PCOL has asked five prominent RPCVs and Staff to write a memo on the most important issues facing the Peace Corps today . Issues raised include the independence of the Peace Corps, political appointments at the agency, revitalizing the five-year rule, lowering the ET rate, empowering volunteers, removing financial barriers to service, increasing the agency's budget, reducing costs, and making the Peace Corps bureaucracy more efficient and responsive.
On June 25 Senator Chris Dodd introduced the Peace Corps Improvement and Expansion Act of 2009 authorizing funding to double the number of volunteers within three years.
"Inventiveness and duty: two qualities that don’t often go together. But the Peace Corps is the result of just such a combination. It has strengthened our nation, improved the world, and stands today as one of the signal accomplishments of the 20th century. Nothing has meant more in my life, or in the lives of so many others. To those who know and love the Peace Corps, reform is an uncomfortable subject. After all, we don’t want to destroy what has made this institution so remarkable and unique. There wouldn’t be a Peace Corps if JFK had stuck to the script in Ann Arbor. There wouldn’t be a Peace Corps if thousands of students, acting on their own initiative, hadn’t caught his attention with their movement. There might not be a Peace Corps if Sargent Shriver had listened to the respectable voices of caution. The Peace Corps is unlike any other organ of our government because of its uniquely grassroots origin. And we can’t treat it like any other organ of our government. So the Peace Corps Improvement and Expansion Act of 2009 does not include a list of mandates. It does not micromanage. Instead, it asks those who have written this remarkable success story – from the Director to managers and country directors to current and returned volunteers – to serve once more by undertaking a thorough assessment of the Peace Corps and developing a comprehensive strategic plan for reforming and revitalizing the organization."
"We will double the size of the Peace Corps by its 50th anniversary in 2011. And we'll reach out to other nations to engage their young people in similar programs, so that we work side by side to take on the common challenges that confront all humanity," said Barack Obama during his campaign.
On June 13, Returned Peace Corps Volunteers and Friends of the Peace Corps came together in Washington DC to rally and to march to the White House to tell the President we remember his promise to double the Peace Corps. Read our photo essay of the rally and Nepal RPCV Laurence Leamer's commentary on what RPCVs are doing to build a bold, new Peace Corps.
Read our photo essay on the rally and march to the White House in support of a bold new Peace Corps.
"We will double the size of the Peace Corps by its 50th anniversary in 2011. And we'll reach out to other nations to engage their young people in similar programs, so that we work side by side to take on the common challenges that confront all humanity." - Barack Obama, December 5, 2007
What is increasingly apparent is that at its top levels, the Obama administration does not realize that it has reneged on the President's fervent campaign pledge. I know how unlikely that sounds, but it is the truth, and Congressman Howard Berman has done the President an immense service. If the Peace Corps is able to reinvent itself for the 21st century, Berman will deserve a place not simply in the history of the organization but in a new American presence in the world. Obama has a plate piled to overfilling with an endless heaping of intransigent problems, and it is understandable why he has not paid attention to the Peace Corps. But the time has come in the next few weeks when he can ensure this bold new Peace Corps will be a reality. The first thing we should all do is to call the White House at 202 456-1111 between 9 and 5 and tell the operator that we support a bold, new Peace Corps for the new century. Read the rest of Laurence Leamer's article.
"There's a good reason why people fly first-class and stay in luxury hotels: it's an awful lot of fun. But I do think that if a traveller wishes to know how people live, and wishes to gain a little insight in a country, it helps to travel on the ground and stay in simpler places that might not have a big wall around them. Overland travel is obviously more difficult and time-consuming, but it is much more revealing. I could have hopped from capital to capital in travelling through Africa for "Dark Star Safari", but African capitals – new buildings surrounded by preposterous slums – are places to avoid. And you can't say that you have travelled anywhere unless you have crossed a frontier – in a literal and also figurative sense. "Becoming a volunteer teacher in Africa with the Peace Corps changed my life. I was in a bush school, with wonderful students, absolutely cut off – no telephone, no computer. And because I was cut off I had to make friends, learn the language (Chichewa) and get to know the area. I realised that Malawians had dreams of transformation just like mine. I assumed that the Africans I knew would become teachers and doctors, following the example of foreign volunteers. This did not happen, as I saw to my dismay 40 years later." Author Paul Theroux served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Malawi in the 1960's. Read more.
At a time when the Obama administration is seeking to repair the image of the United States around the world, an estimated 20 nations are ready to accept Peace Corps workers. But the agency can't afford to start new programs in all of them. And despite the Peace Corps' still potent image as a symbol of American idealism, reformers say the organization must make fundamental changes to meet modern diplomatic and technological needs. There is also, they say, a reluctance to consider broader foreign policy goals when deciding where to send volunteers. It is a stance that many say undermines the Corps' mission: An organization dedicated to demonstrating America's commitment to understanding other cultures operates in only two Arab countries, Jordan and Morocco. On a strategic level, reformers say, the Peace Corps needs to rethink where it sends volunteers. The organization is adamantly apolitical, and volunteers do not want to be used for short-term foreign policy objectives. But many officials said the Peace Corps is missing an opportunity to improve relations in critical regions, while keeping volunteers in areas where such people-to-people diplomacy is no longer needed.
Byron Battle, the country director in Mexico and former director in Mali, wishes the Peace Corps would expand to India, Turkey, Egypt, Tunisia, Indonesia and - when it's deemed safe - to Pakistan. Other officials would add Vietnam and Brazil to the list. Mark Schneider, who directed the Peace Corps during the last two years of the Clinton administration, hopes volunteers will be sent back to Haiti, where security worries forced the suspension of the Peace Corps there in 2005. "You've got to make sure that the places they're living and working make sense," Schneider said. Meanwhile, others wonder why the Peace Corps is still in Caribbean vacation spots, or in Romania and Bulgaria - both of which are now in the European Union, and could look closer to home for developmental help. The Peace Corps sends English teachers to China, but Strauss believes that China - which owns a great deal of US debt - should be able to pay for the teachers, many of whom work at universities. "I am a firm believer in Peace Corps, but I am not a firm believer that Peace Corps needs to be in every one of the places it is, or that it's an effective use of this very limited amount of money," Strauss said in an interview from Madagascar, where he now is a business consultant. Read more.
