Archive - December 14, 2022

by Bill Josephson, Peace Corps General Counsel 1961-66   Ann Oppenheimer Hamilton, a very important Peace Corps staff person (1961-64), died in Washington on November 28, aged 85.  She was the subject of a lengthy paid obit in the 12/5/22  Washington Post I first met Ann when she was studying for her masters in economics at the London School, and I was studying politics at St. Antony’s College, Oxford.  She was a cousin of my St. Antony’s colleague, Richard H. Ullman.  He had a distinguished career at the Woodrow Wilson School and on the State Department’s Policy Planning Staff. Ann came to see me at the Peace Corps in Washington, and Warren W. Wiggins and John Alexander hired her to join John’s program planning and program review staff in Program Development and Operations. Ann walked into my office while I was preparing the Peace Corps’s first full-fledged congressional presentation.  She . . .

  Peace Corps Climate Change Initiative: Over the next year, the Peace Corps will launch a climate initiative that will include support for Volunteers and staff in up to 24 sub-Saharan African countries.  As many as 700 Volunteers will work with host country partners to contribute to national priorities and plans to address climate change.  Volunteers and their host communities will work together to increase adaptive capacities and build resilience of individuals, organizations, communities and ecosystems, as well as reduce greenhouse gas emissions and sequester carbon.

Thank you to Jonathan Pearson, Advocate Director of the NPCA for this news.   Last night, December 14th, the United States Senates formally confirmed Carol Spahn, (Rumania 1994-1996)  as the 21st Director of the Peace Corps.  This was the final step in the namination process. From the Peace Corps website: Spahn brings more than 25 years of public and private sector experience to the director position. Most recently, she served as Peace Corps’ chief of operations in the Africa Region covering Eastern and Southern Africa. Previously, she was the country director of Peace Corps/Malawi for five years. Spahn served as a Peace Corps volunteer from 1994 to 1996 in Romania, where she worked as a small business advisor. Before returning to the Peace Corps as Country Director, she was the senior vice president of operations at Women for Women International. Prior to that, Spahn was executive director of Accordia Global . . .