Fifty years in the making, the Peace Corps name has grown synonymous with changing the world, experiencing a new culture, and promoting the United State image in countries around the globe. By being involved in community service, you have all heard of the Peace Corps before, perhaps even attended an information session, or know/knew a friend who is currently serving/served.
There might have been several books published on a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer’s (RPCV) experience serving abroad, but there has never been a large-scale, independently pursued, survey of RPCVs. John Bridgeland, Harris Wofford, Kevin Quigley, and Jessica Milano were the key researchers for the study sent out to just over 11,000 RPCVs. This study was created to gain insight as to why people joined the Peace Corps, what their experiences were, and how well they feel they advanced the Peace Corps three main goals.
The Peace Corps’ three main goals are as follows:
1. Helping people from interested countries meet their need for trained men and women
2. Help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of peoples served
3. Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans
After reading the report, the most interesting statistic that stood out to me was that only thirty percent of RPCVs were confident that they had accomplished their assignment goals. As the paper goes on to state, only a handful of people truly felt that their assignment goals were clear cut and to the point.
If you would like to read the full report, which I encourage you all to do, you can read it Here. I would be very interested to hear what you all think about the facts and figures presented in this paper and if you have considered joining the Peace Corps. Just leave a comment below.