We have found it not only to be beneficial but necessary in the case of Peace Corps volunteers to bring them together for a couple of days after 3 months in a country. It is this kind of cost, and in-country travel costs, that we would propose to cover. Mr. BERRY. We here in this country think we have quite a different situation with people who come here than those who go to Tanganyika. We think we have to offer them a little bit. That is all, Mr. Chairman. Chairman MORGAN. Mr. Murphy. Mr. MURPHY. No questions, Mr. Chairman. Mr. MORSE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Vaughn, would you describe the activities of those volunteers who are now engaged in what you call community action programs, both rural and urban? Will you do it just as rapidly as you can, for I have only 5 minutes. Mr. VAUGHN. We call this both community action and community development. It involves sending a volunteer into a community, sometimes in pairs or in groups, with the hope that they through their energy, imagination, and example can get a group activity going. Whatever they do physically, construction and so forth, is not especially important. It is just a tool to develop interest in the community in some involvement. Mr. MORSE. What sort of training do you provide for the volunteers who are engaged in community action work? Mr. VAUGHN. We have developed a cadre of people who claim to be experts in community development, academic people and others. I suspect the real experts are the ex-volunteers. We bring ex-volunteers to the training sites to talk about their successes in galvanizing a community, in getting movement in a situation which had been characterized by its deadness for a hundred years. Mr. MORSE. Where do you find this cadre of expertise you describe? Mr. VAUGHN. We have them in a number of universities in the United States and a number of communities. We have them in the Bureau of Indian Affairs, even in the banks now we have experts. But we think that the ex-volunteer is the best one to do this, and we are utilizing more and more ex-volunteers. Training is not only discussion and relating experiences, Congressman Morse, but it is going out for perhaps a month or 2 months into a Mexican_community or into a Mexican-American community in New Mexico or another depressed area in the United States to see if they can get some activity going, to see what they are up against. Mr. MORSE. The Peace Corps from time to time has worked with the International Development Foundation, has it not? Mr. VAUGHN. No, sir. Mr. MORSE. Did not the Peace Corps participate in the training of Peruvian students for President Belaunde's program, cooperacion popular? Mr. VAUGHN. Not through the International Development Foundation. Mr. MORSE. Volunteers did participate in the program for the training of these Peruvian students, didn't they? Mr. VAUGHN. Individual volunteers, I am told, did help with the program and have done so since it started. In fact Mr. MORSE. Not in cooperation with the International Development Foundation, to your knowledge? Mr. VAUGHN. No, sir. Mr. MORSE. Peace Corps Volunteers have a tour of duty for 2 years. How many are reenlisting? Do you encourage it? Mr. VAUGHN. We encourage it. Increasing numbers are extending. We have a special case, Congressman Morse, in Latin America where most volunteers now are serving overseas for 2 years, whereas in most of the other areas volunteers serve for 2 years, including training of 3 months. They are actually overseas for 21 months. In Latin America we have moved to where most volunteers are spending 24 months overseas. Mr. MORSE. Have you yet come up against the 5-year ceiling on staff employment? Mr. VAUGHN. We have not because this started to run in October 1965. Mr. MORSE. You have no experience under that provision yet? Mr. VAUGHN. That is correct. As to extensions, the overall number is 1,353 volunteers who have extended as of June 30. Mr. MORSE. There are probably 10,000 ex-volunteers who could have extended if they had chosen. It is in the order of 12 percent who have extended. Mr. VAUGHN. Yes. Mr. MORSE. As to the exchange program, have there been proposals by any foreign nations to provide Exchange Peace Corps volunteers? Mr. VAUGHN. In our talks with 17 nations it has varied. Sometimes it has been our Ambassador, sometimes it has been a contact back here. We have found real interest on the part of 17 nations but they feel, and we do too, that it is premature to talk about number or kind or date. Mr. MORSE. These conversations have been initiated by the United States? Mr. VAUGHN. In some cases. Mr. MORSE. Can you run through the list of the 17 nations for me? Mr. THOMSON. They are in the record. Mr. VAUGHN. Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Ecuador, Ghana, Greece, India, Iran, Israel, Malaysia, Nigeria, Panama, Philippines, Tanzania, Thailand, Uruguay, Venezuela. Mr. MORSE. Is it contemplated to have discussions with other nations of the world if the program gets off the ground or would there be a limitation as to the nations that you would like to participate? Mr. VAUGHN. I would think that we would be willing to talk with any nation that expressed an interest either through our Embassy overseas or through a local embassy here. I would think that if this proposal were to be approved by Congress that there would be a sharp upswing in the number of countries that at least would want to explore the possibility. Mr. MORSE. According to the guidelines that are governing your thinking, would you think of participation in the exchange program by the countries of the Eastern European bloc? Mr. VAUGHN. I wouldn't think so. I feel personally, Congressman Morse, it is important that we increase the dialog around the world, and if one of these countries would want to come in and talk to us, 66-561-66- 8 we would be glad to talk. I couldn't predict anything further than that. Mr. MORSE. Of the number of requests that have been directed to you by U.S. institutions and U.S. activities which have indicated an interest in the exchange volunteer program, has there been any attempt by your agency, to whom I understand these questions have been directed, to determine whether or not there is existing available programs that would satisfy these requests? I speak specifically of the Hays-Fulbright Act. Mr. VAUGHN. No, there has not been. We haven't gone that far. Mr. MORSE. You indicated that you have 80-odd volunteers engaged in public administration. What is the level of their training and what kind of activities are they engaged in? Mr. VAUGHN. It is hard to generalize on the level of training or the amount of experience they have had in this area. I would be glad to research this for you. I could give you some individual jobs presently being carried out in this field. (The information follows:) PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEERS ENGAGED IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION ACTIVITIES As of June 30, 1966, 51 Peace Corps volunteers were engaged in public administration activities, including accounting and business administration. There were 25 in Africa, 2 in Latin America, 4 in the Far East, and 20 in South Asia. By August 31, 1966, there will be 81 public administration volunteers. Mr. VAUGHN. We have had a number of lawyers, for example, that I think would be included. We have had a number of volunteers who have been helping in administration at the municipal level in Latin America. In Liberia, too, we have done a considerable amount in the last 3 or 4 years in public administration. Mr. MORSE. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Mr. MONAGAN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Vaughn, I would like to talk a little bit about the $950,000 research authorization. This represents an increase of $450,000 over the authorization last time; is that correct? Mr. VAUGHN. That is correct. Mr. MONAGAN. According to the analysis in the bill, $450,000 of this would be for new contracts; $500,000 would be, it says, for contract research previously authorized. I am curious to know what this type of research is, and why it is continuing over a period of time. It would seem to me the average contract of this sort would be limited in time, would be restricted to a particular project. Mr. VAUGHN. I have our Director of Research here who perhaps can answer this more effectively than I. It is my recollection that most of our contracts entered into to date have been on a multiyear basis. The nature of the investigation and the number of people to be interviewed are such that they really can't be performed in 1 year. There are, however, some items, especially on the domestic Side, which have been done in relatively short periods. Our evaluation of educational television in Colombia, which is one of the items included as a continuing project for 1967, can't be done in 1 year, especially because the program is continually evolving and growing. Our tuberculosis effort in Malawi is the same kind of proposition. It is more realistic to think in terms of 3 years than 1. Mr. MONAGAN. There is a contract with a particular organizationand is that a 3-year contract? STATEMENT OF CHARLES PETERS, DIRECTOR OF DIVISION OF EVALUATION AND RESEARCH, PEACE CORPS Mr. PETERS. We do not obligate the funds Mr. MONAGAN. I am talking about the agreement. Mr. PETERS. The agreement would be with Stanford University or the University of North Carolina, for the tuberculosis project in Malawi. Mr. MONAGAN. The original idea as I got it was that it might be advisable to have some outside authority take a look at the operations and administration of the Peace Corps. I can see a certain amount of justification for occasional individual contracts of that type, although it does seem to me the organization should be able to take a look at itself and also to make use of other governmental groups, the General Accounting Office and so forth, for this sort of thing. This is almost a 100-percent increase in this type of expenditure, almost a million dollars, or roughly 10 percent of your total authorization request. Mr. VAUGHN. If we talked the Bureau of the Budget into psychological testing, I think we would all be lost. Mr. MONAGAN. This is the point I am raising; that is, you have one justification for outside experts relating to your administration, personnel, and things like that. Now this is getting into practically another program. It is certainly different from my concept of what was involved here and what should be involved. Mr. VAUGHN. I have just one yardstick in trying to determine whether this expenditure is worthwhile and needed, and that is: Is it applied research that can or might help the Peace Corps do a better job in recruitment, selection, training, or overseas operation? Mr. PETERS. Our major expenditure