Showing posts with label too many innocents. Show all posts
Showing posts with label too many innocents. Show all posts
Sunday, May 18, 2008
peace corps blues
quick note: here's more from my former peace corps director on the peace corps "losing it's edge" in assisting developing countries: NPR audio interview.
Monday, May 12, 2008
think again: the peace corps
In the eyes of Americans, no government agency better exemplifies the optimism, can-do spirit, and selfless nature of the United States than the Peace Corps. Unfortunately, it’s never lived up to its purpose or principles.
think again: the peace corps... an article in foreign policy magazine by my former country director, Robert Strauss. it's worth reading. like the recent NY Times op-ed, too many innocents abroad, he's extremely critical of the peace corps on a number of points: the quality of volunteers, their placement, the agency's lack of strategy, etc. and like the op-ed, this article has generated a range of responses from the peace corps community. some positive, some negative.
i won't respond to strauss' article here. suffice it to say that i think he's doing this with good intentions. i.e. wanting to see the agency change for the better. i recall him saying that he came back to the peace corps b/c he believed it could actually make a difference, and he wanted to be part of that. i believed him when he said that. this is what strauss has to say at the end of the article:
[Peace Corps] must go out and recruit the best of the best. It must avoid goodwill-generating window dressing and concentrate its resources in a limited number of countries that are truly interested in the development of their people. And it must give up on the risible excuse that in the absence of quantifiable results, good intentions are enough. Only then will it be able to achieve its original objective of significantly altering the lives of millions for the better.
think again: the peace corps... an article in foreign policy magazine by my former country director, Robert Strauss. it's worth reading. like the recent NY Times op-ed, too many innocents abroad, he's extremely critical of the peace corps on a number of points: the quality of volunteers, their placement, the agency's lack of strategy, etc. and like the op-ed, this article has generated a range of responses from the peace corps community. some positive, some negative.
i won't respond to strauss' article here. suffice it to say that i think he's doing this with good intentions. i.e. wanting to see the agency change for the better. i recall him saying that he came back to the peace corps b/c he believed it could actually make a difference, and he wanted to be part of that. i believed him when he said that. this is what strauss has to say at the end of the article:
[Peace Corps] must go out and recruit the best of the best. It must avoid goodwill-generating window dressing and concentrate its resources in a limited number of countries that are truly interested in the development of their people. And it must give up on the risible excuse that in the absence of quantifiable results, good intentions are enough. Only then will it be able to achieve its original objective of significantly altering the lives of millions for the better.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
too many innocents abroad
please pardon the extended absence... it's been a while since i posted something. more than a month, actually. in that time an interesting op-ed came out in the NY Times that got quite a response from the peace corps community. like many of the people who responded to Too Many Innocents Abroad, written by my former peace corps director in cameroon, i think the piece was a little harsh.
that said, i also think CD strauss brings up a point worth considering about quantity versus quality of volunteers. one that i found myself struggling with at some point during my own service. i won't say much more about the op-ed piece, except that i wasn't all that surprised by it. i had a couple of extended conversations with CD strauss while i was in cameroon and this theme of quantity vs. quality came up even then.
the same theme comes up in my journals, as well, i think. but if i remember correctly, i approach it from a different and more PCV-centered perspective. i'll do my best to make note of it when it does come up. until then, let me start from the beginning...
that said, i also think CD strauss brings up a point worth considering about quantity versus quality of volunteers. one that i found myself struggling with at some point during my own service. i won't say much more about the op-ed piece, except that i wasn't all that surprised by it. i had a couple of extended conversations with CD strauss while i was in cameroon and this theme of quantity vs. quality came up even then.
the same theme comes up in my journals, as well, i think. but if i remember correctly, i approach it from a different and more PCV-centered perspective. i'll do my best to make note of it when it does come up. until then, let me start from the beginning...
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