APPENDIX II PEACE CORPS MEMORANDUMS (The following memorandums were furnished by the Peace Corps in response to questions raised by members of the committee.) SOURCE OF PEACE CORPS FISCAL YEAR 1961 FUNDS AND AMOUNT OF FISCAL YEAR 1961 FUNDS OBLIGATED AS OF JUNE 30, 1961 The funds for the fiscal year 1961 operation of the Peace Corps were made available under section 451 (b) of the MS Act, the special "contingency" section. Amounts were allocated to the Peace Corps out of section 451 (b) funds from time to time for its immediate needs. Section 451 (b) does not, however, specify the form of assistance for which funds made available under it may be used. Instead, it directs the President to specify for what form of assistance any particular portion of such funds is to be used. The Peace Corps was authorized to use funds allocated to it for program purposes under the authority contained in section 400(a)—“Special Assistance." The final figures with regard to unobligated balances are not yet available. These do not become available until ICA, which maintains the official Peace Corps financial records, has completed the certificates required by section 1311 of the Supplemental Appropriation Act of 1955, which it is required to do no later than September 30. However, the estimates based on Peace Corps memorandum accounts are as follows: Estimated obligations, as of June 30, 1961: Administrative expenses- Program expenses. Total__ WAIVER OF CIVIL SERVICE EXAMS-SECTION 5(f) (1) ́(B) $632, 904. 37 994, 900. 36 1, 627, 804. 73 The provision permitting waiver of civil service exams in the discretion of the President was inserted at the suggestion and with the approval of members of the Civil Service Commission staff. The authority which this provision grants to the President would be delegated by Executive order to the Civil Service Commission rather than to the Peace Corps. At the present time the only examinations whose waiver is contemplated are the civil service general entrance exams. The Civil Service Commission staff stated that these exams are considerably less rigorous than the examinations given to Peace Corps volunteer applicants, and that there was no need for anyone who had successfully taken the Peace Corps exams, completed Peace Corps training and served overseas to take these general entrance exams. Civil Service examinations of a specialized nature for particular jobs would not normally be waived for Peace Corps volunteers. The purpose of the proposed waiver is to encourage those Peace Corps volunteers with 2 years of successful service behind them to consider professional careers in Government service. COMPENSATION OF VOLUNTEERS DETAILED OR ASSIGNED UNDER SECTION 5(g) The question has been raised whether Peace Corps volunteers who are assigned to a private agency, foreign government or other entity under section 5(g) might receive dual compensation. The answer to this question is no. Each Peace 229 Corps volunteer will receive allowances, termination payments and other bene fits as provided in section 5 and other provisions of the bill. This will be true, for example, of volunteers assigned to a private agency administering a Peace Corps project, and volunteers detailed to a foreign government under a directly administered project. In no case will a volunteer receive compensation of any kind from the organizational entity to which he is assigned in addition to regu lar Peace Corps volunteer allowances. In some cases, allowances may be paid to the volunteer by the foreign government or administering private agency rather than by the Peace Corps. In such instances, they will not be duplicated by payments from the Peace Corps. DETAIL OF PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEERS TO AGENCIES OF THE UNITED NATIONS AND OTHER INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS-SECTION 5(g) In the special message to the Congress on the Peace Corps, the President said that Peace Corps volunteers will be made available to developing nations in five ways. One of these ways was through assistance programs of international agencies. At the same time the President expressed the hope that "other nations will mobilize the spirit and energies and skill of their people in some form of Peace Corps-making our own effort only one stop on a major international effort to increase the welfare of all men and improve understanding among nations." Accordingly, the Peace Corps has planned to assign a number of volunteers for service in the assistance programs of the United Nations. In the Peace Corps' congressional presentation materials there are no precise estimates of number or cost nor any description of the arrangements under which volunteers would be assigned to U.N. programs. However, the Peace Corps will at first generally limit the U.N. phase of its program to small contingents and will assign volunteers to U.N. projects in those countries where it has bilateral programs so as to minimize training and logistic support costs. Planning for this aspect of the Peace Corps operations is still in a preliminary stage. At the request of Ambassador Stevenson an item has been added to the agenda of the 32d session of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (UNESCO) on the use of volunteers workers in the economic and social development programs of the United Nations and its related agencies. Discussion of this item is expected to offer an opportunity for a full exchange of views between the member nations and organizations which, it is hoped, will lead to further exploratory talks. From the Peace Corps' inception use of volunteers in U.N. programs has been viewed as one of the several basic ways in which the Peace Corps would funetion. The making available of volunteers for service in U.N. programs is not an indirect way of adding to the U.S. contributions to the U.N. It is now anticipated that Peace Corps funds will be used only to defray the costs of the volunteers. The U.N. and related organizations will bear all administrative and similar costs. No Peace Corps funds will be made available to the U.N. for administrative or other general purposes. While Peace Corps volunteers assigned to the U.N. will add to the numbers of skilled personnel engaged in, and in that sense make a valuable contribution to, the assistance programs of the U.N., the end effect is not so much a contribution