Peace Corps Worldwide

Michael Fairbanks is Chairman Emeritus and founder of The OTF Group, a software and strategy consulting firm based in Boston. It is the first Venture-backed US firm to focus on developing nations. Mr. Fairbanks was a US Peace Corps teacher in Kenya, a Wall Street Banker and has, over a twenty year career, advised scores of Presidents, cabinet members and CEOs in Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia on business strategy and export competitiveness. Mr. Fairbanks is now involved with The S.E.VEN Fund. His projects have included working for the President of Rwanda to improve the prosperity of all Rwandan citizens by increasing the competitiveness of that nation’s tourism, coffee and agro-industry sectors; and advising the Minister of Finance of Afghanistan on private sector reforms. He co-authored Harvard Business School’s landmark book on business strategy in emerging markets, entitled Plowing the Sea, Nurturing the Hidden Sources of Advantage in Developing . . .

RPCV writer Laurence Leamer (Nepal 1965-67) filed this story late on Wednesday, May 20,2009, on the “bold new Peace Corps.” I wish I was as confident as others that Congress could override the White House and the budget office, as well as the State Department, and dramatically increase the numbers of Volunteers in the immediate future. I trust the House and Senate to vote for the increase and then not to fund the agency. It has happened before. Anyway, here’s what Larry has to say…. The bold new Peace Corps was born today in room 2172 in the Rayburn House Office Building. It took place as members of the House of Representatives were marking up the Foreign Affairs Authorization Bill authored by Committee Chairman Rep. Howard Berman. For almost every item, the California Democrat kept to the figures in President Obama’s budget, but when it came to the budget for . . .

The Philadelphia Business Journal  presented their 40 Under 40 Awards this month, recognizing 40 individuals, under the age of 40, who are proven performers in their respective industries and communities. This year the ’40 Under 40′ were 29 men and 11 women. And one RPCV! Concetta Anne Bencivenga (Thailand 1992-94) is the CFO and VP of finance and administration for the Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia. Concetta recently successfully completed a $60 million tax-exempt debt offering which allowed the museum to finance its expansion and relocation. By doing so, the museum managed to save a National Historic Landmark building and relocate in Philly. Concetta also is a blogger for this site, telling us all how (and why) to join the Peace Corps. For 4 years, before getting her M.P.A. at The University of Texas at Austin, she was a top recruiter in the Peace Corps New York Regional Office. Nicely done, Concetta! Congratulations . . .

Robert Textor organizes the “Thirsters” out in Portland, Oregon. I’m on his mailing list. The “Thirsters” reply from all over the world with comments, essays and ideas. As Robert writes, “of the 550 or so Thirsters Worldwide, some 40 are Returned Peace Corps Volunteers.  The RPCVs are, in my view, a very special group of people.  Some of them are now in the seventies, others still in their twenties.  Typically, though, they regard their Peace Corps service as the most influential experience of their entire lives. During the recent campaign, Barack promised to double the number of Peace Corps Volunteers.  Many RPCVs and others were thrilled to hear this, if only because it betokened strong support on his part.  Recent budget proposals, though, suggest that he has changed his mind – no doubt due to the current recession.” This is a very smart essay that Textor has sent around that . . .

The RPCVs from India are rallying around Frank Fountain (India 1966-68) for the Peace Corps directorship. He looks like a very good candidate for the position, being an RPCVs, coming from a corporate and non-profit background. Here’s a little of his history. Frank Fountain grew up in Tunnel Springs, Alabama, a rural segregated community typical of the times. He earned a BS in History and Political Science at Hampton University in Virginia and trained at the University of Missouri at Columbia, MO, and served as an Ag Volunteer in West Bengal. After India, Frank was a Peace Corps Training Staff member in California, then worked two years with Robert Nathan Associates in Washington, DC as a consultant to the Neighborhood Improvements Project of the Office of Economic Opportunity’s Community Action Agency. He taught management skills and techniques of community organizing at a time when these powerful non-violent tools for fighting poverty were . . .

Carol tells this story about how she decided to join the Peace Corps. As a senior at Gettysburg College in 1963 she fell asleep while studying in the college library. Waking late at night in the dark, she found herself locked inside the library. She spent the time reading and one of the items she found, was information on the ‘new’ Peace Corps. By dawn’s early light, she had decided to join the Peace Corps. She went to Guatemala as a health volunteer, had her own radio program teaching health, then came back to New York and became a lawyer, state senator, investment banker, and in 1994 the first RPCV Director of the Peace Corps. After that she was appointed head of the United Nation’s Children Fund (UNICEF), and now is a college president. On Sunday, May 17, she returned to her college to receivean honorary degree along with Judy Woodruff and Al Hunt of Washington, D.C.