A Call to Peace - Civic Enterprises

EXECUTIVE SUMMARYTHE PEACE CORPS EXPERIENCE CHANGES MINDSETS AND LIVES. What we discoveredfrom our nationally representative survey of Returned Peace Corps Volunteers was both surprising and uplifting.The impact of the Peace Corps has been most deeply felt through the relationships and common understandingit has fostered among Americans and people from 139 countries the Peace Corps has served. Peace, more thandevelopment, has been its overriding purpose and those who have served in the Peace Corps believe they havebeen most effective in advancing the two goals related to promoting mutual understanding, while often lesseffective in meeting the need for trained men and women in host countries.Service in the Peace Corps is also a transformative,life-changing experience for the vast majority of RPCVs.Many said it shaped their life’s path and worldview,influencing their choice of career, where they lived laterin life, and even their religious and political views.Their experiences were also overwhelmingly positive.Almost all RPCVs would recommend the experience totheir children and grandchildren and the vast majorityfelt safe in the communities and countries in whichthey served.The findings in this report are even more remarkable,given that only a fraction of the original vision for thePeace Corps was ever achieved. President Kennedybelieved the Peace Corps would be truly serious wheneach year the United States was sending 100,000 ofits best and brightest volunteers overseas to serve incommunities with the greatest needs. Today, just over8,600 volunteers are serving abroad, even though manymore young Americans are eager to join the PeaceCorps and demand for volunteers by host countriesregularly outstrips supply.Of the five channels for growth of the Peace Corpsenvisioned by its founders, only one – a governmentadministered program – has been fully implemented.The original plan for four other channels for sendingPeace Corps Volunteers overseas, especially the firsttwo proposed – through existing non-governmentorganizations engaged in international serviceand through programs of colleges and universitieswith overseas programs – remain for review andconsideration as a possible additional frameworkfor how to grow the Peace Corps and ensure it staysrelevant in the next 50 years.PEACE AS THEOVERRIDING PURPOSEThe Peace Corps’ success, in living up to the high word“Peace,” can be measured by the three goals it setfor its volunteers: 1) helping people from interestedA CALL TO PEACE SEPTEMBER 2011A maternal health Peace Corps Volunteer and her community partner in Benin. © Peace Corpscountries meet their need for trained men andwomen; 2) helping promote a better understanding ofAmericans on the part of peoples served; and 3) helpingpromote a better understanding of other peoples onthe part of Americans. According to RPCVs, the PeaceCorps’ impact has been most deeply felt through thesecond and third goals—through the relationshipsand common understanding it has fostered amongAmericans and people from countries around theworld—more than through the first goal of meeting theneed for trained men and women. More than eight in ten (82 percent) RPCVssaid their service was very or fairly effectivein helping promote a better understandingof Americans in the communities whereVolunteers served, with one-third reportingit was very effective. These responses wereconsistently high across all five decades of service.The numbers also were consistently high (morethan 80 percent) among those RPCVs who servedin Eastern Europe, Asia, the Pacific Region, theMiddle East and most of Africa, but slightly lower inNorth Africa (77 percent). More than 3 in 4 RPCVs3|