to the U.N. as assistance to the recipient country. The U.N. is simply the means through which the assistance is furnished. BENEFITS FOR FAMILIES OF PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEER LEADERS-SECTION 6 Most Peace Corps volunteers will be living and working in strange surroundings and in comparative isolation from fellow Americans. They will frequently need advice and counsel to help them through any difficulties related to their work or their personal lives. In some projects this counseling function will be performed by individual volunteers who demonstrate leadership qualities, and in other projects it will be performed by the Peace Corps country representative or a member of his staff, or some individual employed by a private administering agency. In the remaining projects, it is intended to include among the volunteer contingent a small number of Peace Corps volunteer leaders. This has been the practice of International Voluntary Services and other groups experienced in this field. The projects announced to date call for only 12 volunteer leaders. None of these has been finally selected but none of those under consideration has a spouse or any children. The Peace Corps hopes to avoid, to the extent possible, selecting as leaders persons with dependent famiiles because of the added expense and complexity of sending families abroad. Where it is important, however, to select as a leader someone with a family, the Peace Corps wants authority to do so, and wants authority to send the family abroad so as not to split it up for a 2-year period. Present plans call for allowances for family members who go abroad at the following rates: for the spouse, an amount equal to 75 percent of the allowance paid to the leader; and for each child an amount equal to 25 percent of the allowance paid to the leader. During the training period, family members 12 years of age or older would receive $6 a day, and family members under 12 years of age would receive $3 a day. Leave allowances would be at the rate of $5 a day for each member of the family 12 years of age or older, and $2.50 a day for each member of the family under 12 years of age. These rates are subject to modification depending upon conditions in the host country and depending upon whether cost of living items, such as housing, are provided in kind. The Peace Corps will undertake to furnish medical care to members of families of volunteer leaders who accompany them overseas. Prior to assignment overseas, however, the Peace Corps will give each family member a thorough medical examination to discover any health impairments which would make oversea assignment inadvisable. The Peace Corps will not undertake any responsibility for continuing illness or injury to family members following completion of the volunteer leader's service. SUPERGRADES SECTION 7 (B) Attached is a list of each specific position for which the Peace Corps seeks supergrade authority. The list includes a brief statement as to the nature and duties of the position. It also includes an indication of the grade tentatively assigned to each, which, however, must be regarded as tentative until the Peace Corps has had further operational experience with each position. Two requested supergrades are unassigned to allow for jobs which we intend now to limit to GS-15 but which the experience of the next months may demonstrate require supergrades. There are many reasons why the Peace Corps needs this supergrade authority. The Peace Corps program is new. There is no blueprint or precedent within the Government for what the Peace Corps will do. For example, large-scale recruitment of civilians for service abroad on a volunteer basis has no counterpart. The Government has not previously sought to train Americans for the type of service which the volunteers will perform or the type of living conditions which the volunteers will encounter. Selection factors involve considerations, in terms of physical, emotional, and intellectual capacity, not faced elsewhere. The Peace Corps is working out relationships with universities and other private agencies on a new basis. Relationships with other countries from planning stage through project completion are complex and delicate, especially in many of the countries in which the Peace Corps will operate The Peace Corps cannot afford to fail in any of the difficult and novel tasks which are set for it, for failure in any one of them will damage this country's standing abroad. To assure success in each of these tasks, there can be no substitute for high caliber in the personnel performing them. Every job for which a specific supergrade is requested is a key job which has a direct bearing upon the success or failure of the Peace Corps' mission. It should also be pointed out that in any new organization, the top positions must be filled in the early stages; as an organization grows, it grows largely at subordinate levels. Regardless of the size of the Peace Corps, it will obviously require only one regional director for each region, only one director of recruitment or training, and only one general counsel. A Peace Corps substantially larger than that contemplated in the first year could be operated without any increase in the number of supergrades above the level requested in the bill. All supergrades required by the Peace Corps are requested in the Peace Corps bill, in accordance with the Peace Corps' understanding with the Civil Service Commission that they would not be included in the Government-wide request. Serves as a confidential assistant to the Director and works in close relation ship with him to perform a variety of functions in the general area of legisla tive presentation, program development, organization, and other administrative matters. Is particularly concerned with relations between the Peace Corps and ICA, the DLF, the State Department, and the foreign aid reorganization task force. Follows through on special assignments of the Director to various staff members to determine that Director's objectives and instructions are realized. Director, ES-17 PLANNING AND EVALUATION Responsible to the Director for long-term planning, program planning, program evaluation, and research operations. Prepares long-term plans which reflects both basic objectives and emerging experiences of the Peace Corps: provides the Director with periodic