this year will be to meet needs that many Members of Congress, many members of this committee and of the Senate have spoken of in the past. They have asked us what are we doing to measure our accomplishment; what are we doing to find out what we are really accomplishing in this world; what are we doing to determine which programs we should put our money on; that is, in which programs are the volunteers most effective; what are we doing to learn from our experience? This is what this research is designed to do. Mr. MONAGAN. I agree with Mr. Vaughn in his previous statement, this is an extremely intangible area in which you are dealing when you are talking of measuring Peace Corps accomplishments, and you could easily have very radically differing ideas as to what the permanent long-range effects of this whole operation are. How many contracts are there in existence at the present time? Mr. PETERS. There are 11 contracts that exist today which we are asking to continue into this year. In addition, we plan about 13 new projects during the coming year, the majority of which Mr. MONAGAN. You would have 24 as a total in fiscal 1967 if this authorization is granted? Mr. PETERS. That is correct. Almost all of those that are continuing will be completed during this coming year. We will get the reports mainly toward the end of this coming year. Mr. MONAGAN. What is the longest term of any one of these contracts that you have? Mr. PETERS. I think the Stanford contract on educational TV in Colombia and the North Carolina contract concerned with the TB project in Malawi. To test the treatment of TB takes quite some time. Mr. MONAGAN. I would like to ask my time is limited--that you furnish us with a list of the existing contracts. The identity of the contractee, the amount of the contract, the purpose of the contract, and also the ones that are proposed with the same information. Mr. PETERS. We will be glad to. (The information follows:) PEACE CORPS RESEARCH FOR FISCAL YEAR 1967 Of the $950,000 budgeted for Peace Corps research in FY 67, roughly half will be needed to renew those projects undertaken in the past from which further important results are likely. The rest will be used to finance new research. While all of this work will cost less than one per cent of our total budget, it is of tremendous importance to the future of the Peace Corps. Our major effort will consist of studies of ten different overseas programs to determine what we are actually accomplishing in each and how we can be more effective in each. We feel the time has come when both Congress and the American public should have the independent appraisals of Peace Corps accomplishment which our contract research can give. Such research will not only tell you whether you're getting your money's worth out of the Peace Corps, it will help us avoid wasting our limited supply of Volunteers on projects of dubious or marginal effectiveness. Furthermore, such practical research is indispensable to those continuing efforts to improve without which any organization is doomed to stagnation and decay. Thus far, the only research completed of this sort concerns our rural community development programs in Latin America. From it we've learned that villages in Peru with Volunteers progress 2.9 times more rapidly than villages without Volunteers. We've learned that 90 per cent of the Colombian adults in the Volunteers' villages felt that the Volunteers helped their communities, that over 80 per cent of the Colombian children interviewed wanted to grow up to be like the Volunteers. At the same time, we learned what we were doing wrong. As a result, we've made improvements in the training and in selection of Volunteers for rural community development and in staffing and operating rural community development programs in the field. Preliminary results from two other such projects still in progress have helped us make much better use of our Volunteers in the Colombia educational TV project and suggest that our Malawi TB control program is making a real medical breakthrough.1 It appears that our generalist Volunteers, with 12 weeks' technical training and professional support in the field, are succeeding in a program of home diagnosis and treatment of a serious disease. I'm sure you understand the implications of this for countries that are as short on hospitals and highly trained medical personnel as are those in the underdeveloped world. Site selection has been a problem since the beginning of the Peace Corps. We have learned and applied the most obvious lesson which is that the Peace Corps staff must check out at the local level each assignment proposed by the host government. But we have not systematically studied our site selection practices to determine what works best. We will have such research this year. In training, our research quickly discovered that next to the need for more language training, which has been largely corrected, the main improvement 1 While these two studies have already produced valuable information, we want to continue them during 1967 to find out such things as how the local counterparts (Colombian teachers and Malawian health assist ants) of the Volunteers perform when the Volunteers leave and to determine if present favorable trends among students and patients continue. In the case of the TB project this is absolutely essential because of the length of treatment frequently required. |