Comments on: Accion Comunal: PCVs in Community Development http://peacecorpsworldwide.org/babbles/2012/10/09/accion/ John Coyne Babbles is a collection of comments, opinions, musings, and outrages from this RPCV who served with the first group (1962-64) in Ethiopia. Thu, 20 Jun 2013 01:18:44 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Tino Calabia http://peacecorpsworldwide.org/babbles/2012/10/09/accion/comment-page-1/#comment-2486 Tino Calabia Wed, 10 Oct 2012 23:07:28 +0000 http://peacecorpsworldwide.org/babbles/?p=6016#comment-2486 Joey, Thanks, I did find Textor's book and Palmer's case study. What's your e-mail address? As you asked, I'll be happy to share my opinion and continue the conversation. (My address is fcalabia36@gmail.com.) Joey, Thanks, I did find Textor’s book and Palmer’s case study. What’s your e-mail address? As you asked, I’ll be happy to share my opinion and continue the conversation. (My address is fcalabia36@gmail.com.)

]]> By: Joey http://peacecorpsworldwide.org/babbles/2012/10/09/accion/comment-page-1/#comment-2485 Joey Wed, 10 Oct 2012 21:46:22 +0000 http://peacecorpsworldwide.org/babbles/?p=6016#comment-2485 I read Coyne's babbles and he told us all about Dr. Textor a few hundred posts ago! Dr. Textor is also the author of the original "In,Up and Out" memo in which he argued that tenure at Peace Corps should be about eight years in order to make room for RPCVs coming in from the field. He envisioned a Peace Corps agency totally run, top to bottom, by RPCVs. He is a great man, I think. Right now, he is just recovered from Open Heart surgery, but he keeps his eye on Peace Corps and the RPCV community in Portland Oregon. If you have any trouble downloading the book from my webpage, just google "Robert B. Textor" and go to his website and then click on "publications" I read Coyne’s babbles and he told us all about Dr. Textor a few hundred posts ago! Dr. Textor is also the author of the original
“In,Up and Out” memo in which he argued that tenure at Peace Corps should be about eight years in order to make room for RPCVs coming in from the field. He envisioned a Peace Corps agency totally run, top to bottom, by RPCVs.

He is a great man, I think. Right now, he is just recovered from Open Heart surgery, but he keeps his eye on Peace Corps and the RPCV community in Portland Oregon.

If you have any trouble downloading the book from my webpage, just google “Robert B. Textor” and go to his website and then click on
“publications”

]]> By: Tino Calabia http://peacecorpsworldwide.org/babbles/2012/10/09/accion/comment-page-1/#comment-2484 Tino Calabia Wed, 10 Oct 2012 19:48:43 +0000 http://peacecorpsworldwide.org/babbles/?p=6016#comment-2484 Joey, I’ll go to your blog and try to download the case study from Textor's website. Say, how do you keep track of such things? Anyway, thanks again. Joey, I’ll go to your blog and try to download the case study from Textor’s website. Say, how do you keep track of such things? Anyway, thanks again.

]]> By: Joey http://peacecorpsworldwide.org/babbles/2012/10/09/accion/comment-page-1/#comment-2481 Joey Wed, 10 Oct 2012 12:43:17 +0000 http://peacecorpsworldwide.org/babbles/?p=6016#comment-2481 Tino, Are you familiar with Dr. Robert B. Textor's "Cultural Frontiers of the Peace Corps" published in 1966? There is a case study by RPCV David Scott Palmer about PCVs assigned to the University of Huanamga in Ayacucho, Peru, in 1963. The case study described the political situation and the difficulty the PCVs had. The book is available in PDF form, without cost, from Dr. Textor's website. I have a link to it on my blog: Peace Corps:Public Records under the category "References." It would be interesting to learn of your opinion of the case study. Tino,

Are you familiar with Dr. Robert B. Textor’s “Cultural Frontiers of the Peace Corps” published in 1966? There is a case study by RPCV David Scott Palmer about PCVs assigned to the University of Huanamga in Ayacucho, Peru, in 1963. The case study described the political situation and the difficulty the PCVs had.

The book is available in PDF form, without cost, from Dr. Textor’s website. I have a link to it on my blog: Peace Corps:Public Records under the category “References.”

It would be interesting to learn of your opinion of the case study.

