History
The Peace Corps, a volunteer program run by the U.S. government, traces its roots and mission to 1960, when then-Senator John F. Kennedy challenged students at the University of Michigan to serve their country in the cause of peace by living and working in developing countries. On March 1, 1961 President Kennedy signed an executive order establishing the Peace Corps with the following purpose:
"to promote world peace and friendship through a Peace Corps, which shall make available to interested countries and areas men and women of the United States qualified for service abroad and willing to serve, under conditions of hardship if necessary, to help the peoples of such countries and areas in meeting their needs for trained manpower."
Since 1961, nearly 200,000 volunteers have served in 139 countries in the areas of education, health, business development, youth development, agriculture, and the environment. Volunteers make a 27 month commitment that includes 8 to 12 weeks of in-country training and 2 years living in a community (typically as the only volunteer in the area).
Mission
The Peace Corps' mission has three goals:
- Helping the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women.
- Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.
- Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.
Peace Corps/Tanzania (PC/TZ)
Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) first arrived in Tanzania (then called Tanganyika) in 1962. Since then, approximately 2,000 PCVs have served in Tanzania, working in education, health, the environment, and agriculture. In the early years of PC/TZ, most Volunteers focused on education.
As a result of political disagreements over the Vietnam War and former President Julius Nyerere’s philosophy of self-reliance, the Peace Corps withdrew from Tanzania from 1969 to 1979. The Peace Corps had another, shorter period of interrupted service in 1991 and 1992 because of tensions and security concerns related to the Persian Gulf War. In 1992, a thorough evaluation of the Peace Corps’ development priorities in Tanzania led to a decision to focus efforts on revitalizing the program in secondary education. In 1996 PC/TZ launched an environment project, and in 2000 it initiated a school health education project. Today, PC/TZ has about 130 Volunteers; half of them serve in the education project, 30 percent in the environment project, and 20 percent in the health education project.
Source: http://www.peacecorps.gov/
