Peace Corps : background and issues for Congress.

Format:

Book

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Peace Corps (U.S.).

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

[Place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified], [1998]

Summary:

Since the Peace Corps was established by President Kennedy on March 1, 1961, more than 151,000 volunteers have served in 132 countries. The Peace Corps Act sets out three goals for the Agency: to help people of other countries meet their needs for trained personnel; to help promote a better understanding of the American people by those served; and to help promote a better understanding of other people by Americans. Volunteers serve in a diverse range of sectors -- in education, health, small business, the environment, and agriculture -- working at the grassroots level, usually in small villages and towns, learning the local language, and serving in jobs that are community and people oriented. The Peace Corps is a unique organization that, while serving a foreign policy purpose, remains distinct from other foreign policy and public diplomacy agencies in its grassroots, people-to- people, character. In January 1998, President Clinton called for a 10,000 volunteer force in the year 2000, up from the current, roughly 6,600 volunteer and trainee level. To meet this objective, the FY1999 budget request for the Peace Corps is $48 million higher than the previous year. Some in Congress have questioned the Peace Corps' determination of what countries to work in and how many volunteers to place in those countries. The Peace Corps balances budgetary, security, program effectiveness, and country development factors in weighing such decisions. Some, particularly those in the returned volunteer community, would like to see more resources devoted to the Peace Corps' third goal of expanding Americans' understanding of the world. Two programs -- the World Wise Schools and the Peace Corps Fellows Program -- are currently the main activities under the third goal. In 1996, the Peace Corps established a new "Crisis Corps," to provide short-term emergency and humanitarian assistance at the community level. Using current and former volunteers, it has undertaken five assignments to date. In meeting the objectives of the Government Performance and Results Act, the Peace Corps would have difficulty demonstrating its contribution to the goal of promoting world peace and friendship, and shares with other government agencies the problem of measuring level of performance. Inadequate programming and support of volunteers has been a recurrent criticism over the years, which the Peace Corps is attempting to address through new strategic planning methods and efforts to see how volunteers can be better trained and prepared for their assignments. The Peace Corps has made efforts in recent years to improve recruitment, including raising the number of minorities represented and recruiting volunteers with newly required skills, such as those with business backgrounds. It has also taken significant steps to meet health care concerns, including insuring that post-service volunteers were well-informed regarding workers compensation benefits.

Notes:

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