Suchergebnisse

AbstractThe Peace Corps has over 7,800 volunteers serving in 70 countries. These volunteers bring a broad array of skills and experiences to their posts and they acquire valuable additional knowledge on the job—knowledge that is often lost when a volunteer retires after the customary two years of service. While the Peace Corps is aware of the value of this knowledge and attempts to create conditions in which it can be shared, a case study conducted by one of the authors found that there currently is no formal strategy to manage the flow of information and knowledge between different members of the organization. This is unfortunate since the ability to effectively capture and share information and knowledge could significantly ease the jobs of volunteers, increase their productivity, and improve morale. We develop a framework for knowledge management in a volunteer organization such as the Peace Corps where quick personnel turnover hampers traditional approaches to knowledge management. We articulate a set of computer and non‐computer‐based mechanisms in terms of procedures, policies, and IT tools to capture, share and transform data and information into usable knowledge. We conclude by proposing a knowledge management system based on these prescriptions that could be used in the Peace Corps or other similar, largely volunteer, organizations with a rapid turnover of personnel.Disclaimer:The Peace Corps had no connection with this project. The views in this report reflect only the personal views of the authors, and do not in any way describe or reflect the official views or position of the Peace Corps. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

If, in the development process, the people of a community can learn how to organize themselves into an effec tive problem-solving body, an infinite number of possibilities are opened. The more a community uses the resources—labor, money, materials—that exist within itself, the more successful the project is from a pure community-development view. What is actually happening in such a case is the utilization and im plementation of democratic principles and techniques to procure what is a basic right. A community may be asking for some thing that has historically been denied. The provincial at titudes of "just keep them quiet" or "they don't count" are going to be shaken. The Volunteer, in this instance, does not play the role of standard-bearer in a storming of City Hall, but rather that of adviser and subtle teacher of the tools of com munity action. Community development as practiced by Peace Corps Volunteers is a process aimed not at material ends, but rather at the poverty in men's minds.

If, in the development process, the people of a community can learn how to organize themselves into an effective problemsolving body, an infinite number of possibilities are opened. The more a community uses the resources-labor, money, materials-that exist within itself, the more successful the project is from a pure CD view. What is actually happening in such a case is the utilization & implementation of democratic principles & techniques to procure what is a basic right. A community may be asking for something that has historically been denied. The provincial att's of 'just keep them quiet' or 'they don't count' are going to be shaken. The volunteer, in this instance, does not play the role of standard-bearer in a storming of City Hall, but rather that of adviser & subtle teacher of the tools of community action. CD as practiced by Peace Corps volunteers is a process aimed not at material ends, but rather at the poverty in men's minds. HA.

Problem statement: This study examined foreign aid as administered by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) through four presidencies, beginning with the Reagan era. Aid dispensed to the Peace Corps for humanitarian purposes was the major focus of the investigation. The research proposed that such aid should continue under the President Barack Obama administration. Approach: The approach taken used both qualitative analyses of the four administrations along with quantitative analyses of the data from USAID. Results: The findings indicated that, while many forms of economic and military assistance had been both used and abused throughout much of American history, the Peace Corps created under President John F. Kennedy presented an exception. However, the Peace Corps had received both benefit and harm as a beneficiary of US foreign aid due to fluctuating economic realities associated with the federal budget. President Reagan was a strong supporter of the Peace Corps; yet, it was "under his watch" that the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Deficit Reduction Act of 1985 was passed, which negatively influenced nearly all forms of economic and military assistance distributed through USAID. Starting with President Clinton's second term funding for USAID dramatically increased. Conclusion: The Peace Corps was not immune to the adverse effects, but funding also increased under President Clinton. From this time onward, the Peace Corps has enjoyed a high level of political and financial support, a scenario that deserves to be continued under President Obama. This study can help future analyses of the US presidential responses to the giving of assistance to the Peace Corps.

For more than 35 years, the Peace Corps has pursued John F. Kennedy's vision of helping people of the Third World build a better life. Yet with the exception of a few celebrations of its early years, little effort has been made to document that organization's history. Now a former deputy director of the Peace Corps offers a first-hand look at life in the agency -- both in the field and at headquarters -- and a radical reinterpretation of its history during the Nixon and Ford administrations.By the end of the 1960s, the Peace Corps was in disarray. Debate raged over its effectiveness, and many