As Amy mentioned, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is providing ~$500 million to Burkina Faso over the next 5 (or so) years for agriculture, road improvement, and female education projects. Here’s what slays me: This $500 million was approved by Congress. The Peace Corps budget is also approved by Congress. I forget the exact number, but the PC budget for the entire globe is on the order of $400 million. Furthermore, the budget for BF is ~$2.5 million, and decreasing. Now, if we didn’t have a demand or a supply of volunteers, I would say go ahead and cut the budget, but as it is, they actually have to limit the number of volunteers they can let into the country each year, purely for budgeting reasons. Now, it sounds nice to say, “There are more Americans that want to serve Burkina Faso than we can afford,” but when Congress gives 200x the PCBF budget to our country, it makes one think that perhaps it would be worth it to throw a little more in our direction.
Now, I know that, “it just doesn’t work like that,” but just look at the numbers. And how efficiently do you think that money will be spent? At least some of it is going to end up in the wrong hands/bank accounts. PCVs don’t build roads, but there is an established agriculture program in PC (not in BF, but in many PC countries) that teaches communities what kinds of crops to grow, how to grow them sustainably, and how to do without expensive fertilizer (Kai, a friend and PCV in Zambia is teaching just this. He says the local word for agriculture is synonymous with fertilizer, obviously there are some misconceptions…). It seems like adding this PC program and a bunch of volunteers to the country and making the MCC funds available to their communities would be a good way to ensure that the funds are spent wisely and effectively.
On the other hand, a note about the program’s effectiveness: The program has been operating for 2.5 years already building schools. In that amount of time they’ve built 132 schools. Compare this to the poor guy I discussed in my post about the book “Three Cups of Tea.” He has been in Pakistan and Afghanistan for 14 years and has built 50 schools. The difference funding makes.
That’s all. I just want people to see the numbers. Compare the PC budget with other government programs’ and NGO’s budgets and look at the quality and efficiency of the work the PC does and it begs the question, why isn’t more spent on the program? President Bush recently said of the PC, “It really is the best foreign policy America could possibly have.”
Now, I know that, “it just doesn’t work like that,” but just look at the numbers. And how efficiently do you think that money will be spent? At least some of it is going to end up in the wrong hands/bank accounts. PCVs don’t build roads, but there is an established agriculture program in PC (not in BF, but in many PC countries) that teaches communities what kinds of crops to grow, how to grow them sustainably, and how to do without expensive fertilizer (Kai, a friend and PCV in Zambia is teaching just this. He says the local word for agriculture is synonymous with fertilizer, obviously there are some misconceptions…). It seems like adding this PC program and a bunch of volunteers to the country and making the MCC funds available to their communities would be a good way to ensure that the funds are spent wisely and effectively.
On the other hand, a note about the program’s effectiveness: The program has been operating for 2.5 years already building schools. In that amount of time they’ve built 132 schools. Compare this to the poor guy I discussed in my post about the book “Three Cups of Tea.” He has been in Pakistan and Afghanistan for 14 years and has built 50 schools. The difference funding makes.
That’s all. I just want people to see the numbers. Compare the PC budget with other government programs’ and NGO’s budgets and look at the quality and efficiency of the work the PC does and it begs the question, why isn’t more spent on the program? President Bush recently said of the PC, “It really is the best foreign policy America could possibly have.”
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And the bureau's motto seems to be that they can cut fun things for the volunteers like getting driven in a Peace Corps car to your site during affectation and holding COS and ISTs in hotels because the old people who remember how good it used to be are always COSing. I know I'm going to write to my Congressperson to increase funding for the Peace Corps.
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