A Call to Peace - Civic Enterprises

service policy implementation; and the effects ofinternational service on volunteers, host organizations,and host communities. We expect to be able to showimprovements in cross-cultural understanding,human capital development, civic engagement,capacity building, education, the environment, andglobal health.The Peace Corps has grown over the last decade,but at a pace too slow to reach the goal of doublingwithin a reasonable number of years. Together, theseprograms, by 2015, can mobilize 100,000 volunteers toserve abroad each year—one million over a decade—fulfilling President Kennedy’s vision. In his 2002 Stateof the Union Address, President George W. Bush calledon Congress to double the Peace Corps and eventuallyincreased the Peace Corps to its highest Volunteerlevels in the previous three decades, showing interestin the Congress in growing the Peace Corps. As BarackObama said in his 2008 message to the National PeaceCorps Association: “We will double the size of PeaceCorps… and we’ll reach out to other nations to engagetheir young people in similar programs, so that wework side-by-side to take on the common challengesthat confront all humanity.”Our ProposalsWe offer the following initial recommendationssupported by a broad-based, bipartisan coalition ofmore than 300 organizations.1. The Peace Corps: The Peace Corps shoulddouble its ranks to 15,000 volunteers by 2015 andforge partnerships with other volunteer-sendingand international development organizations tomaximize impact and leverage funding. In additionto requesting an increase in funding for thesenew slots, the Peace Corps must continue to beaggressive in increasing the safety and security ofits Volunteers. Bills pending in Congress wouldcodify reforms the agency has put in placesuch as better staff training and protectionfor whistleblowers, and would require moredetailed crime statistics and the Peace Corpsand U.S. Department of State to formalizehow U.S. Embassy officials respond to crimesagainst Peace Corps Volunteers. We also proposethat the Peace Corps should strengthen currentprograms, lower the cost per volunteer, enable morevolunteers to serve, and respond to requests fromadditional countries. It should work to form servicepartnerships with countries such as Brazil, Indiaand Nigeria where there are currently no PeaceCorps Volunteers.“I’M NOT DEFENDING THE OLD PEACE CORPS,I’M ATTACKING IT! WE DIDN’T GO FARENOUGH!… WE NEVER REALLY GAVE THEGOAL OF ‘WORLD WIDE PEACE’ ANOVERWHELMING COMMITMENT.”—Sargent Shriver speech at Yale university,two months after 9/11: November 10, 20112. Volunteers for Prosperity: Volunteers forProsperity should expand from its present 43,000to 75,000 skilled Americans each year recruitedand deployed for flexible term assignments througha network of U.S. nonprofits that work in thedeveloping world on urgent problems, such asHIV/AIDS, malaria, education, clean water, andhelping entrepreneurs start local businesses. Thisincrease should occur through the expansion ofthe Volunteers for Prosperity’s Serve Program,which offers modest stipends to volunteers,more than matched by individual and privatesector contributions.3. Global Service Fellowships: Building onprogress in funding Global Service Fellowships withprivate sector support, Global Service Fellowshipsshould be created to mobilize 10,000 volunteerfellows each year for up to one-year assignmentsto help build the capacity of NGOs and faith-basedinstitutions working in the developing world toinnovate and solve significant global challenges.These new opportunities for international servicedirectly through experienced and tested NGOs willenable Americans to serve who would have muchto offer but are not able or ready to enlist for thetwo years that the Peace Corps requires. The GlobalService Fellows should be selected in a competitiveprocess. Members of Congress may nominatefellows from their districts and states, similar to thenominating process for the Military Academies.4. An International Social Innovation Fund:An International Social Innovation Fund should becreated to fuel further innovation in how Americanscan have a greater impact through internationalvolunteer service and increase the capacity oflocal organizations to effectively utilize their timeand talents. To enhance the impact of Americansserving overseas each year through governmentand non-government organizations, we will buildon the examples of the Volunteer Generation andSocial Innovation Funds authorized in the EdwardM. Kennedy Serve America Act.| 30A CALL TO PEACE SEPTEMBER 2011