This is the new face of the Peace Corps: older - often retired - volunteers, many with years of professional training or advanced degrees, who work with foreign government agencies to advance environmental and scientific goals on their own. Launched in 2005, the Peace Corps Mexico program is a prototype, supporters say, of what the volunteer program should be in many parts of the world. The average age of a volunteer in Mali, where the Boston-born Battle was also country director, was 24. In Mexico, it is 48 (including one 79-year-old), the result of increased Peace Corps recruitment through professional organizations and the AARP. Under the Mexico plan, the country's government reviewed the resumes of Peace Corps-approved applicants, and selected a team of economists and ecologists to work with its own environmental protection agencies. The Mexico program requires five years' experience - and, preferably, a master's degree - for participation. While volunteers perform some field work - married couple Ben and Buffy Lenth, both Colorado ecologists, routinely go into the Sierra Gorda mountains to conduct environmental tests - the Mexico-based volunteers spend much time in offices, helping Mexican officials run their own programs. Read more.
Ex-EPA engineer Paul Ruesch is getting his hands dirty in Mexico, and loving it
Running hand augers and sampling oil-soaked soil as a Peace Corp volunteer has energized the former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency engineer. In the midst of a two-year stint in Mexico -- the Peace Corps´ first in that country -- Ruesch has shed his white-collar duties at EPA for a more hands-on experience. Ruesch, 36, and a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, is one of 25 volunteers advising Mexican businesses and government officials. Instead of organizing conferences about industrial byproducts from the EPA´s Chicago office, Ruesch spends his days at landfills and wastewater treatment plants. Of late, he´s in Leon in central Mexico helping that region´s leather and tanning industries reduce their environmental impact. Ruesch´ s main role is as teacher. He also assists Mexican co-workers on project bids. "When we win them, I help them select the appropriate equipment, buy it and then show them how to use it," he said. Ruesch, now fluent in Spanish after starting from scratch, will leave behind the equipment and, hopefully, pass along some know-how to colleagues, including scientists at the oil company Petroleos Mexicanos, or PEMEX. Before Mexico, Ruesch´s travels abroad opened his eyes "to environmental conditions which made the problems I was working on back home pale in comparison." Mexico´s small, dry and remote landfills don´t generate much leachate or pose great risks to drinking water. Yet, Ruesch said, there is little oversight on where and how these disposal sites operate. More eye opening, though, are the large groups of pepenedores, or garbage pickers, that sift through trash on the working face of Mexican landfills, separating anything that can be reused or sold. "It is not uncommon to see whole families dedicated to this practice [and] specialize in one particular commodity. The others working a particular landfill will respect each other´s domain and not touch the materials that they know another family is recovering," he said. Ruesch´s presence on the Peace Corps team has aided Mexico´s National Council on Science and Technology, too. The council and U.S. EPA are collaborating on a number of projects, thanks to Ruesch, said Hector Raul Pacheco-Vega, senior researcher at the council´s Leon office. Read more.
After nearly half a century of staying out of politics, partly by intent but mostly by law, the Peace Corps now is on the verge of political greatness - or at least bipartisan flattery. And as with so many other Peace Corps triumphs over the years, this latest political achievement was reached through coincidence.
During my six years in the Peace Corps, I can recall but one other instance where political flirtation raised its pretty head. It came after a senior staff meeting to which I had invited Republican senatorial icon Barry Goldwater. After serious questioning on what Kennedy's new agency was all about, Arizona's Goldwater swore that the Peace Corps embodied virtually every one of the most noble aspects and values of the Republican Party.
What the Peace Corps set out as its goals in 1961 coincides almost exactly with what most of our presidential candidates in 2008 have promised to seek at home, e.g. bringing real change, better health care, improved environmental protection, peace by means other than bludgeoning, burnishing the U.S. image abroad (an area in which the Peace Corps has no rival), promoting nonpartisan solutions, better education at all levels, with a major focus on helping the poor and disadvantaged.
As gratifying as it is for us old Peace Corps types to see our presidential candidates getting real about what the world needs now, a very significant question remains. Literally every Peace Corps volunteer comes home recognizing he or she got more than they gave, learned more than they taught and were changed for the good forever. Question: Is there a chance our next president, having talked the Peace Corps talk so faithfully and so long, will be able to stay real and walk the Peace Corps walk (while increasing the Peace Corps budget)?
Mark Schneider writes: Getting answers on Pakistan
This fall offers an opportunity for change. Musharraf's term ends in October, and the following month the National Assembly completes its tenure. For the first time since the October 1999 coup, Musharraf's authoritarian rule appears shaky. His attempts at pre-election rigging -- including his onslaught on judicial independence and the media-- illustrate he refuses to commit to free and fair elections and to leave office if the new Parliament names someone else president. The Pakistani people have registered their desire for a democratic transition with street protests, which have been met by guns and gas. This increasingly vocal opposition, spearheaded by the bar associations, human rights groups, and the media, is channeling public resentment to military rule.
The United States needs to use leverage -- financial and political -- to insist upon free and fair parliamentary and provincial elections, monitored by independent international observers. Anything short of that -- including the call for a state of emergency, postponing elections, or permitting Musharraf to stand for reelection by the current lame-duck assemblies -- will de-legitimize the ballot box. While Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made a useful phone call this week to dissuade Musharraf from declaring emergency rule, much more is needed.
Exiled opposition leaders also must be allowed to return to Pakistan. Pakistan's two national-level parties -- Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party and Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League -- are pragmatic centrist forces that will contain fundamentalism -- not accommodate it. These moderates would not ignore an opportunity to capture Al Qaeda operatives hiding out on their turf, and their election could give US leaders confidence in Pakistan's partnership in the war on terror. If Bhutto and Sharif are not allowed to participate in October's election, their mainstream moderate parties will be further alienated, leaving the political field open to Islamist forces. Reports that Bhutto has been in talks with Musharraf to negotiate her return and work out a power-sharing agreement could be a good first step, but early optimism must be tempered by Musharraf's track record of unwillingness to relinquish any control.
