The Peace Corps, a Comprehensive Agency Assessment

The Peace Corps A Comprehensive Agency Assessment June 2010 The Peace Corps A Comprehensive Agency Assessment Final Report June 2010 THIS PAGE LEFT INTENTIONALLY BLANK Table of Contents I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................................... 1 A. A VISION FOR THE PEACE CORPS AT FIFTY ........................................................... 1 B. THE PEACE CORPS’ MISSION AND THREE GOALS ................................................ 2 C. THE AGENCY ASSESSMENT ........................................................................................ 2 C.1. Background ................................................................................................................... 2 C.2. Assessment methodology .............................................................................................. 3 C.3. Organization of the report ............................................................................................. 3 II. VISION ......................................................................................................................................................................... 5 A. VISION FOR THE PEACE CORPS AT FIFTY ............................................................... 5 B. THE PEACE CORPS’ MISSION AND THREE GOALS ................................................ 6 C. LESSONS LEARNED: CRITICAL ELEMENTS OF A STRATEGY FOR THE PEACE CORPS ............................................................................................................................... 6 C.1. Meaningful work ........................................................................................................... 7 C.2. Partner ........................................................................................................................... 7 C.3. Niche ............................................................................................................................. 7 C.4. Volunteers ..................................................................................................................... 7 D. THE PEACE CORPS’ SIX POINT STRATEGY ............................................................. 7 E. NEW STRATEGIES TO MAGNIFY PEACE CORPS’ PRESENCE, IMPACT AND REACH .............................................................................................................................. 8 F. IMPLEMENTATION ...................................................................................................... 16 G. PLAN OF ACTION ......................................................................................................... 16 H. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, RECOMMENDATIONS, AND STRATEGY FOR IMPLEMENTATION ...................................................................................................... 18 III. BACKGROUND AND ASSESSMENT METHODOLOGY ..................................................................................... 21 A. THE PEACE CORPS – A BRIEF HISTORY ................................................................. 21 A.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................. 21 A.2. Volunteer activities by program area .......................................................................... 22 B. THE PEACE CORPS’ RELEVANCE IN TODAY’S WORLD ..................................... 25 C. THE IMPACT OF FUNDING ON THE AGENCY’S OPERATIONS ........................... 26 D. THE AGENCY-WIDE ASSESSMENT .......................................................................... 28 D.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................. 28 D.2. Methodology ............................................................................................................... 28 D.3. The assessment team ................................................................................................... 30 D.4. The agency assessment advisory committee ............................................................... 32 i D.5. The independent review process ................................................................................. 32 IV. ADJUSTING VOLUNTEER PLACEMENT TO REFLECT PRIORITY UNITED STATES INTERESTS, COUNTRY NEEDS AND COMMITMENT TO SHARED GOALS, AND VOLUNTEER SKILLS ............................................................................................................................................... 35 A. DESCRIPTION OF THE CURRENT PROCESS ........................................................... 35 A.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................. 35 A.2. Overview of the decision making process ................................................................... 35 A.3. Entry or re-entry into a country ................................................................................... 36 A.4. Allocating Volunteer and other resources among Peace Corps countries ................... 38 A.5. Country closures and suspensions in the last ten years ............................................... 39 A.6. Reflecting priority United States interests ................................................................... 40 A.7. Country need versus Volunteer and other resource allocation .................................... 43 A.8. Meeting country needs – measuring impact ................................................................ 45 A.9. Conclusions ................................................................................................................. 45 B. RECENT CHANGES ...................................................................................................... 49 B.1. The Office of Global Operations ................................................................................. 49 B.2. Improvements to the Integrated Planning and Budgeting System (IPBS) ................... 50 C. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, RECOMMENDATIONS, AND STRATEGY FOR IMPLEMENTATION ...................................................................................................... 50 C.1. Summary of findings and recommendations ............................................................... 50 C.2. Strategy for implementation of the recommendations................................................. 52 V. STRENGTHENING MANAGEMENT AND INDEPENDENT EVALUATION AND OVERSIGHT .................... 55 PART A: STRENGTHENING MANAGEMENT ..................................................................................................... 55 A. DESCRIPTION OF THE CURRENT PROCESS ........................................................... 55 A.1. The agency’s Strategic Planning Process .................................................................... 55 A.2. Resource allocation within the agency ........................................................................ 58 A.3. Human resources management .................................................................................... 61 A.4. Consistency in management practices ......................................................................... 69 B. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, RECOMMENDATIONS, AND STRATEGY FOR IMPLEMENTATION ...................................................................................................... 71 B.1. Summary of findings and recommendations ............................................................... 71 B.2. Strategy for implementation of the recommendations................................................. 73 PART B: THE FIVE-YEAR RULE ........................................................................................................................... 77 A. BACKGROUND ............................................................................................................. 77 A.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................. 77 A.2. Legislative history ....................................................................................................... 78 A.3. Benefits and challenges of the five-year rule .............................................................. 79 ii A.4. Tools available to manage challenges of the five-year rule ........................................ 85 B. RECENT CHANGES ...................................................................................................... 87 B.1. Legislation ................................................................................................................... 87 B.2. Agency efforts to minimize negative impacts ............................................................. 87 B.3. Studies and assessments .............................................................................................. 87 B.4. Changes to implementation of the five-year rule ........................................................ 88 C. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, RECOMMENDATIONS, AND STRATEGY FOR IMPLEMENTATION ...................................................................................................... 89 C.1. Summary of findings and recommendations ............................................................... 89 C.2. Strategy for implementation of the recommendations................................................. 91 PART C: STRENGTHENING EVALUATION AND OVERSIGHT ......................................................................

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