Peace Corps and Approach to Youth Development

Introduction

Yay! Morgan is spending two years in Thailand, where lately everyone has been going on vacation. There are so many beautiful beaches. I bet she is just going to lay in the sand drinking from a coconuts the whole time. 

I wouldn't mind that at all. That would be nice.

But for real, what exactly is she doing there?

Read a head to get all the details, but long-story-short, I will be a professional community volunteer who works specifically with students. As in the states, communities in Thailand have the capacity to provide learning opportunities for youth and solve their own problems, but some lack a facilitator or motivator. My job will be building relationships with students and community members, to learn about their goals and aspirations. I will connect people with common goals and work to provide resources and support in achieving those goals.

Can't Thai people do that work for themselves?

The answer is Yes! They are doing that work now, and probably doing it better than I can because I am still a very novice Thai speaker. However, this will be my full-time job; my living expenses are covered by Peace Corps and can invest all my time in the growth of students and their communities.

Peace Corps Thailand Trainee Group 130 after completing staging in Los Angeles. I am in the second row, fourth from the left. Photo courtesy of PCV Skyler Matthias

What is Peace Corps?

The Peace Corps is a government agency born from an impromptu speech given by President John F. Kennedy in 1960. When he arrived at University of Michigan Ann Arbor the morning before a campaign speech at 2:00am, 10,000 students were already gathered to hear from him. Instead of waiting for his scheduled speech, he addressed the students immediately, issuing a grand challenge. He asked how many students would be willing to serve their country and promote peace by living and working in the developing world. Eight months later on March 1, 1961 Peace Corps was written into law and 220,000 volunteers have served to date. 

Mission and Goals

Peace Corps mission of promoting world peace and friendship is driven by three goals:

1. To make available to interested countries, trained and qualified men and women
2. To promote a better understanding of the American people on the part of the peoples served
3. To promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of American people

It's because of this mission that I decided to serve with the Peace Corps. Each goal aligns with my view of service. Service is driven by the people being served, service does not take jobs away from others, and service is about human connection.

Every step of the Peace Corps process, from the mission goals, to project design, to everyday activities is driven by the country served. I am in Thailand because the Thai government requested Peace Corps Volunteers to help achieve their self-identified goals. Thai teachers, organizations, and government agencies were integral in designing the two Peace Corps Programs in Thailand; Youth in Development and Teacher Empowerment for Student Success. I will be working with a Thai counterpart at the local administrative level to identify needs, set goals, and work to achieve them.

Peace Corps volunteers do this work as skilled laborers, providing a service where there is a shortage of local specialists. Peace Corps volunteers do not take jobs that could be performed by locals. 

Two-third's of Peace Corps goals are about cultural exchange. I am very excited about this part. In order to learn the nuances and diversity of Thai culture, and express the nuances and diversity of U.S. culture, I will have to make a lot of observations, ask a lot of questions, have a lot of conversations, and form strong relationships.

Approach to Youth Development

My job title doing my Peace Corps service is a Youth in Development Volunteer. The goal of the Youth in Development (YinD) program in Thailand is to prepare youth for their roles as healthy and engaged citizens of their communities. Students in rural communities lack access to resources that expand their capacity to to do so. Step in Peace Corps Volunteer.

Objectives

The YinD program has two main objects for working with students, improving life skills and community leadership abilities, and develop healthier lifestyles for youth. 

Objective 1: Improve Life Skills and Community Leadership Abilities

1. Enhance English Functional Skills - In Thailand, the ability to speak English goes a long way and opens doors of opportunity for students. Access to and frequent interactions with a native English speaker will improve students' conversational English skills and confidence when speaking English 
2. Improve Life Skills - Life skills includes everything from public speaking, to communication, to collaboration, to goal setting, to budgeting, and event planning skills.
3. Develop Leadership Skills Through Service - Student-driven community service projects build leadership and life skills while teaching students the importance of supporting their local communities.

Objective 2: Develop Healthier Lifestyles for Youth

1. Improve Sexual and Reproductive Health
2. Alcohol and Substance use Prevention
3. Sports and Physical Activity 

I personally find each of these three sub-objectives crucial for students anywhere in the world, rather, crucial for anyone in the world. We are never done learning about our bodies and the best ways to take care of them. 

Guiding Principles

There are three principles that guide Peace Corps approach to working with youth. They include, practicing positive youth development, enhancing youth participation, and practicing asset-based community development. Following these principles will help me make a sustainable impact on the community. They acknowledge that students are young leaders of their communities today and adult leaders of the world tomorrow. I like that they put students at the heart of the work; I will invest in them so that they can invest in themselves and others. 

Positive Youth Development

Positive youth development see's youth as resources, rather than problems that need to be fixed. It recognizes that youth have the capacity to identify their own needs, areas of growth, and community problems, as well as the capacity to find solutions. Positive youth development is about connecting students with resources, mentors, and experiences to build the skills necessary to solve problems. Peace Corps invests in youth.

Youth Participation

Youth are at the center of every project or activity. They will determine what projects to work on, plan and implement the project, and evaluate its success. The Peace Corps volunteer will act as a resource and support system for the students.

Asset-Based Community Development

This form of community development identifies, enhances, and utilizes the pre-existing capacities, gifts, and strengths in the community to solve community problems. It recognizes that people are motivated to work on community development when the projects address self-identified needs and provide opportunities for growth and reaching personal goals.

Potential Activities

Using the guiding principles as a framework, there are thousands of activities and projects I could work on with the students. The first steps though, certainly will be getting to know the students and their community. This will come with time and many, many conversations, so I will probably start or join a school English club to get things rolling. 

When some relationships have been built, it will be a matter of finding a meeting time for connecting students with shared interests or goals and then brainstorming activities and projects to meet them. Following the youth participation principal, I will support students in whatever projects they desire, but because of my STEM and environmental/earth science background, I would love to work with students with similar interests. It would be powerful to work with students in identifying a local environmental problem or question, advise them in developing a research plan, maybe assist in writing a grant proposal, guide them in analyzing the results, and support them in presenting their findings.

PCT Group 130 Meeting the State (Jahn Wat) Vice-Governor of Suphanburi.

Thai Counterpart

Throughout the next two years I will not be working alone. I will be working closely with a Thai Counterpart at one of the Sub-District Administrative Offices (sort of like County administrative building). They will be integral to my service, as they have been living and working in the community and can brief me on issues and resources in the community. I will be leaning on them for the relationships they have already have and for general knowledge of Thai culture and language. This will not be a one sided relationship however, I hope to support my counterpart with the goals they have for the community as well as support them personally with friendship.