The Peace Corps: Background and Issues for Congress (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
March 6, 1998 |
| Report Number |
98-215 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Curt Tarnoff, Foreign Affairs and National Defense Division |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
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.