]]> By: FlacoBob http://peacecorpsworldwide.org/babbles/2012/10/09/accion/comment-page-1/#comment-2480 FlacoBob Wed, 10 Oct 2012 03:13:02 +0000 http://peacecorpsworldwide.org/babbles/?p=6016#comment-2480 Joey, you are correct, CARE/Peace Corps put the spirit into Acción Comunal in Colombia. I was assigned to the mountains of Sevilla, Valle in 1964 where our Counterparts were members of the National Police... Acción Comunal was basic Community Development. The Volunteer's role was to find the felt needs of the community and help them be the solution to their own problems...we built schools, roads, health centers, gardens, and literacy programs...we were the Community! All of this would not have been possible without the support of the National Police. Like Joey mentioned, we listened and developed ties with the community. But what was key to our effort were the many secondary projects that were developed...I had many! Colombians made this effort possible and never gave up on us or themselves. Almost 50 year's later, I am back in Colombia as a Response Volunteer assigned to a Community Development effort in northern Colombia....Campo de la Cruz, Atlantico. I am working with the community to rebuild what the recent floods destroyed. And I am now a member of the Acción Comunal committee for my barrio...like an old pair of shoes, this feels comfortable, great! I have no complaints...Acción Comunal all the way! Bob Joey, you are correct, CARE/Peace Corps put the spirit into Acción Comunal in Colombia. I was assigned to the mountains of Sevilla, Valle in 1964 where our Counterparts were members of the National Police… Acción Comunal was basic Community Development. The Volunteer’s role was to find the felt needs of the community and help them be the solution to their own problems…we built schools, roads, health centers, gardens, and literacy programs…we were the Community! All of this would not have been possible without the support of the National Police. Like Joey mentioned, we listened and developed ties with the community. But what was key to our effort were the many secondary projects that were developed…I had many! Colombians made this effort possible and never gave up on us or themselves.
Almost 50 year’s later, I am back in Colombia as a Response Volunteer assigned to a Community Development effort in northern Colombia….Campo de la Cruz, Atlantico. I am working with the community to rebuild what the recent floods destroyed. And I am now a member of the Acción Comunal committee for my barrio…like an old pair of shoes, this feels comfortable, great! I have no complaints…Acción Comunal all the way!
Bob

]]> By: Tino Calabia http://peacecorpsworldwide.org/babbles/2012/10/09/accion/comment-page-1/#comment-2479 Tino Calabia Wed, 10 Oct 2012 00:04:34 +0000 http://peacecorpsworldwide.org/babbles/?p=6016#comment-2479 Though assigned to Chiclayo, Peru as a PCV while Frank Mankiewicz was still Country Director, I count myself fortunate that my small PCV group had been assigned to teach in universities. (Many of us had already earned graduate degrees in various disciplines.) The university I was to teach in was only a year old when I arrived, but had already been politicized in such a way as to virtually bar "gringos" from teaching in the main faculty. (For me, a Filipino-American, it seemed darkly ironic to be considered a "gringo.") I had to start in a brand new nursing school that was accepting its first women students who, of course, were not politicized at all. So at least I had a job. But so many other PCVs in Peru at that time seemed to be expected to develop communities, even though they were fresh off of a college campus and had no actual work experience related to their stated Peace Corps mission. I met a few who really struggled and heard colorful stories of others who had finally thrown in the towel. Before I left for home in 1965, I did know a couple of PCVs who seemed to be making some headway. But the one PCV who clearly completed a successful project (not related to university teaching) was a mid-career professional who came with experience in banking and accounting. He arrived in Chiclayo, recruited a few Peruvians, and set up a savings-and-loan bank intended to serve folks who couldn't get credit or banking services elsewhere. By the time he left for the U.S., the S&L was up and running, staffed by locals this PCV had recruited and trained. He had truly created a much-needed community institution. I'm not sure that this mid-career PCV engaged in the kind of community development that PC/Washington had in mind in the mid-’60s. But he sure contributed to the kind of community folks whom I believe we were generally intended to serve. His first name was Tony (with an Italian surname), and I believe he was from Queens, NY. Does anyone know anything about this PCV hero? Is he still around, and can I reach him? Though assigned to Chiclayo, Peru as a PCV while Frank Mankiewicz was still Country Director, I count myself fortunate that my small PCV group had been assigned to teach in universities. (Many of us had already earned graduate degrees in various disciplines.)

