The challenges in Ecuador are such that the country needs as many friends as possible.  While the community of returned volunteers who served in Ecuador since 1962 is nearly 6,000 strong, there are many other people in the United States who have an interest in Ecuador's success. Friends and family of volunteers, both current and past, have a connection to Ecuador.  There are a number of Americans who have either worked in or visited Ecuador who feel strongly about the country including former Embassy officials, USAID past and present employees, Americans who have married Ecuadorians and others. The single largest group of friends of Ecuador is the Ecuadorian immigrant community that lives in the United States.

The vision for this new Friends of Ecuador is to create an on-line community. All members will be able to add content, talk to each other, share information, organize projects, link up to organizations in Ecuador, channel donations, and lots of other possibilities. Your energy and action will make Friends of Ecuador strong and contribute to a healthier and more prosperous Ecuador and Ecuadorian people.

FoE can play a number of roles for its members and for Ecuador. These include:

• Link donations to ongoing RPCV projects in Ecuador
• Provide a connection to US markets for Ecuadorian fair trade products
• Strengthen ties between Ecuadorian communities in the US and US citizens who have lived and worked in Ecuador
• Connect technically proficient short term volunteers to ongoing RPCV projects in Ecuador
• Create a forum for RPCVs to reconnect with each other
• Develop an historical archive of the RPCV experience in Ecuador
• Advance the Peace Corps' third goal, "To strengthen Americans' understanding of the world and its peoples - to bring the world  back home."