Miscellany

Devex, the global development website picked the 7 top ‘power couples in development’ and our own Carrie Hessler-Radelet and her husband, Steve, came in #6. Devex wrote: As we gear up for Valentine’s Day, Devex is celebrating power couples making an impact on today’s most pressing global issues. Check out our list of seven top power couples in development. Carrie Hessler-Radelet and husband Steve are a D.C.-based power couple. Carrie Hessler-Radelet was appointed as the U.S. Peace Corps director in 2014, spearheading a revamp in the volunteer organization’s application and selection process. Steve Radelet is the chief economist for USAID, after serving as deputy assistant secretary of the U.S. Treasury for Africa, the Middle East and Asia from 2000 to 2002 and a brief stint at Center for Global Development as a senior fellow. Fast fact: Steve Radelet and Carrie Hessler-Radelet served together in the Peace Corps in Western Samoa, now . . .

An RPCV Thailand couple tonight, (2/12/15) won the game with $15,000, and the Bonus round for another $32,000….. From Hawaii, they are just married. They also won a trip to Chine! The last time the Peace Corps made a prime time debut was on Jeopardy when Matt Losak (Lesotho 1985-88; staff NYRO and HQ ‘1992-97) placed the agency in a category for the 35th Anniversary.

WASHINGTON, D.C., Feb. 6, 2015 – Peace Corps Director Carrie Hessler-Radelet met with eight former agency directors at Peace Corps headquarters on Thursday for a day of reconnection and strategic planning. Former Peace Corps directors in attendance included: Nick Craw (1973-74); Richard Celeste (1979-81); Mark Gearan (1995-99); Secretary Elaine Chao (1991-92); Carol Bellamy (1993-95); Mark Schneider (1999-01); Ronald Tschetter (2006-09); and Aaron Williams (2009-12). “We want to share with you some of the current priority areas that we believe reflect our institutional commitment to creativity and innovation,” Hessler-Radelet said. “We also want to explore the leadership role the Peace Corps can play domestically and internationally as we move forward in this ever-changing and diverse, interdependent world.” Former Director Bellamy was appointed by President Clinton and was the first returned Peace Corps volunteer to serve as Director, having completed her Volunteer service in Guatemala from 1963-65.

The next fiscal budget has the Peace Corps receiving an 8% increase which, I’m told, puts the agency “on the path” to having 10,000 Volunteers in the field by 2016. That got me thinking of a letter that then Director Mark Gearan sent to all the RPCV groups and PCVs back on January 8, 1998. In the first line of Mark’s letter, he wrote: “I am delighted to inform you that President Clinton has announced an initiative to expand the Peace Corps to 10,000 Volunteers by the year 2000.” He (the President) was going to do this by increasing the budget to $48 million, or 21 %, “next year (1999) to put the agency on the path toward this important goal.” Attached to that letter in my files are articles that appeared shortly after that announcement in the Washington Post, Boston Globe, Denver Post, Seattle Times, plus columns by David Broder, Mark . . .

In her testimony on Tuesday of last week in a hearing on the Office of Office of Inspector General (OIG), 60-year old, Kathy A. Buller, the Peace Corps IG, said the agency [Peace Corps] continues to hamper her duties by invoking another law to inappropriately overrule her legal mandate. After her testimony in September, the Peace Corps did grant her office greater access to information, but she said that was only after “two years of discussions with the agency and members of Congress, two congressional hearings, negative press coverage, a hold being placed on the nomination of the Director, and, ultimately, the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the agency and OIG [Office of Inspector General].” “Much work remains to be done to undo the damage caused by these access-denying policies,” she added  It is ironic that Buller and the Peace Corps are the “point example” for misdeeds . . .

The Washington Post By Joe Davidson Columnist Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has said progress still needs to be made on clearing obstacles encountered by federal inspectors general. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP) February 1 at 6:57 PM It’s hard for inspectors general to be watchdogs when chained by their agencies. IG employees investigate waste, fraud and other things that go wrong in federal places. They often work in the same buildings and eat in the same cafeterias as those they investigate, yet they stand apart. While legally under the supervision of an agency’s top boss, the IG is not supervised by that boss. IGs are designed by law to be independent and agencies are not permitted to interfere with their investigations. So it was extraordinary when 47 inspectors general, about two-thirds of the lot, wrote to Capitol Hill in August to complain that interference . . .

MORE, a magazine for women of style and substance, carries a monthly article entitled “Real-Life Reinvention Secrets” and in the February issue Peace Corps Director Carrie Hessler-Radelet (Western Samoa 1981-83) is featured as a  new leader with a new look. Carrie talks about dressing so that today she is “equally comfortable in a boardroom or a mud hut.” Carrie also talks about going from deputy director “where I wore pants, flats and ethnic jackets, with my hair in a ponytail” to meetings on the Hill or with ambassadors, “so I needed a more professional look.” Check it out on page 108 of the current issue of MORE. http://www.more.com/news/personalities/carrie-hessler-radelet-peace-corps-director

We heard recently from Alan Toth (South Africa 2010-12) about his new ventures with Posh Corps and I asked him to detail the developments of his very fine film ventures about Peace Corps work. Posh Corps: not just a film anymore Several months ago, Socorra Camposanto (Morocco 2010-12), the audio producer and composer at Posh Corps, Socorra Camposanto first approached me about the idea of doing a regular podcast of Peace Corps  stories. It was a great idea. What many people likely don’t realize, is that the Posh Corps team has shot about 100 interviews with returned volunteers over the last two years, for our web series, Posh Corps Shorts. Due to difficulties getting B-roll, or high quality photos, most of these interviews could not be used. Podcasting has no need for B-roll, so we finally have a forum for these volunteer stories. The next episode will feature interviews with evacuated volunteers from . . .

