Europe, Mediterranean, and Asia Region

Balkans

Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia

Central and Eastern Europe

Moldova, Ukraine

North Africa and the Middle East Morocco

The Caucasus

Central Asia

Asia

Armenia, Georgia

Kyrgyz Republic

Cambodia, China,3 Indonesia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka,4 Thailand, Timor-Leste, Viet Nam5

3 In January 2020, a Congressional Notifcation was sent stating Peace Corps’ intent to permanently close its post in China. The Peace

Corps is not planning to return Volunteers to China in FY2022.

4 Following Congressional Notifcation in September 2017, the Government of Sri Lanka and the Peace Corps signed a new bilateral agreement in February 2018 to re-establish a program there. Deployment of Volunteers was delayed for several reasons, including the pandemic, so Volunteers are slated to begin their service there in FY 2022.

5 In July 2020, Peace Corps notifed Congress that Peace Corps and the Government of Viet Nam had signed an agreement to ofcially establish a Peace Corps program in Viet Nam. Education Volunteers are expected to arrive in FY2022.

EUROPE, MEDITERRANEAN, AND ASIA

Since the Peace Corps was established in 1961, over 64,000 Volunteers have served in the Europe, Mediterranean, and Asia (EMA) region. At the time of the FY 2020 global evacuation of Volunteers and Trainees, 1,949 Volunteers, or 31 percent of Peace Corps Volunteers worldwide, worked in 19 countries across the region— including a new country, Montenegro. In addition, in FY 2022, the EMA region will establish the frstever program in Viet Nam, where Volunteers will be teaching English. An agency virtual assessment is also underway in Uzbekistan.

Volunteers in the EMA region work in the agency’s six program sectors: Agriculture, Community Economic Development, Education, Environment, Health, and Youth in Development. Across the sectors, Volunteers address issues related to information technology, environment, food security, gender equity, HIV/AIDS education, and volunteerism. The majority of Volunteers actively engage youth in their activities.

In Ukraine, the Peace Corps serves as an implementing agency of the PEPFAR program. Volunteers work with community partners and clinical service providers to help prevent new infections and ensure linkage to care and treatment for people living with HIV, especially youth.

More than 55 percent of EMA Volunteers work in Education, with classroom-based teaching of English as a foreign language as their primary activity. Volunteers are part of national eforts to strengthen English teaching in primary, secondary, and university education through classroom instruction, professional development for teachers, and school and community resource development.

Volunteers in the EMA region were trained in nearly 50 languages in FY 2020. In addition to language training, Volunteers receive intensive cross-cultural, safety and security, and technical training, all of which enable them to integrate successfully into the communities where they live and work.

PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEERS’ ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN EMA

Albania - Volunteers Provide Training as Part of Earthquake Response

In response to the post-traumatic stress experienced by Albanian communities following the November 26, 2019 earthquake, Peace Corps Albania Volunteers and their counterparts partnered with local organization “Qendra Marrëdhëniet” to provide Albanian teachers with “Child Trauma Management Training.” These training sessions were based on “A teacher’s guide to psychological support for children after an earthquake,” designed by Qendra Marrëdhëniet.

With fnancial support from Peace Corps’ international partner, World Connect, 45 Volunteers worked from December 9, 2019 to February 6, 2020, to facilitate 129 Training of Trainer sessions in 52 training sites throughout the country to provide best practices and strategies to Albanian teachers who were working with traumatized students in the aftermath of the November 26 earthquake. Each training consisted of approximately 60-90 minutes of instruction with two distinct lessons. The frst lesson provided technical information about earthquakes, taught teachers how to identify common manifestations of trauma in diferent age groups, and taught them how to efectively communicate with traumatized students. The second lesson focused on healthy coping mechanisms for both students and service providers.

As a result of this joint efort, Volunteers and their counterparts trained 2,347 representatives from 897 schools and worked with each of the 51 regional educational ofces in Albania.

The feedback teachers and students gave about the sessions was excellent. The sessions

demonstrated both the demand for such projects and training throughout the country, and the ability of the Peace Corps and Peace Corps Volunteers to respond to such emergencies with skill and commitment.

One of the teachers who participated at an event in Bathore (just outside of Tirana) shared her thoughts about how valuable the experience was for her professionally and personally. As she said, “I thought I knew a lot about earthquakes and how to react before training, but in reality, a lot of information provided on the preventive measures and managing panic or actions under panic were new. I was very glad to learn this information, which will help me and my family personally but also the students that I teach. The most valuable lesson was that we need to work beforehand with ourselves and the students on how to react in such situations, how to protect ourselves, how to maintain calm and avoid panic. For this reason, we need to refresh this information for our students and family members and do frequent drills. As for me personally, my family members know now very well what to do in such cases, how to shelter, how to evacuate the building, and how to meet with others after such events.”

Kyrgyz Republic - Teacher Training Webinars Prepare English Teachers for Online Teaching

Volunteers in the Kyrgyz Republic use their educational expertise to support local English language educators. Although Volunteers are placed in schools, they also support their communities to develop English-language resources and learn more about American culture.

One Volunteer with an extensive teaching background partnered with a U.S. Embassysponsored American cultural center that needed an experienced Teaching English as a Foreign Language instructor to conduct teacher trainings. From November 2019 to March 2020, the Volunteer conducted trainings on communicative teaching methodology, organized activities to celebrate American holidays, started the Kid’s English Club, and helped with the local spelling bee.

Evacuation has not deterred the Volunteer from her service. From her home in the United States, she has continued to ofer teacher training webinars online once a week. The Volunteer is participating in the Virtual Service Pilot (VSP) program and is planning to join the next VSP cohort in order to provide additional teacher training during the summer school holidays. Her work includes observing classes and providing feedback to her co-teacher. Since April 2020, she has conducted more than 20 sessions and covered topics such as innovative teaching methods, communicative language teaching, and adapting teaching materials to online formats, online resources, and other topics. She is also coplanning and co-facilitating a Saturday English club for students. In addition to her work in VSP she has continued to do weekly workshops with the American cultural center.

More than 25 Kyrgyz teachers of English have been joining the webinars. One participant said, “The topics of the webinars are interesting and useful. Thanks to these online webinars, I learned how to conduct online lessons and found a common language with students.”

The Volunteer has also continued to beneft from the continuation of her activities virtually. She said, “I was initially very excited to be ofered this opportunity as it has kept me in contact with the community, but as the pandemic is continuing I see just how important these workshops have become as the face of education is changing in Kyrgyz Republic.”

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EMA – LANGUAGES TAUGHT TO VOLUNTEERS IN FY 2020

Country Languages

ALBANIA

Albanian

ARMENIA

CAMBODIA

CHINA

GEORGIA

INDONESIA

Armenian

Khmer

Chinese (Mandarin)

Georgian, Armenian, Azeri Bahasa Indonesia

KOSOVO

Albanian, Serbian

KYRGYZ REPUBLIC Kyrgyz MOLDOVA Romanian, Russian

MONGOLIA Kazakh, Mongolian MONTENEGRO Montenegrin MOROCCO Arabic (Morocco Darija), Tamazight, Tashelheet

MYANMAR

Burmese

NEPAL Gurung, Magar, Nepali, Tamang, Doteli NORTH MACEDONIA Albanian, Macedonian

THAILAND

PHILIPPINES

Thai (Central), Thai (North Eastern Dialect), Thai (Northern Dialect), Thai (Southern Dialect) Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Kinaray-a, Ilokano, Tagalog, Waray-Waray

TIMOR-LESTE

Tetun

UKRAINE

Ukrainian, Russian