The United States must stay engaged with Pakistan, but engaged in the right way. Supporting a deeply unpopular government -- either tacitly or directly -- is no way to help fight terrorism and neutralize religious extremism. And it puts the United States at even greater risk by feeding the growing anti-American sentiment among pro-democracy Pakistanis. The choice before the United States in Pakistan's election year, with time fast running out, is stark. It can support a return to genuine democracy and civilian rule, which offers the added bonus of containing extremism, or it can sit on the sidelines as Pakistan slides into political chaos, creating an environment in which militancy and radicalism will continue to thrive. Read more.
Mark Schneider is senior vice president of the International Crisis Group and a former director of the Peace Corps.
Caption (top): Former Peace Corps Director Mark Schneider served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in El Salvador.
Caption (bottom): Caption: Pakistani lawyers chant anti-Musharraf slogans during a protest rally in Lahore. Thousands of people rallied against Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf for the first time since violent clashes in Karachi, as the military ruler headed to the still-tense city. Photo: AFP/Arif Ali
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Colin Powell talks about the greatest threat facing us now
What is the greatest threat facing us now? People will say it’s terrorism. But are there any terrorists in the world who can change the American way of life or our political system? No. Can they knock down a building? Yes. Can they kill somebody? Yes. But can they change us? No. Only we can change ourselves. So what is the great threat we are facing?
I would approach this differently, in almost Marshall-like terms. What are the great opportunities out there—ones that we can take advantage of? It should not be just about creating alliances to deal with a guy in a cave in Pakistan. It should be about how do we create institutions that keep the world moving down a path of wealth creation, of increasing respect for human rights, creating democratic institutions, and increasing the efficiency and power of market economies? This is perhaps the most effective way to go after terrorists.
This doesn’t mean there isn’t a terrorist threat. There is a threat. And we should send in military forces when we have a target to deal with. We should also secure our airports, if that makes us safer. But let’s welcome every foreign student we can get our hands on. Let’s make sure that foreigners come to the Mayo Clinic here, and not the Mayo facility in Dubai or somewhere else. Let’s make sure people come to Disney World and not throw them up against the wall in Orlando simply because they have a Muslim name. Let’s also remember that this country was created by immigrants and thrives as a result of immigration, and we need a sound immigration policy.
Let’s show the world a face of openness and what a democratic system can do. That’s why I want to see Guantánamo closed. It’s so harmful to what we stand for. We literally bang ourselves in the head by having that place. What are we doing this to ourselves for? Because we’re worried about the 380 guys there? Bring them here! Give them lawyers and habeas corpus. We can deal with them. We are paying a price when the rest of the world sees an America that seems to be afraid and is not the America they remember.
You can drive up the road from here and come to a spot where there is a megachurch over here, a little Episcopal church over there, a Catholic church around the corner that’s almost cathedral-size, and between them is a huge Hindu temple. There are no police needed to guard any of this. There are not many places in the world where you would see that. Yes, there are a few dangerous nuts in Brooklyn and New Jersey who want to blow up Kennedy Airport and Fort Dix. These are dangerous criminals, and we must deal with them. But come on, this is not a threat to our survival! The only thing that can really destroy us is us. We shouldn’t do it to ourselves, and we shouldn’t use fear for political purposes—scaring people to death so they will vote for you, or scaring people to death so that we create a terror-industrial complex. Read more.
Walsh says it's time to withdraw troops
Rep. Jim Walsh, in a dramatic break with the White House, returned Monday from a trip to Iraq saying it's time to bring troops home and stop funding the war. The moderate Republican from Onondaga representing New York's 25th Congressional District has struggled for months with conflicting emotions about the war. "Before I went, I was not prepared to say it's time to start bringing our troops home," Walsh said. "I am prepared to say that now. It's time." Walsh's announcement came as Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq, told House members that the troop "surge" has made progress. But Walsh said he saw little evidence that much has changed in Iraq since he last visited four years ago. He said he hopes to meet with President Bush to convey his change of heart. Congressman James Walsh of New York served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Nepal in the 1960's. Read more.
Congressman Jim Walsh takes a special interest in Nepal
It goes back a long time. When I was just finishing up my college, I applied for the Peace Corps, and I was accepted in an agriculture program, which surprised me because I had very little practical agriculture experience. I was sent to Nepal. I lived in Nijgarh, Bara. Our district capital was Kalaiya. We had a dera in Birgunj that we shared with four-five of my Peace Corps friends. When we went to the district krishi bikas meeting, we would stay in the dera, and would take the bus back and forth to Kalaiya. It was a very bumpy ride. I worked with farmers in Nijgargh Pachayat. I worked with people who moved down from hills and people who were indigenous in the terai-- the tharus. I grew wheat, corn, rice vegetables. I did a little bit of everything. I was able to see a lot of Nepal while I was there. I traveled to the West: Pokhara and Annapurna, and to Namche and the Everest region. I try to, as best I could, maintain my ties with friends whom I lived with. I email back and forth. I obviously follow the politics and the recent changes in Nepal.
My hope is that I could go and observe the elections. That would be ideal. I think the elections are the critical event in the near term history of Nepal. But when I first came back here in 1991, and the government changed and democracy was established, we wrote to the king, and asked the king to respect the students and people who went to streets asking for democracy. And I saw the impact that the United States had, and I think that the United States continues to play a positive role encouraging democracy. So if I could go for the election, that’s when I would go. Dherai namaskar and namaste to mero daju bhai, didi bahinii, and I miss Nepal, and I am looking forward to coming back. Read more.
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Shalala pledges to continue fight for wounded soldiers
Shalala said she and Dole have every intention of continuing to push the administration and Congress for changes, including amending the Family Medical Leave Act to allow for up to six months leave for a family member of a wounded service member. Most of the recommendations can be implemented by the administration, though some would require legislative approval. To that end, Dole and Shalala made the rounds on Capitol Hill the day after the report's release, meeting with House and Senate leaders to gain their support. Shalala balanced the demands of the commission — visits to various veteran health care facilities around the country and seven public hearings — along with her duties at the university. She also taught a class on the politics of health care to 150 students. "She's type triple A," Dole said, laughing. "I'm a type A, but she's triple A. She's either got the cell phone going, or the Blackberry or she's in a conversation. She doesn't waste any time. She's all business, 'Let's get this done and get this done right."' "I was at the White House when they asked me about the commission and we sort of kicked names around," Dole said. "Donna's name came up and that was the end of the conversation. "I knew it wasn't going to be partisan, but solution driven," Dole said. "We knew there were problems, otherwise there wouldn't be a commission, but we weren't there to review complaints, we were there to solve the problem." University of Miami President and former Clinton Cabinet member Donna Shalala served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Iran in the 1960's. Read more.
