Peace Corps volunteers to arrive in Pohnpei and Yap

Pohnpei State budget officer Christina Elnei, Gov. John Ehsa, and Peace country director Robert Reid. (Contributed Photo)

In two separate ceremonies, the Pohnpei and Yap governments signed memoranda of understandings for the placement of experienced Peace Corps Response Volunteers in various state government entities.

The MOUs outline the responsibilities of the state governments with this innovative program to provide capacity building in priority development sectors.

The PCRV program provides the partner country with seasoned professionals to undertake short-term, high-impact volunteer assignments around the globe. PCR volunteers typically serve six months to one year. This new program is supported by JEMCO-approved Compact funds.

Pohnpei Gov. John Ehsa and Peace Corps country director for the FSM & Palau Robert Reid signed a memorandum of understanding in the Pohnpei State Governor’s office on April 3, 2014. Also present was Pohnpei state budget officer Christina Elnei, who is coordinating the provision of host country contributions from Pohnpei state to support this endeavor.

The first group of seven volunteer specialists will arrive this summer to work for one year in Pohnpei to serve at the Department of Education, the Department of Health Services, and the Aid Coordination Office.

The five Peace Corps response volunteers in Education will work with local principals around the island as education accreditation specialists, to help elementary and secondary schools in devising corrective structure, policy, and administrative procedural reforms in the seven accreditation standards in order to ensure that every school meets the accreditation requirements.

The Peace Corps response volunteer who will work as Non-Communicable Disease Data Management program specialist will help to establish a reliable and efficient data management system to monitor the trends and effectiveness of state programs in dealing with the NCD crisis.

The PCRV who will serve as an aid coordination specialist will work with the Pohnpei external coordinator to help establish a grant writing and management system within the Pohnpei State Budget Office.

Yap Gov. Sebastian Anefal and Peace Corps country director Robert Reid previously signed a memorandum of understanding in the governor’s office on Feb. 26. Also participating in that signing ceremony was Director Frank Haregaichig of the Yap State Department of Resources & Development; he is coordinating the provision of host country contributions from Yap State to support this endeavor.

The first group of six volunteer specialists will arrive this summer to work for one year in the Department of Health Services, the Marine Resources Management Division, the Division of Agriculture and Forestry, and the Division of Youth Services.

Three PCRVs will work with local counterparts as a public health physician, a microbiologist to train hospital laboratory technicians, and an environmental health specialist to train staff to analyze and inspect environmental conditions that impact the health of the population throughout Yap.

The PCRV who will work as a marine environment specialist will help to develop an enhanced monitoring program for Yap State and conduct trainings for staff on how to implement, analyze, and report monitoring in order to develop a marine strategic management plan.

The PCRV who will serve as an agriculture data analyst will train staff to conduct an agriculture survey to establish baseline data to be used within the agricultural sector to increase awareness and encourage the production of local produce.

The youth program specialist PCRV will labor with the OurYap Organization to help implement activities, and assist government agencies to collect additional data on youth in order to design community-based youth programs.

The use of experienced volunteers who can bring a lifetime of experience to the table as capacity-building trainers is a proven technique for transferring knowledge to developing countries. Peace Corps is currently reviewing options to expand the Peace Corps Response program in FSM. (U.S. Embassy)