About the Peace Corp

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By Kent Ninomiya
eHow Contributing Writer

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The Peace Corps is an independent agency of the United States government devoted to increasing world peace through volunteer work in developing countries. It is under the executive branch, so its leaders are appointed by the president. Peace Corps volunteers spend 27 months being trained and then serving in developing areas. They perform a variety of tasks depending on need and their area of expertise.

History

President John F. Kennedy created the Peace Corps by executive order in 1961. It was a way for Americans to respond to Kennedy's challenge in his inaugural address when he said, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." Since then, nearly 200,000 volunteers have served in 139 countries helping improve the developing world. Their efforts include helping with agriculture, trade, health care and education.

Significance

The goal of the Peace Corps is to encourage friendship around the world by improving living conditions. The Peace Corps mission statement declares three objectives. Volunteers strive to help people meet their need for training, increase understanding of Americans around the world and gain understanding about other cultures through personal contact with the people of those cultures.

Identification

An overwhelming number of Peace Corps volunteers are educated young single people. The Peace Corps reports that 94 percent of volunteers are single and 95 percent have undergraduate degrees. Volunteers have a median age of 25 years old. There are about 8,000 Peace Corps volunteers and trainees at any given time. Sixty percent are women, and 17 percent are people of color. The top areas of work are education, health and HIV/AIDS awareness, business development, environment and agriculture.

Function

A Peace Corps volunteer must be an American citizen at least 18 years old. She does not need to have a college degree or speak a foreign language, but both will improve her chances of being selected. A Peace Corps assignment lasts 27 months including training time. Volunteers are not paid during that time, but expenses are covered and a lump sum of about $6,000 is given to the volunteer when they complete their assignment.

Expert Insight

Many prominent experts in a variety of fields gained valuable insight while serving in the Peace Corps. They include television news anchor and journalist Chris Matthews, U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd, Chicago Bears CEO Michael McCaskey and author Richard "Kinky" Friedman.