Caption: President Bush, right, meets veteran Sgt. Major Mike Welsh who is using the 'Nu Step Machine' as he visits the rehabilitation room at the Washington Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Washington, Monday, Aug. 13, 2007. Former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, left, and former Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala, second from left, co-chairs of the President Commission on Care for America's Returning Wounded Warriors look on. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Morocco RPCV Sue Hilderbrand brings energy, experience to Peace and Justice Center
Since April, Hilderbrand has been director of Chico Peace and Justice Center. A self-described political theorist, she speaks freely and articulately about what she thinks and believes, about what she has read and where she has been. Stopping funding of the war in Iraq is paramount to Hilderbrand. "Right now things like health care and the environment are taking a back seat." Hilderbrand came to Chico two years ago when her partner, cartographer Seth Paine, got a job at the Nature Conservancy. Living in Phoenix and thinking about perhaps a trip to sub-Saharan Africa, the prospect of moving to a California valley town didn't thrill Hilderbrand at first. But she warmed to the idea when she found Chico's Peace and Justice Center online. Hilderbrand met Paine while they were serving in the Peace Corps in Morocco. "I was a rural-socio-economics planner. I worked on a national park, which was the largest cedar forest in Africa. I dealt with social, economic and political forces and saw that they all work together." Read more.
Caption: Sue Hilderbrand, director of Chico Peace and Justice Center, invited people to call Congressman.
Sarah Chayes writes: NATO didn't lose Afghanistan
"In 2003, NATO moved peacekeeping forces into Kabul and parts of northern Afghanistan. But not until 2005, when it was clear that the United States was bogged down in Iraq and lacked sufficient resources to fight on two fronts, did Washington belatedly turn to NATO to take the Afghan south off its hands. And then it misrepresented the situation its allies would find there. NATO was told, in effect, that it would simply need to maintain the order the United States had established and to help with reconstruction and security. In fact, as was clear from the ground, the situation had been deteriorating since late 2002. By 2004, resurgent Taliban were making a concerted push to enter the country from Pakistan, and intensive combat between American forces and Taliban fighters was taking place north of Kandahar." Morocco RPCV Sarah Chayes has made a home in Kandahar, Afghanistan, became fluent in Pashto, one of the main Afghan languages, and devoted her energies to rebuilding a country gutted by two decades of war. Read more.
Caption: Sarah Chayes of NPR and Adam Brooks of the BBC, after the fall of Kabul, but before the Taliban fell, in a town just inside Afghanistan called Spin Boldak. People on the walls stare at the journalists while they apply sunscreen to their faces.
Uzbekistan RPCV John Smart writes: U.S. embassy or is it George W. Bush's palace?
It's not only the largest embassy in the world, it's the largest embassy ever constructed by any nation, anywhere, at any time in history! It's larger than Vatican City and much more secure — the outer walls are 15 feet thick. In a country that has only a couple of hours of electricity a day, the new embassy will have its own generators, and in a society where drinkable water is a scarce and precious commodity, it will have its own water filtration system. The people outside those 15-foot walls might get a bit testy about this display of wealth, don't you think? The Iraqis, accustomed as they were to Saddam's numerous marble extravaganzas are referring to this mega-complex as "George W's Palace." Again, I wonder why? It's costing us billions for sure, although that information is apparently classified. Don't you think we should know what it's for? Or maybe we do know what it's for. Maybe it's all of a piece with the expensive and evidently permanent military bases that the Bush administration is building in Iraq. Maybe the plan all along was to occupy this keystone country in the Middle East for the foreseeable future. Maybe that's why George W. Bush is so angered by the congress's repeated attempts to put timelines and deadlines on our occupation forces: He has no intention of us ever leaving. Read more.
Caption: Blueprints for the new US Embassy in Iraq.
Chris Dodd says no easy election for Democrats in 2008
Democratic presidential hopeful Chris Dodd warned his fellow party members not to get lulled into believing the 2008 election will produce the same sweeping victories that Democrats enjoyed last November. "There’s an assumption that people are making that any Democrat can win in ’08," said Dodd, a U.S. senator from Connecticut who has won seven elections since arriving in Congress in 1974. "I don’t believe that." "This is about leadership, it’s about proven ability, it’s about the ability to go with bold ideas and not half measures that I think the country is desperate and hungry for," said Dodd, who attended a minor league baseball game, a farmers market and addressed Iowa’s largest state employees’ union during his latest campaign swing. Read more.
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Chuck Ludlam and Paula Hirschoff write: Renewing the Bond of Trust with Volunteers
At its founding, the Peace Corps was premised on a radical and idealistic notion that many thought was impractical and even outlandish. It took bold vision and risk taking—a New Frontier mentality, a land-on-the-moon mentality—to give this notion a try. The notion was that we could trust Americans, mostly young Americans, to envision what it would take to improve the lives of villagers in the developing world, to survive hardships, and to make the best of the situation and its challenges. It took visionaries like Sargent Shriver, Bill Moyers and Harris Wofford—leaders who trusted and listened to Volunteers—to put this brilliant idea into practice.
Over the decades, there has been no change in Volunteers that warrants a diminution of this bond of trust. As stated above, we are impressed with the Volunteers with whom we serve. Almost without exception, they are idealistic, resourceful and hard working. We find that they are more mature and wise to the world than we were at their age. We are proud to serve with them, and know that many will be friends for life. We invite you to visit the Volunteers in the field to see for yourself. We believe you will be inspired as we are.