evaluation of projects and programs to insure that future plans are based on operational realities as well as long-term policy objectives; provides the Director with program and project "feedback" so that they are complete and integrated; and conducts or arranges for the conduct of Peace Corps research activities to insure that they encompass the entire operational program and integrate with the planning and evaluation process. Executive Secretary, ES-16 EXECUTIVE SECRETARIAT Acts for the Director in assigning action and priority on all matters requiring his attention, and directs the followup; coordinates all matters presented for the Director's action from within the organization; and monitors external coordination with State Department, ICA, USIA, and the White House. Assures that the organization is informed of the Director's staff meeting-follows through on all action requirements. Directs status control of program requirements, commitments, status, dates, and leadtimes. Assures communication between Director and officers through rapid information exchange; and serves as Director's "memory" by establishing policy files for easy access and check. Provides secretarial services for all Peace Corps meetings and conferences. PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT AND OPERATIONS Associate Director (statutory $19,000) Responsible to the Director for the development, operation, and supervision of all government-to-government, United Nations and intergovernmental agency projects, for the oversea administration of all projects and for the coordination and balance of the total Peace Corps operating program. This is the line of operations in the Peace Corps, carried out through the regional directors and the Peace Corps representatives in the field. Coordinates Peace Corps programs and objectives with AID and the State Department, and maintains necessary liaison and coordination with appropriate Government agencies and international organizations. Directs negotiations with host countries. Deputy Associate Director, ES-17 Serves as the No. 2 man in the overall operation of Peace Corps programs. Has major responsibility for development, evaluation of, and implementation of requests for Peace Corps volunteers from host countries. Acts for the Associate Director in his absence or when he is otherwise engaged. Director of Program Development and Coordination, ES-17 Provides the principal staff support to the Associate Director in coordinating and implementing operating programs of the Peace Corps and in the formulation of Peace Corps projects. Develops general guidelines and policies for program development and operations, establishes and maintains program controls and recommends the allocation of resources among regions and types of projects. Develops and negotiates all project proposals which are interregional in scope and initiates proposals for new projects needed to obtain balance or experiment with new forms of Peace Corps operations. Director of Latin American Programs, ES-17 Supervises the development and formulation of policies and programs for the various countries of Latin America. Evaluates requests from host countries, supervises exploratory surveys and discussions in host countries, and serves as chief negotiating officer for the Peace Corps in negotiations with other governments. Responsible for the oversea administration of all Peace Corps activities in Latin America and for the supervision of Peace Corps representatives in those countries. Director of Far East Programs, ES-17 Supervises the development and formulation of policies and programs for the various countries of the Far East. Evaluates requests from host countries, supervises exploratory surveys and discussions in host countries, and serves as chief negotiating officer for the Peace Corps in negotiations with other governments. Responsible for the oversea administration of all Peace Corps activities in the Far East and for the supervision of Peace Corps representatives in those countries. Director of African Programs, ES-17 Supervises the development and formulation of policies and programs for the various countries of Africa. Evaluates requests from host countries, supervises exploratory surveys and discussions in host countries, and serves as chief negotiating officer for the Peace Corps in negotiations with other governments. Responsible for the oversea administration of all Peace Corps activities in Africa and for the supervision of Peace Corps representatives in those countries. Director Near East and South Asia Programs, ES-17 Supervises the development and formulation of policies and programs for the various countries of Near East and south Asia. Evaluates requests from host countries, supervises exploratory surveys and discussions in host countries, and serves as chief negotiating officer for the Peace Corps in negotiations with other governments. Responsible for the oversea administration of all Peace Corps activities in Near East and south Asia and for the supervision of Peace Corps representatives in those countries. U.N. PROGRAMS Special Assistant for U.N. Programs, ES-17 Under the direction of the Associate Director for Program Development and Operations, acts as Peace Corps representative in negotiating Peace Corps participation in Programs of international organization affairs such as the United Nations, ILO, WHO, UNESCO, UNICEF, etc. Is Peace Corps liaison man with such organizations, with the United States delegation at U.N., and the Assistant Secretary of State for International Affairs, with officials in U.N. delegations from countries which are hosts to Peace Corps programs. PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEERS Associate Director for Peace Corps Volunteers (statutory $19,000) Responsible to the Director of the Peace Corps for the administration and coordination of the recruitment, selection, training (both United States and oversea), and personnel services of all Peace Corps volunteers. Develops and administers policies, programs, and procedures for finding and selecting qualified volunteer applicants, and for planning and mounting training programs designed to equip volunteers for oversea service. Works cooperatively with educational institutions, private agencies, and other governmental offices in conducting aforementioned programs. Provides staff services and guidance |