Peace Corps profile of original plan for Volunteers in Pakistan-West and East

This document is a public record which was published by the Peace Corps on November 1, 1961.

 

PAKISTAN – WEST AND EAST

Two pilot projects in agriculture, education, and community development is being undertaken – one in West, the other in East Pakistan. Peace Corps Volunteers will serve as junior instructors in Pakistan colleges; teach new farming methods and maintenance of improved farming implements; organize youth clubs; and work in hospitals.

In West Pakistan, Volunteers stationed in Lahore and Lyallpur will work on hospital staffs, on college faculties and staffs, and as members of agricultural extension teams.

Volunteers to East Pakistan will be assigned to government ministries, a village development academy and the faculty of a university. They will also help build a planned satellite city.

VOLUNTEERS REQUIRED — 30 Volunteers in West and. 33 in East Pakistan.

TECHNICAL QUALIFICATIONS — College degrees and even graduate work were considered essential for some assignments. For others, persons with trade or high school vocational training and working experience were accepted.

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PAKISTAN  (WEST)

[training site] Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, August 30 — November 1, 1961

Project Director: Pauline Birkey, Coordinator of the Peace Corps’ West Pakistan Project Committee, and Research Associate at the Colorado State University Research Foundation.

Director, Orientation and Training Program: Howard Porter, Professor of Plant Pathology, Iowa State College and Colorado State University, with extensive experience as agricultural specialist and instructor in botany in China, Paraguay, Brazil and. Uruguay.

Area Specialists: Dr. Joseph J. Mangalam, Assistant Professor, Department of Rural Sociology, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio.

Mrs. Sylvia Mangalam, a social psychologist with experience in nutrition and a Master’s degree in Cultural Anthropology.

Language Specialist: Ved. Prakash Vatuk, candidate for a doctorate in linguistics at Harvard University, is a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and of the Punjab.

 

Trainees took four hours daily of language study (Urdu), two hours weekly of linguistics, two hours daily of area study, and instruction in American studies, international affairs, health care and technical subjects. Pakistani students at Colorado State assisted in the training program.

 

Peace Corps Field Training Camp, Arrecibo, Puerto, Rico,

November 11 — December 7, 1961

Those selected for assignments will have one month of field training at the Peace Corps Field Training Camp, Arrecibo, Puerto Rico, before going on to Pakistan.This will cover field work in community development, physical conditioning, further work in American studies, world affairs, and problems of cross cultural adaptation.

 

[in-country training]Peshawar Academy, West Pakistan, December 10, 1961 – January 7, 1962

This third phase of training is to be jointly planned and executed by the Peace Corps, Colorado State University and the Peshawar Academy. It includes further language and area study, visits to Pakistani villages, and orientation lectures by various Pakistani officials.

 

ASSIGNMENTS — Volunteers will be divided into two teams – one educational and one multi-purpose.

Educational Team, Lahore

College of Animal Husbandry — an assistant librarian, junior instructors in biochemistry and histology, and a dairy equipment mechanic.

Polytechnic College — faculty assistants and demonstrators in masonry and brickwork, internal combustion engines and electrical engineering.

Mayo Hospital — Virologist, who will assist in the laboratory and train laboratory technicians.

Multi-Purpose Team, Lyallpur

Lyallpur Agricultural College —- junior instructors in physics, chemistry, botany, zoology, English.

District Hospital — staff nurses to teach village classes in midwifery, child care and first aid.

Agricultural Extension — assistants to Lyallpur extension workers for improving crop and livestock production, sanitation, irrigation techniques; mechanics skilled in the use and maintenance of farm equipment.

 

ADMINISTRATION– Colorado State University is the administering agent. It has had seven years of experience in administering projects of the International Cooperation Administration in agriculture, health, and engineering in West Pakistan.

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PAKISTAN (EAST)

[Training site] The Experiment in International Living, Putney, Vermont, August 21 – October 14, 1961

Project Director: Reed Alvord., Administrator of the Peace Corps’ East Pakistan Project, and. Director of Information, the Experiment in International Living.

Specialists: William. Ross, in charge of Pakistan area studies.

Bradford Smith, in charge of American studies.

Mohammad Mohiyud.-Din, language instructor in Bengali.

Training Program:

United States Culture — 50 hours of contemporary US. history, world affairs, human relations, economic organization, governmental structure,

Peace Corps goals, regulations, relations with other agencies.

Pakistani Culture — 95 hours on contemporary Pakistan; community and national development; health, sanitation and. diet; 103 hours of physical conditioning and preparation for Pakistani life;

40 hours on Peace Corps programs, review and brush-up of basic skills, project locations, need for each program, and Volunteer assignments; 180 hours of language study (Bengali); and 48 hours (four full days) of field experience.

[In-country training] Comilla Village Development Academy, East Pakistan October 30 – November 30, 1961

Concentration on further training in Bengali and country orientation.

 

ASSIGNMENTS — Volunteers will be assigned to four centers in East Pakistan: Dacca, Comilla, Mirpur and Rajshahi. Ministry of Education and Dacca University – An audiovisual team will plan and produce educational films for Pakistani audiences.

Instructors in physical education will be assigned  to Dacca University, Comilla Village Development Academy— This important training center for senior agricultural and village development officials also provides agricultural extension services to an adjacent development area.
Volunteers include an agricultural extension worker concerned with new production techniques; a mechanic for maintenance of agricultural equipment; a youth worker for organizing rural youth clubs; a librarian; and a communications specialist to help improve communication between the Academy and villagers.

Mirpur— Pakistan’s Department of Public Works is building this satellite town six miles north of Dacca to house 200,000 former refugees.

Volunteers include a junior town planning specialist; a sociologist; skilled workmen to give on-the-job instruction to Pakistani workers; mechanics; and a sanitary engineer.

Rajahahi— In this leading educational center situated on the Ganges northwest of Dacca, Volunteers will be assigned to the University of Rajshahi, the School ofSurveying and. Engineering, and the office of the District Engineer.

They will serve as instructors or assistant professors of American history, political science, international relations, sociology economics, American literature, physical education, surveying and engineering. Volunteer civil and electrical engineers will work on an extensive building program and on the district engineering staff. Two nurses and one medical assistant will work at the University of Rajshahi Medical College Hospital.

ADMINISTRATION — The Experiment in International Living is the administering agent. It is a private, nonprofit, educational travel organization with years of experience in the field of international relations.