Unfortunately, today some Peace Corps managers seem to assume that Volunteers are slackers and adolescents needing strict rules and discipline. Volunteers often get the impression that the managers don't trust us. They often seem to act as if Volunteers need to be tethered so that we won't embarrass the Country Director or generate a Congressional inquiry. When the agency suffers a rare negative incident, its instinct is to construct a bulwark of paperwork and rules in hopes of preventing a recurrence. En loco parentis condescension and risk aversion seem to be common attitudes.
One probable cause of condescension is the substantial age differential between managers and Volunteers, who tend to be straight out of college with little work experience. These skewed demographics might pose problems, but they do not justify treating Volunteers like juveniles. The Volunteers may be young, but they are exceptional individuals with deep insights into their work, their sites, and their needs at site. Condescension is sure to discourage older Volunteers from serving.
Hierarchical organizations, like the present-day Peace Corps, are notoriously poor at listening. They tend to command, dictate and impose, demoralizing Volunteers in the process. In many cases what Volunteers hear from the managers are demands—to write more reports or comply with more rules. Predictably, some Volunteers become resentful and unproductive or they terminate their service early.
Early termination is a plague in the Peace Corps. It squanders the expenses of the selection process, screening, site preparation, training and settling in. It dashes the hopes and expectations of the community in which the Volunteer was serving. The best way to reduce ETs is for the Peace Corps to listen better to what the Volunteers need to be effective and productive, as S. 732 commands.
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Michael O'Hanlon writes: We are finally getting somewhere in Iraq
In war, sometimes it’s important to pick the right adversary, and in Iraq we seem to have done so. A major factor in the sudden change in American fortunes has been the outpouring of popular animus against Al Qaeda and other Salafist groups, as well as (to a lesser extent) against Moktada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army. These groups have tried to impose Shariah law, brutalized average Iraqis to keep them in line, killed important local leaders and seized young women to marry off to their loyalists. The result has been that in the last six months Iraqis have begun to turn on the extremists and turn to the Americans for security and help. The most important and best-known example of this is in Anbar Province, which in less than six months has gone from the worst part of Iraq to the best (outside the Kurdish areas). Today the Sunni sheiks there are close to crippling Al Qaeda and its Salafist allies. Just a few months ago, American marines were fighting for every yard of Ramadi; last week we strolled down its streets without body armor.
But for now, things look much better than before. American advisers told us that many of the corrupt and sectarian Iraqi commanders who once infested the force have been removed. The American high command assesses that more than three-quarters of the Iraqi Army battalion commanders in Baghdad are now reliable partners (at least for as long as American forces remain in Iraq).
In addition, far more Iraqi units are well integrated in terms of ethnicity and religion. The Iraqi Army’s highly effective Third Infantry Division started out as overwhelmingly Kurdish in 2005. Today, it is 45 percent Shiite, 28 percent Kurdish, and 27 percent Sunni Arab.
In the past, few Iraqi units could do more than provide a few “jundis” (soldiers) to put a thin Iraqi face on largely American operations. Today, in only a few sectors did we find American commanders complaining that their Iraqi formations were useless — something that was the rule, not the exception, on a previous trip to Iraq in late 2005.
Michael O'Hanlon, a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute and a Visiting Lecturer at Princeton University, served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Congo Kinshasa. Read more.
Phillip Carter writes: Why O'Hanlon's latest good news from Iraq doesn't matter
In 1975, Army Col. Harry Summers went to Hanoi as chief of the U.S. delegation's negotiation team for the four-party military talks that followed the collapse of the South Vietnamese government. While there, he spent some time chatting with his North Vietnamese counterpart, Col. Tu, an old soldier who had fought against the United States and lived to tell his tale. With a tinge of bitterness about the war's outcome, Summers told Tu, "You know, you never defeated us on the battlefield." Tu replied, in a phrase that perfectly captured the American misunderstanding of the Vietnam War, "That may be so, but it is also irrelevant."
Today, in Iraq, we face a similar conundrum. Our vaunted military has won every battle against insurgents and militias—from the march up to the "thunder runs" that took Baghdad; the assaults on Fallujah to the battles for Sadr City. And yet we still find ourselves stuck in the sands of Mesopotamia. In a New York Times op-ed published Monday, Brookings Institution scholars Michael O'Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack argue that "[w]e are finally getting somewhere in Iraq, at least in military terms." They go on to describe the myriad ways the surge is succeeding on the security front. But in emphasizing this aspect of current operations, they downplay the more critical questions relating to political progress and the ability of Iraq's national government to actually govern. Security is not an end in itself. It is just one component, albeit an important one, of a comprehensive counterinsurgency strategy. Unless it is paired with a successful political strategy that consolidates military gains and translates increased security into support from the Iraqi people, these security improvements will, over time, be irrelevant.
O'Hanlon and Pollack report progress from several diverse Iraqi cities, including Sunni-dominated Ramadi, Arab-Kurdish-Turkman Tal Afar and Mosul, and Shiite-Sunni Baghdad. Curiously, the scholars' dispatch ignores Baqubah, Samarra, Kirkuk, and the areas south of Baghdad—places with the highest sectarian tensions, worst fighting, and least progress.
The short, selective itinerary raises questions about who planned the trip, whom O'Hanlon and Pollack were able to talk with, and what they actually saw—as opposed to what they were briefed on during visits to U.S. bases. At best, these two men saw enough of Iraq to get a glimpse of reality there. At worst, they saw a Potemkin Village of success stories, not unlike the picture shown to visiting congressional delegations, that left them with a false vision of progress. Read more.
Read more about RPCV Michael O'Hanlon.
Read more about RPCVs and Iraq.
China has been using a new approach to public diplomacy to expand its influence and global appeal
It's an approach at which the United States once excelled but now does badly. Call it "soft power." This term was coined over a decade ago by Harvard professor Joseph Nye to describe a country's ability to lead by example and get others to follow because they admire what you are. The Chinese have expanded people-to-people diplomacy, set up their own Peace Corps, and trained diplomats to speak local languages and appear on local TV shows.
China took advantage of the decline of America's soft power even before the Iraq war. That decline began in Asia when U.S. officials were perceived as indifferent to the suffering caused by the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s. Our soft power eroded further when we eviscerated the United States Information Service and its cultural centers during the 1990s. Then came Iraq. President George W. Bush touts the need for public diplomacy. But his appointment of Karen Hughes as public diplomacy czar has been a failure, as evidenced by poll after depressing poll.
