Inter-America and the Pacifc Region

INTER-AMERICA AND THE PACIFIC REGION

Central America Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador,6 Guatemala, Mexico, Panama

Caribbean

Dominican Republic, Eastern Caribbean (Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines), Jamaica

South America Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru

Pacifc

Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands,7 Tonga, Vanuatu

6 In November of 2020, a Congressional Notifcation was sent to announce Peace Corps intent to re-establish operations in El Salvador. 7 Following Congressional Notifcation in September 2019, the Peace Corps announced it intends to re-establish operations in Solomon

Islands. Peace Corps and the Government of Solomon Islands are currently re-negotiating the country agreement.

INTER-AMERICA AND THE PACIFIC

More than 90,000 Volunteers have served in the Inter-America and the Pacifc (IAP) region since the founding of the Peace Corps in 1961. At the time of the FY 2020 global evacuation of Volunteers and Trainees, 1,867 Volunteers, or 30 percent of Peace Corps Volunteers worldwide, were working across 20 nations (one IAP post covers four countries).

In the IAP region, the Peace Corps provides training in 21 languages—enhancing Volunteer efectiveness and integration into local communities. Using the agency’s integrated project planning and management system, Volunteers address community-defned priorities through work in all six of the agency’s programmatic sectors: Agriculture, Community Economic Development, Education, Environment, Health, and Youth in Development.

A large proportion of IAP region Volunteers work with schools supporting teachers, promoting the construction of libraries, creating resources for hands-on learning, and teaching literacy and English. Across the sectors, Volunteers also address issues related to food security and gender equity. They actively involve youth in their activities.

Volunteers prioritize working with youth because the under-25 cohort comprises a majority of the population in many IAP countries. Volunteers conduct a wide range of activities, including organizing youth groups that facilitate life and leadership skills development and strengthen self-esteem, decision making, and communication. Youth programs promote civic engagement and enhance economic futures for participating youth and their families and communities.

Access to basic health services, education, and sanitation systems remains problematic for many communities in the region. Volunteers work to improve the health of communities, families, and schoolchildren by training service providers and building community awareness about the importance of basic hygiene, maternal and child health, nutrition, disease prevention, and clean water. Volunteers also support local health clinics with health education and outreach eforts.

Deforestation and environmental degradation negatively afect air and water quality, increase fooding risks, and threaten the sustainability of natural resources in the region. Volunteers who work on environmental projects engage local youth, communities, and partner agencies in promoting environmental education and conservation. Some Volunteers also foster income generation for local communities through ecotourism, ecobusiness, and protected land management.

PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEERS’ ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN IAP

Fiji – Leveraging Host Country Engagement

When the Peace Corps ordered the global evacuation, staf in Fiji were heartbroken to see their 64 talented, committed Volunteers leave so suddenly. At the same time, they recognized that this period of time without Volunteers presented a rare opportunity to refne their operations and programming.

The post commenced with a focus on developing or refning elements critical to the ofce’s Standard Operating Procedure (SOPs), handbooks, training sessions, and other internal processes. When Fiji reached “COVID-19-contained” status just a few months later, staf began traveling to evacuated Volunteer villages, which spanned eight disparate islands. During these visits, they facilitated meaningful iTatau (farewell) ceremonies with the communities, aiding with processing the sudden evacuation and ofering some closure. Along the way, staf completed their most thorough collection of community feedback by methodically

gathering qualitative data about Peace Corps Fiji’s work and the impact Volunteers had on over 500 villagers. At the same time, staf further deepened and broadened their relationships with government partners by sitting down with every level of leadership—from village Mayors and Chiefs, to Prime Minister Bainimarama.

The result is a Peace Corps post that is leveraging rejuvenated partnerships and community-based data to ensure a more streamlined, impactful, and genuinely responsive program that meets the needs of their nation. This will enable even more efective and impactful Volunteer engagement with communities once they are able to return.

Jamaica – Cofee Growers Association

While Volunteering in Jamaica, Mary worked with and supported a cofee farmers group, helping them in becoming a registered Jamaican business, (Cascade Cofee). As a registered business, Cascade Cofee was able to apply for funding and begin working alongside the Jamaican Cofee Growers Association. Mary worked with group members and the wider community to make plans for renovating an abandoned building in the community to be used for processing cofee and to serve in the future as a cafe and tourist destination. Mary also supported her community in re-establishing a Rural Agriculture Development Association (RADA) group in Cascade focused on intercropping vegetables among cofee trees. By supporting her host organization in reaching their goals of processing their community’s cofee for proft, Mary helped them eliminate middlemen and enabled farmers to be paid directly for their high quality product. The group was able to advance their agricultural and economic priorities in the time Mary was with them.

OVERSEAS OPERATIONS IAP – LANGUAGES TAUGHT TO VOLUNTEERS IN FY 2020

COUNTRY LANGUAGES

BELIZE

COLOMBIA

Kriol (Belizean), Q'eqchi (Maya), Spanish Spanish COSTA RICA Spanish DOMINICAN REPUBLIC Spanish EASTERN CARIBBEAN Grenadian Creole, Kweyol (E. Caribbean), Vincentian Creole

ECUADOR

Spanish, Kichwa

FIJI

GUATEMALA

GUYANA

JAMAICA

Fijian, Hindi Spanish, Mam, K’iche, Kaqchikel, Ixil Creolese (Guyana) Jamaican Patois

MEXICO

PANAMA

PARAGUAY

PERU

SAMOA

Spanish Ngabere, Spanish Guarani, Spanish Quechua, Spanish Samoan

TONGA

VANUATU

Tongan Bislama

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