Peace Corps Chief Executive Officer Carol Spahn has announced that over the next year, the agency will implement a climate initiative to support over two million hours of volunteer and staff service in about 50 countries around the world.
Speaking via video at the Global Citizen Festival in New York City, CEO Spahn described how approximately 1,000 Peace Corps volunteers will work with host country partners to identify and implement strategies that contribute to climate priorities and national plans.
“Climate change disproportionally impacts the Global South, including many countries in which Peace Corps Volunteers serve. The world is at an inflection point when it comes to the climate emergency; it is now or never, and we are choosing now.” said CEO Spahn.
Volunteers and their host communities will work together to promote climate-smart agriculture practices, develop community tree nurseries, and increase climate literacy through environmental education.
Additionally, the Peace Corps will double the number of volunteers serving in Ghana to support climate, education, and health work in local communities.
Currently, the agency is recruiting volunteers to serve in over 50 countries around the world at the request of host country governments. Volunteers have already returned overseas in a total of 27 countries in Africa, Europe, the Caribbean, Central America, and South America.
The Peace Corps continues to monitor COVID-19 trends in all of its host countries and will continue to send volunteers to serve as conditions permit.
The Peace Corps is an international service network of volunteers, community members, host country partners, and staff who are driven by the agency’s mission of world peace and friendship.
At the invitation of governments around the world, Peace Corps volunteers work alongside community members on locally-prioritized projects in the areas of education, health, the environment, agriculture, community economic development, and youth development.
Through service, members of the Peace Corps network develop transferable skills and hone intercultural competencies that position them to be the next generation of global leaders.
Since President John F. Kennedy established the Peace Corps in 1961, more than 240,000 Americans have served in 142 countries worldwide.
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