As the Ebola epidemic crept into Liberia in March 2014, a dramatic shift began to take place. In a matter of months, the widespread belief that Ebola didn’t even exist gave way to a gripping fear across Monrovia, the capital city. When the decision was made to evacuate Peace Corps volunteers from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone at the end of July, the agency worked quickly to ensure each volunteer returned safely to the United States. This was not an easy operation as logistics and already-challenged roads had deteriorated with the full force of the rainy season. Once we, as American and Liberian Peace Corps staff members, achieved our goal of seeing all volunteers safely back home, we began educating ourselves on the potential impact the Ebola virus could have in Liberia. Click here for full story Virginia is the first state in nation to become employer of national service Augusta . . .

Thanks to Ken Hill (Turkey 1965-67) who brought to my attention the notice of the death of Robert White. As Ken wrote: A career foreign service officer, Bob White was brought to Peace Corps via Jack Vaughn who had also been a career foreign service officer. He was Deputy Regional Director for Latin America and then succeeded Jack Vaughn as Regional Director when Jack was named Peace Corps Director. After the Nixon Administration came to power Bob White was replaced, some say because he complained openly to Congress that the new Administration was ‘politicizing’ the Peace Corps. In 1971, of course, less than a year after Bob White left, the Peace Corps became part of the new ACTION Agency, Nixon’s creature designed to fold several “new frontier” anti-poverty programs into a new entity with the ultimate intent to eliminate them. White joined the Foreign Service in 1955 and served in . . .

Patricia Garamendi (Ethiopia 1966-68) has brought to my attention a fascinating new book that anyone who served in the Peace Corps might find of value. The book Living On A Dollar A Day:  The Lives And Faces Of the World’s Poor was written by Thomas A. Nazario, with photographs by Renée C. Byer. The book features 215 images bvRenée C. Byer and has a forward by the Dalai Lama.  David Griffin the former director of photography at National Geographic helped photo edit and designed the book which recently was awarded 1st prize documentary book award at IPA (International Photography Awards.) Writer Thomas A. Nazario is the founder and president of The Forgotten International, a nonprofit organization that does poverty alleviation work in several parts of the world. Renée C. Byer is an American documentary photojournalist best known for her in-depth work focusing on the disadvantaged and those who otherwise would . . .

Best Politician in the McConnell House? It May Not Be Mitch by Sheryl Gay Stolberg, The New York Times Senator Mitch McConnell is a skilled politician. But he may not be his family’s best. That honor might go to his wife, Elaine Chao. As the sometimes-dour Mr. McConnell took command of the Senate yesterday, Ms. Chao roamed the corridors of the Capitol, happily shaking hands with veteran members, welcoming freshmen and their spouses (all of whose names she seemed to know) and parrying with reporters. “Today is not so much about my husband becoming majority leader — today is the day that, I hope, the country will take a new direction,” she said. Asked why her husband never sought to be president, she had an explanation at the ready: “He’s always been a creature of the Senate.” If that sounds practiced, there is a reason: Ms. Chao has deep experience in Washington, . . .

Bill Moyers told public television stations last week that his interview program “Moyers & Company” would end with the Jan. 3 show, keeping to the two-year timetable he and the program’s funders committed to when he came out of a 20-month retirement in January 2012. The news was first reported by the trade publication Current. Bill Moyers began to work at the Peace Corps in 1961 as the Associate Director for Public Affairs, leaving the staff of Vice President Johnson to work for the agency. Moyers, who was born in Hugo, Oklahoma, was raised in Marshall, Texas, where he quickly established himself as one of the brightest students that the state of Texas had ever produced. Moyers graduated from the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary at Fort Worth, receiving his degree in Divinity Studies and was preparing to teach at Baylor when Senator Johnson called from Washington and his career plans . . .

The Associated Press reports that in a new survey young kids are more serious about giving back than their parents were (that means you!). In fact, those under age 30 now are more likely to say citizens have a “very important obligation” to volunteer, an Associated Press poll finds. The embrace of volunteering is striking because young people’s commitment to other civic duties – such as voting, serving on a jury and staying informed – has dropped sharply from their parents’ generation and is lower than that of Americans overall. Among six civic activities in the AP poll, volunteering is the only one that adults under 30 rated as highly as older people did. Today’s young adults grew up amid nudges from a volunteering infrastructure that has grown exponentially since their parents’ day, when the message typically came through churches or scouting. In the decades since President George H.W. Bush . . .