Peace Corps Approach to Development

A very interesting thing happened the other day at training. We were asked what the Peace Corps’ philosophy was. Not surprisingly, no one could really answer it. Our trainers then questioned why we all dedicated two years of our lives to an organization we didn’t know the philosophy of. The Peace Corps must be doing something right I guess…Thus we delved into the Peace Corps’ approach to development:

“If you are planning for a year, sow rice.

If you are planning for a decade, plant a tree.

If you are planning for a lifetime, educate people” – Chinese Proverb

Okay so now we have an organization that based their philosophy on a Chinese Proverb…just wait.

To often we just sow the rice. We do what needs to be done in that moment however, where is the long-term effects in that. You come to Africa for two years, work in a field sowing rice for the village and the village eats. What happens when you leave though? What about planting trees, they last longer and will still be there after you leave in two years. But will they survive without you there? So now you are thinking: educate people, that’s the key! Well sure it is, but if you only educate people, they wont have rice. So what do you do? This is what the Peace Corps questioned, answered, and has been doing since its formation.

The History of Development
            Development today is referred to very commonly as a “buzzword”. In other words, it is very difficult to define yet everyone understands it, many people study and work for it, and if you throw it around enough you may get some grant money here and there. But still, what really is it, how did it become what it is today, and how does the Peace Corps see it?

Immediately following the end of World War II Europe was in shambles, there was little infrastructure that had survived the war. Money was given to the European nations to rebuild and thus became the blueprint for development. However, and important thing to note in this initial situation though is that the people receiving and using the money were smart and educated people. Anyway, this led to the 50s being the era of modernization not just in Europe but all over the world. Money was pumped into countries and foreign lands in order to make them more accessible and bring them up to speed with the rest of the world. In the 60s though it was realized that there was no way to keep up all this new infrastructure if no one knew how to maintain it. Couple this with the fallings of European colonialism and you have a nation strongly dependent on someone for engagement in the affairs needed to run everything. This is just a fancy way of saying this was the age of dependency because it provided strong incentives for some kind of government engagement. Some nations came out higher and lower than others and in the 70s we saw the World Systems Theory come to the fore of international relations. Here the world was divided into what we know today as the first world/third world/ and occasionally second world.  Now the world knew where to put their “development” money into however the quality of life of many people still was not improving. Thus in the 80s the goal was an ultimate reduction in poverty and an increase in the quality of life of the targeted people/population/location. But still the question remained: How will we know that the quality of life has improved, that if we leave the situation will remain better than it was when we left, that what we did mattered or changed a life? The period we are in now is how to make development quantifiable. We see the emergence of many international indicators such as the Human Development Index. Throughout all this change though, Peace Corps’ approach to development has remained the same: they work to the people, for the people, through the people, with the people, empowering the people for development. The point of all the previous ramble though was because if it wasn’t for the initial developments in the 50s 60s and 70s with regards to what they believed was development, the Peace Corps would not be able to do their job. With out the unkept roads, the minimal but still available access to clean water, spotty electricity, and rundown/worn out buildings, Peace Corps volunteers would not be able to get to or live in the communities they are currently serving around the world.

More formally put, the Peace Corps approach to development is to “Help people develop the capacity to use their own resources and skills to resolve their needs and improve their own lives.” They accomplish this through 7 techniques:

People-to-people: Focusing on people, not things

Process=product: HOW we get from A to B is just as important as getting to B

Bottom-Up: People defining their own development agenda

Long Term Vision: No quick fixes or temporary solutions

Participatory & Inclusive: Everyone has a voice and owns the process

Capacity Building: The greatest resource is the human one

Sustainability: ”A process whereby people learn to build on their strengths in order to take charge of their own lives and to address their expressed needs.”

So where do I fit in with all of this? The Peace Corps has three goals. The first one is “helping the people in interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women.” The specific role of a volunteer is a very unique one. Actually the role of a Peace Corps one is. While volunteers all over the world do wonderful things, there is no other organization in the world that makes the volunteer become part of the community they are serving. By integrating into the places they are living and serving, a Peace Corps Volunteer plays multiple roles including a mentor, co-planner, co-facilitator, co-trainer, change agent, and even learner (also another word for student). They are the agents in finding a common ground between their assignment as a PCV, the national priorities of the host country, and the local priorities of the host community. This “volunteer card” also allows one to connect groups, people, communities, etc. who may have otherwise never been brought together. Integration into your community brings trust and naivety of current community dynamics presents a unique opportunity to try something ground breaking.

In a public service announcement from the 1960’s John F Kennedy said that joining the Peace Corps was the most important thing you can do for your country. With that being said, the Peace Corps is also supported by many more people than the military is. It has enough bi-partisan support in Congress to keep it alive however its budget has flat-lined. That budget that provides able-bodied Americans for thousands of communities all over the world, promoting American values, changing lives, opening eyes to opportunities, and building relationships that are the foundation for a new global consciousness is smaller than the Marine Corps bank account. Just something to think about.