What's so disturbing about "Charm Offensive" is the larger problem it illuminates. America is no longer taking advantage of its greatest strength: leading the community of democracies by example. Our diplomacy, as Kurlantzick notes, is preoccupied with Iraq and the "war against terrorism" to the exclusion of other countries' concerns. Read more.
Beijing has created a Chinese version of the Peace Corps to send idealistic young Chinese on long-term volunteer service projects to developing nations like Laos and Burma
In the past decade, China has upgraded its public diplomacy, which has focused on selling the idea that China will not be a threat to other nations. China’s public diplomacy efforts reinforce the concept of peaceful development. They include museum exhibits in Malaysia and Singapore to celebrate the 600th anniversary of the voyages of Zheng He, a Chinese admiral who sailed across Asia, encountering but never conquering other nations.
Part of this new public diplomacy has been increasing cultural exchanges with Southeast Asia. China has begun hosting overseas scholars, the kind of programming the US State Department has long done.
Beijing also has created a Chinese version of the Peace Corps, run by the China Association of Youth Volunteers, to send idealistic young Chinese on long-term volunteer service projects to developing nations like Laos and Burma. Read more.
Young Chinese idealists vie to join their 'Peace Corps' in Africa
Across the border from South Sudan, in the small Ethiopian village of Asossa, Sun Yingtao, a young agriculture student from Hebei Province in China, is teaching subsistence farmers – many of them refugees from war-torn Sudan – techniques for getting good yields out of their meager lands.
Seconded to the Ethiopian Department of Rural Development, Mr. Sun spends his days trying to identify various vegetable diseases, discussing possible alternative water usage, and debating the pros and cons of sowing onions and peppers in rows or in a scattered fashion.
Sun, who has been here for six months, is a civilian volunteer – one of a group of 50 young men and women who have been sent by the Chinese government as part of a new, experimental "peace corps" project in the country. This is the program's second year, and there are small volunteer groups in three locations: Ethiopia, the Seychelles, and Zimbabwe – three countries of limited economic importance for China.
Tens of thousands of young Chinese went through a rigorous three-month application process last year to compete for a spot on the volunteer team, says Liu Wei, another volunteer in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa. And, though small now, the program is expected to expand.
Last November, at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, President Hu Jintao said China would send 300 young volunteers to Africa by 2009 to do jobs ranging from teaching Chinese to introducing poultry technologies to introducing traditional Chinese medicinal treatments in local hospitals. Read more.
Caption: Sun Yingtao, A Chinese volunteer in rural Ethiopia, helps local farmers use techniques to get better yields for their crops. Photo: Danna Harman
Read more about Peace Corps China.
Read more about the Peace Corps and Public Diplomacy.
Sierra Leone RPCV Eric R. Green writes: Will the coming oil crisis be the end of suburbia?
Every semester I’ve shown “End of Suburbia” to my classes to mixed reviews to the message. I’ve warned them that it will be too expensive for most Americans to own big trucks or SUVs, especially at the current way they are made to consume gas. This means our lives are going to change dramatically. Predicting social change can be difficult, especially for long-term future.
The worst-case scenario is the total decline in our economy with a depression, social disorder and wars between states and communities for the remaining sources, much like the CBS TV action series “Jericho” in which residents of a small Kansas town are cut off from the rest of the world after major terrorist attacks.
The best-case scenario is that we have minor inconveniences and we find ways to use energy more efficiently and wisely. Alternative energy sources will need to be developed to their full potential, out of necessity, like wind and solar. Whatever happens there is one truth that many Americans will have to face. We must change our lifestyles. We cannot continue to use natural resources the same way we have in the past and present.
Is there a political solution? With the national election coming up in 2008, some of the presidential candidates in both parties are talking about energy policy and this crisis, but few are telling us that we have to give up our lifestyles and big SUVs.
Even if it’s the truth, who is going to vote for a candidate who tells us we have to live with less in the future? What we will need is a “World War II kind of effort” to deal with this issue just like the “greatest generation” that had to deal with in personal sacrifice and rationing of goods and services. Our current greedy culture stresses individuality above all so the psychological aspects of this type of change will be one of our biggest challenges. Read more.
Michael O'Hanlon claims "soft partition" already occurring in Iraq
Although senior Iraqi officials have strongly opposed a partition and the Bush administration has no interest in it, O'Hanlon claims that it's already occurring. "It is what's happening on the ground. Iraq is being torn apart; Iraq is being divided along sectarian lines whether most Iraqis want it or not. Al-Qaida strategy in that regard has been working," he said. "Iraq is being ethnically segregated. Ethnic cleansing is on its way, it's happening, and at least a couple million people have been displaced. It's becoming Bosnia in some ways.
"We would rather manage the process than have the death squads and the militias do the separation for us," O'Hanlon said. "The United States cannot impose partition for Iraq. Only Iraqis can decide this," Joseph said. "Iraqis have already agreed to an extent. The constitution already contains the fundamental vision for a soft partition." The plan would call for American troops to stay in Iraq for 12 to 18 months in order to help protect Iraqis relocating to their own sect's region. Although such a move would be voluntary, Joseph said the pressure of being a minority in a hostile neighborhood would eventually sway those who decide not to move.
Regional boundaries would have to be drawn, with outside help, to mediate any arguments over territory. Those who would have to be uprooted, estimated at 5 million by O'Hanlon and Joseph, would then have to be given assistance in building a new life. That would be done through a house-swapping scheme and a job-creation program, which should create 3 million jobs paying roughly $1,000 a year.
Michael O'Hanlon, a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute and a Visiting Lecturer at Princeton University, served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Congo Kinshasa. Read more.
A post made on PCOL from volunteers in Tanzania alleges that Ambassador Michael
Retzer has acted improperly in revoking the country clearance of Country Director Christine Djondo. A statement from Peace Corps' Press Office says that the Peace Corps strongly disagrees with the ambassador’s decision and that her removal will have an adverse effect on the program in Tanzania. In an apparently unrelated story, the White House has announced that Retzer is being replaced as Ambassador. Our in-depth report follows.
