attitudesafter completing their service compared to 78percent when they arrived (figure 8). After 9/11,deliberate efforts were undertaken to deploy PeaceCorps Volunteers to countries with significantMuslim populations to help promote cross-culturalunderstanding. The survey results attest that RPCVsfelt their greatest impact in the field has been asagents of soft diplomacy for the U.S. rather thantechnical assistance.8 The Peace Corps. (2010). The Peace Corps: A Comprehensive Agency Assessment.A CALL TO PEACE SEPTEMBER 201115|
Page 1 and 2: A Call to PeacePerspectives of Volu
Page 3 and 4: TABLE OF CONTENTSIntroduction . . .
Page 5: EXECUTIVE SUMMARYTHE PEACE CORPS EX
Page 9 and 10: WAYS FORWARDIn anticipation of the
Page 11 and 12: A CALL TO PEACEThis report is not a
Page 13 and 14: KEY MOMENTS: PEACE CORPS FOUNDINGOC
Page 15: Those serving in predominantly Musl
Page 19 and 20: TODAY, 22 PERCENT OF ALL PEACE CORP
Page 21 and 22: A TRANSFORMATIVE EXPERIENCEThe over
Page 23 and 24: Figure 15: Regions by Decade of Ser
Page 25 and 26: Confidential. Embargoed until Septe
Page 27 and 28: women who reported feeling unsafe a
Page 29 and 30: While RPCVs recognized the need for
Page 31 and 32: Below are core principles and propo
Page 33 and 34: The Peace Corps, Volunteers for Pro
Page 35 and 36: CONCLUSIONThe Peace Corps was a bol
Page 37 and 38: country and how to apply their over
Page 39 and 40: Schwarz, K. (1991). What You Can Do

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