Peace Corps Ecuador Update – 9/27/2012
Parmer Heacox – Country Director
In its 50st year Peace Corps Ecuador currently hosts 160 Volunteers in the following project areas: Community Health/HIV-AIDS Prevention, Youth and Family Development, Natural Resources, and TEFL. In all of these project areas Volunteers may also elect to concentrate in leadership development, food security, community banking/financial management and small enterprise development. Additionally, Volunteers draw on each other and all project areas because as all RPCVs know, we may find ourselves working in secondary activities we never imagined. We encourage our Volunteers to participate in Technical Exchanges to learn from other Volunteers in the field and more and more, Volunteers are tapping into resources and information on line. Peace Corps has changed tremendously since its beginning but we still hold close to people to people relationships as our strategy for development and change.
Recent Update: In the last couple of years, the agency has taken a closer look at who our Volunteers are, what they can do well and how we can better support them to meet our programmatic and agency goals. This has resulted in a strategy of “Focus in – Train up” which recognizes that most of our Volunteers are generalists. We have been asked to carefully consider fewer areas of concentration in each of our project areas and provide structured and quality training for those areas. Gone are the days of broad programs. This has required careful planning and alignment with local government and non-government organizations and communities and working to honor and yet manage expectations of staff, Volunteers and community counterparts. We have pro-actively taken on this initiative and today our Volunteers are able to better carry out and report on specific and clear community development objectives. There is, of course, still room for those “expert” Volunteers who come with advanced skills to meet a range of development needs. But we are now better able to develop sites and place Volunteers in work situations where they can be productive sooner.
Does any one know the status of auquaculture projects in the Oriente? I would love to follow up on my work near Gualaquiza, perhaps as a Response Corps volunteer?
Ted, thanks for your comment. I’m going to see if any current volunteers know. You might email Parmer Heacox, country director. Email us at foe@friendsofecuador.dreamsites.io for his contact info. I believe the agriculture and animal production programs were discontinued in the last couple of years so I’m not sure if anyone knows other than volunteers who might be working in Gualaquiza on other programs.
DIOS LES BENDIGA POR SU MARAVILLOSA COLABORACION EN EL ECUADOR , USTEDES ESTAN HACIENDO UNA GRAN LABOR AL FOMENTAR LOS CURSOS DE APRENDIZAJE DEL IDIOMA INGLES DIRECCIONADO A LOS SEÑORES POLICIAS DE SANTA ELENA, DESEARIA SABER SI NOS PUEDEN COLABORAR Y TAMBIEN PARTICIPAR DE ESTA CAPACITACION EN LA CUIDAD DE GUAYAQUIL, PARA LAS SEÑORITAS Y SEÑORES ESTUDIANTES DE DISEÑO DE MODAS DEL INSTITUTO SUPERIOR TECNOLOGICO ANA PAREDES DE ALFARO, MI NOMBRE ES WILSON BORJA Y COORDINO ESTA SOCIALIZACION E INTERCAMBIO CULTURAL INTERNACIONAL.
ATTE
WILSON
0998652722