Caption: Ambassador Michael Retzer cuts the ribbon to the new Msata Health Center in Tanzania.
Post made to PCOL from volunteers in Tanzania
We are US Peace Corps volunteers serving in the United Republic of Tanzania. We are writing this letter because the US Ambassador's recent involvement in Peace Corps Tanzania has outraged us and inspired us to seek answers from our elected officials back home. Tanzania's United States Ambassador, Michael Retzer, recently chose to curtail the country clearance of our Peace Corps Country Director, Christine Djondo, after she refused to resign her position and leave voluntarily. The Ambassador illegitimately removed Ms. Djondo from her position for defending the rights of Peace Corps. We as Peace Corps Volunteers in Tanzania are appalled that a public official used his office to coerce a federal employee into advancing his political agenda. This is a formal expression of our opposition to Ambassador Retzer's decision, and we request an investigation of this matter.
While the United States government supervises the Peace Corps, the program was specifically designed to keep us volunteers separate from US Embassies and their political affiliations. Disregarding this precaution, Ambassador Michael Retzer pressured our Country Director to merge the operations of Peace Corps/ Tanzania and the US Embassy by co-locating the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) office at the Embassy. Furthermore, he wanted to combine the Embassy's and the Peace Corps' Motor Pools and Health units in order to reduce the budget of the United States Mission. In these situations, Ambassador Retzer allowed Ms. Djondo no opportunity for compromise.
Peace Corps has remained independent since its inception in 1961 and it is indisputable that the Ambassador's demands infringed upon its sovereignty as a unique and autonomous organization. Furthermore, by disrespecting Peace Corps' independence in relation to the hiring and firing of staff members, some of Ambassador Retzer's plans may be considered in contempt of the Peace Corps Act (Section 2509A).
A United States Ambassador does not have the power to fire a Peace Corps Country Director: only the Director of the US Peace Corps in Washington has the entitlement to appoint or dismiss a Country Director. Consequently, Ambassador Retzer's only means to remove Ms. Djondo was to take the drastic step of revoking her country clearance. The Ambassador claimed to have little confidence in Director Djondo's leadership ability and therefore made this decision in order to "save" our program.
Ambassador Retzer's agenda for PC/Tanzania could have had a devastating effect on our safety, our relationships in our communities, and on our morale as independent volunteers. We firmly believe Ms. Djondo made the right decision in resisting his intimidation. Ms. Djondo worked diligently to effectively and safely direct our program and continually demonstrated excellent leadership. We thank her for adamantly defending Peace Corps' independence, for consistently upholding the ideals stated in the Peace Corps Act, and for tirelessly supporting the needs of her volunteers despite political pressures that ultimately forced her to leave the country.
On June 8, 2007, the date designated by Ambassador Retzer, Ms. Djondo and her family left Tanzania for Washington DC where she will retain a position at Peace Corps Headquarters. We believe Ms. Djondo has been punished by Ambassador Retzer for defending the security of Peace Corps Volunteers. We are writing today to express our disbelief and indignation at Mr. Retzer's audacious behavior as a public official.
As current and former Peace Corps Volunteers and citizens of the United States of America, we kindly request investigation into his potential misuse of power.
Sincerely, Peace Corps Volunteers – Tanzania
If questions or comments, feel free to contact: [email protected] This is an address created by the many PCVs in country in support of Christine! We will respond at our earliest convenience. Asante sana.
Statement from Peace Corps' Press Office
Christine Djondo served in Tanzania for nearly two years and also served with distinction as the Peace Corps Country Director in Lesotho and Gabon. She has demonstrated the leadership and management qualities that exemplify a successful country director. She has accomplished a great deal as the country director of one of Peace Corps’ largest and most successful programs in all of Africa, supporting both Volunteers and staff and maintaining strong relations with the Government of Tanzania. During her tenure as country director in Tanzania, there has been a pronounced increase in Volunteer satisfaction with their experience and the support they receive from staff.
The Peace Corps has always had full confidence in Ms. Djondo as country director. Unfortunately, U.S. Ambassador Michael Retzer did not concur and has exercised his authority as chief of mission to withdraw the authorization for Ms. Djondo to remain in country.
Peace Corps strongly disagrees with the ambassador’s decision and has let him know the adverse effects this decision will have on the Peace Corps program in Tanzania, including the morale of Volunteers, new trainees, and staff. Because of the number of staff transitions in Tanzania, the June training class is being reduced by half to ensure adequate support for currently serving Volunteers and the new training class.
The Peace Corps has always maintained an excellent partnership with the government of Tanzania, which has given strong support to the Peace Corps program at the national and local levels. The Peace Corps is proud of its relationship with Tanzania, one that began when the first ever Peace Corps Volunteers arrived in August, 1961, and the agency looks forward to continuing its strong partnership.
More about Tanzania Country Director Christine Djondo
Christine A. Djondo has been Peace Corps Country Director in Lesotho, Gabon, and Tanzania. She is a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer who served in Cameroon for four years between 1984 and 1989 working with Credit Unions and Cooperatives. She served as Country Director for Lesotho from 2001 to 2003, Country Director for Gabon from 2003 to 2005, and Country Director for Tanzania from 2005 to the present.
Prior to returning to the Peace Corps in a staff position, she was the Senior Program Officer for Special Programs at the Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES). In this capacity, she worked with the Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence and Occasional Lecturer Programs, which are aimed at helping to internationalize minority-serving institutions, community colleges and those colleges in the United States that normally do not have the opportunity to host a foreign scholar. She also helped plan the annual visiting scholar conference, worked with the metropolitan coordinators and assisted with diversity issues at CIES.
Ms. Djondo previously worked for CIES for five years in the early nineties when she was a Program Officer for Africa programs. In the four years she was away from CIES, she worked for the Institute of International Education (IIE) on USAID training programs with Egypt, South Africa, Namibia, the Philippines and Panama. She also served as the Assistant Director of Education Abroad at Ohio University in Athens. Ms. Djondo is very involved with the African Studies Association and NAFSA: Association of International Educators where she has chaired several panels and a workshop on Africa. She recently served as Co-Chair for the Virginia Delegation to the National Summit on Africa held in D.C. this past February.