The university I was to teach in was only a year old when I arrived, but had already been politicized in such a way as to virtually bar “gringos” from teaching in the main faculty. (For me, a Filipino-American, it seemed darkly ironic to be considered a “gringo.”) I had to start in a brand new nursing school that was accepting its first women students who, of course, were not politicized at all. So at least I had a job.

But so many other PCVs in Peru at that time seemed to be expected to develop communities, even though they were fresh off of a college campus and had no actual work experience related to their stated Peace Corps mission. I met a few who really struggled and heard colorful stories of others who had finally thrown in the towel. Before I left for home in 1965, I did know a couple of PCVs who seemed to be making some headway.

But the one PCV who clearly completed a successful project (not related to university teaching) was a mid-career professional who came with experience in banking and accounting. He arrived in Chiclayo, recruited a few Peruvians, and set up a savings-and-loan bank intended to serve folks who couldn’t get credit or banking services elsewhere. By the time he left for the U.S., the S&L was up and running, staffed by locals this PCV had recruited and trained. He had truly created a much-needed community institution.

I’m not sure that this mid-career PCV engaged in the kind of community development that PC/Washington had in mind in the mid-’60s. But he sure contributed to the kind of community folks whom I believe we were generally intended to serve. His first name was Tony (with an Italian surname), and I believe he was from Queens, NY. Does anyone know anything about this PCV hero? Is he still around, and can I reach him?

]]> By: PDOC Veteran http://peacecorpsworldwide.org/babbles/2012/10/09/accion/comment-page-1/#comment-2478 PDOC Veteran Tue, 09 Oct 2012 23:47:16 +0000 http://peacecorpsworldwide.org/babbles/?p=6016#comment-2478 Gerald Rice's book on the Peace Corps sounds like a good read. Along with Stan Meisler's book on the Peace Corps' first 50 years, that came out earlier this year -- "When the World Calls", Rice seems to capture the on-going debate about the efficacy of putting young volunteers into the community development jobs in Latin America. However, Mankiewicz passed the buck by claiming that the "Peace Corps" was overly optimistic in sending so many volunteers into urban CD assignments. It was Mankiewicz himself who was expansionist and excelled at the numbers game. He used his revolutionary rhetoric to pressure the agency into pouring often ill-equipped volunteers into those unstructured and non-existent assignments. The only other correction I have is to point out is that C. Payne Lucas was the County Director in Niger, not Nigeria. David Gerald Rice’s book on the Peace Corps sounds like a good read. Along with Stan Meisler’s book on the Peace Corps’ first 50 years, that came out earlier this year — “When the World Calls”, Rice seems to capture the on-going debate about the efficacy of putting young volunteers into the community development jobs in Latin America. However, Mankiewicz passed the buck by claiming that the “Peace Corps” was overly optimistic in sending so many volunteers into urban CD assignments. It was Mankiewicz himself who was expansionist and excelled at the numbers game. He used his revolutionary rhetoric to pressure the agency into pouring often ill-equipped volunteers into those unstructured and non-existent assignments.

The only other correction I have is to point out is that C. Payne Lucas was the County Director in Niger, not Nigeria. David

]]> By: Joey http://peacecorpsworldwide.org/babbles/2012/10/09/accion/comment-page-1/#comment-2477 Joey Tue, 09 Oct 2012 22:28:29 +0000 http://peacecorpsworldwide.org/babbles/?p=6016#comment-2477 CARE pioneered the concept of community development. The agency worked in both Iran and Colombia. CARE had partnered with the Colombian government to create a government department of Accion Comunal. It was a working agency in Colombia by 1961. Peace Corps signed a contract with CARE to manage Peace Corps Volunteers in Colombia in April or May of 1961who were to be assigned with the Accion Comunal agents. I believe it may have been the first program contract that Peace Corps signed. Richard Poston of Souther Illinois University was the godfather of Community Development. He trained Colombia I at Rutgers and was also on the staff of the University of New Mexico Peace Corps Training Center. CARE pioneered the concept of community development. The agency worked in both Iran and Colombia. CARE had partnered with the Colombian government to create a government department of Accion Comunal. It was a working agency in Colombia by 1961. Peace Corps signed a contract with CARE to manage Peace Corps Volunteers in Colombia in April or May of 1961who were to be assigned with the Accion Comunal agents. I believe it may have been the first program contract that Peace Corps signed.

Richard Poston of Souther Illinois University was the godfather of Community Development. He trained Colombia I at Rutgers and was also on the staff of the University of New Mexico Peace Corps Training Center.

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