Ms. Djondo has an M.A. in African Studies from Ohio University, Athens; a B.S. in Human Development from the University of Connecticut, Storrs; and an A.S. in Accounting and Business Administration from Manchester Community College, CT. Ms. Djondo also served and worked for the U.S. Peace Corps in Cameroon for four years.
Caption: Cutting the cake at the ceremony for the 45th anniversary of the Peace Corps are from left: PC Tanzania Country Director Christine Djondo, Minister for Regional Administration & Local Government Mizengo Pinda, Returned PC Volunteer who served in Dar es Salaam and Mwanza, 1962-64 Susan Proctor and Current PC volunteer, Morogoro 2004-2006 Photo: Dianna English
Read more about Peace Corps Tanzania, one of the first countries that welcomed the Peace Corps.
Public diplomacy must rest on sound public policy
When President Kennedy in his inaugural address spoke of "a long twilight struggle," he signaled that the Cold War was the challenge and framework defining U.S. foreign policy, as it already had been through previous Republican and Democratic presidencies.
The current challenge is not a struggle against a totalitarian foe. It is not an ideological war. It is not a battle against an enemy called "Islamofascism." Most important, it is not a struggle for national survival against an existential threat. Jihadism and its use of terror are a dangerous threat, but they do not, and cannot, destroy the United States as the Soviet Union could do. From these false assumptions flow false choices, including the false choice between law enforcement and the administration's so-called war paradigm. Instead, law enforcement and military force both must be essential instruments, along with diplomacy, including public diplomacy.
Public diplomacy is not about meeting and greeting, working the rope line, shaking hands or kissing babies. It is not a political campaign. And it is not about convincing Muslim peoples that we too are monotheistic. Public diplomacy rests on policy, and to begin with, the policy must be sound.
The Bush policy has been refuted, but we still must cope with its consequences, and will have to cope with them after 18 more months of inevitable damage. The administration's assumptions have evaporated, but their precipitation remains. But just because Bush has broken things does not mean that the next president must rebuild those very things. Indeed, they cannot be rebuilt because the cracks and fissures were already in the making. As the next administration picks up the pieces, it cannot put Humpty Dumpty back together again.
One characteristic of the Bush administration's false premises, and perhaps the one that has most damaged the nation's reputation, is that its idea of America and its notion of American exceptionalism -- Messianic and Manichaean -- is the only idea of America. But there is another idea of the country, which began even before the country was a nation, before America became the United States, a nation under law. John Winthrop said (and has been cited by Republican and Democratic presidents since) that we must be "as a city upon a hill." The next sentence is: "The eyes of all people are upon us."
We must be unblinkered and unillusioned, conscious of "a decent respect to the opinions of mankind," as our Declaration of Independence put it, with the sense that America never is alone or isolated -- and not ultimately because we are scrutinized by others but because we understand ourselves and our history. America can begin to recover its reputation in the world only through self-recovery. Read more.
Mark Gearan Calls for Service, engaged constituency
Mark Gearan, president of Hobart & William Smith Colleges and former director of the U.S. Peace Corps, spoke at Cornell University in a speech titled, “Public Service in the 21st Century.” Gearan was invited to Cornell as a part of the 2006-07 Colloquium Series presented by The Cornell Institute for Public Affairs.
Gearan asked those in the audience who are thinking about international development to look into becoming involved with the Peace Corps. “Allow me this commercial,” said Gearan, “to encourage you to think about the [U.S.] Peace Corps service.” Gearan said the satisfaction experienced by Peace Corps volunteers is nothing less than significant. Peace Corps volunteers make a 27 month commitment to the Corps. He conveyed that 9 out of 10 volunteers surveyed while working in the field would choose to volunteer again, while the same ratio of volunteers would recommend the experience to others.
Gearan defined the term “public service” as being comprised of two parts: “community service and volunteerism aspect and a public service aspect” in regards to public service with federal and state governments. “When we look back at our past as Americans, there has been an ethic of service since our founding,” said Gearan. “From minutemen, to thee early founding fathers [who established] our country in the deep routes of freedom, to Alexis de Tocqueville who was struck by the efforts of [early American] ‘joiners,’ those getting involved in their communities and meeting houses, we have [historically] fostered this sense of volunteerism during times of crisis, war and peace,” said Gearan.
Gearan expressed concern regarding the importance of volunteerism as reflected by U.S. government spending. Each year, numerous applicants are turned away by the Peace Corps because the Corps simply cannot afford to fund enough projects. “Why has the most fortunate country in the world said ‘no’ to these volunteers?” asked Gearan. “We spend more on our military marching band than on the Peace Corps. Not my priority.”
When the room opened up for questions, an AmeriCorps alumna raised concern over the budget cuts of both the Peace Corp and AmeriCorps. “Funding is being slightly shaved off every year,” said Gearan. Because there is no one really fighting against it, there is also no one strongly fighting for it. “Without an engaged constituency [the Corps] suffers.” Read more.
More about Mark Gearan
President Gearan’s appointment to Hobart and William Smith in 1999
made him one of the nation’s youngest college presidents. In the course
of his tenure, he has reinforced the Colleges’ commitment to global
understanding and study abroad opportunities, community service and
service-learning, with the goal of providing these elements through
contemporary facilities and state-of-the-art technology.
When named president, Gearan was serving as director of the Peace Corps in Washington, D.C., a post he assumed in 1995. Under his leadership, the Peace Corps experienced a resurgence of interest. The Colleges also have progressed under his guidance. Prior to his Peace Corps directorship, President Gearan served at the White House as Assistant to the President and Director of Communications, as well as Deputy Chief of Staff during the Clinton administration. During the 1992 presidential campaign, he was Al Gore’s campaign manager, segueing to the position of Deputy Director of President-elect Clinton’s transition team.
President Gearan serves on the boards of the Corporation for National and Community Service, which operates the community-based service programs AmeriCorps and ServiceCorps; and The Partnership of Public Service, a group aimed at encouraging young people to pursue federal service careers. Additionally, he served as chair of the National Campus Compact and he is also a member of the Independent College Fund of New York. Read more.