U.S.

SENATE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS

SENATE SUB-COMMITTEE ON WESTERN HEMISPHERE, PEACE CORPS, AND
GLOBAL NARCOTICS
OCTOBER 6, 2011 10:30 AM Peace Corps: The Next 50 Years
TESTIMONY OF KATHY A. BULLER
THE PEACE CORPS INSPECTOR GENERAL
Chairman Menendez, Ranking Member Rubio, and distinguished members of the Committee, I
thank you for inviting me to appear before you today. My testimony will outline the
management challenges facing the Peace Corps as it celebrates its 50th anniversary this year,
including findings and recommendations that my office has made to support Peace Corps reform
efforts, the agencys recent progress, and my perspectives on the challenges ahead. I hope my
testimony will support your efforts to ensure the Peace Corps remains a relevant, vibrant, and
effective agency.
The Peace Corps Office of Inspector General (OIG) was established in 1989 after Congress
amended the Inspector General Act of 1978 to include smaller agencies. I became the Inspector
General (IG) on May 25th, 2008 and in my role as the IG, I direct a small office of 21employees
comprised of auditors, evaluators, criminal investigators, legal counsel and support staff. I am
fortunate to work with individuals who have a broad range of skills and experience, including
seven returned Peace Corps Volunteers, and three former Government Accountability Office
(GAO) employees. All of them have extensive private and/or public sector experience. Last
year, our criminal investigators were granted full statutory law enforcement powers by the
Attorney General including the authority to seek and execute search and arrest warrants, seize
evidence, make arrests without a warrant while engaged in official duties, and carry firearms.
Our mission is to prevent and detect fraud, waste, abuse, and other wrongdoing in agency
operations and programs as well as promote economy, efficiency and effectiveness. My office
serves as an independent oversight entity and my duty is to keep the Congress and the Director
fully and currently informed about problems within the Peace Corps, the need for corrective
action, and the progress being made to address our recommendations.
The Peace Corps at its Best
In its 2010 Comprehensive Agency Assessment, a report to the Committee on Appropriations,
the agency identified four critical elements that define the success of its programs over the past
50 years, which correlate closely to our audit and evaluation findings. These four elements are
discussed below:
The Peace Corps niche is that our Volunteers live and work for extended periods in
communities where other service organizations tend not to go and stay. Volunteers learn
the local language and culture, and form respectful relationships with their hosts. In our
2010 evaluation of Peace Corps/Cambodia for example, we reported that as a newly
opened post, program staff had successfully identified a niche teaching English at the
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secondary school level in rural communities, which other nongovernmental organizations

(NGOs) or service organizations were not addressing. In PC/Ethiopia, our program
evaluation found that Volunteers support HIV/AIDS programs in communities where few
other NGOs operate.
The Peace Corps thrives when it partners with and compliments the efforts of others. In
the field, Volunteers support locally-identified development priorities and coordinate
their work with host government agencies, local, national or international organizations,
and the host community. In a 2007 OIG study of effective country programs we
documented best practices at nine high-performing posts: Volunteer work assignments
were clear, host country counterparts were identified, and the host communities and
organizations understood their roles and the role of the Volunteer.
The agency is successful when it is able to provide the Volunteer meaningful work.
This has been well understood in principle since the earliest days of Peace Corps, and we
continue to focus our evaluations on how effectively our overseas programs ensure that
Volunteers have meaningful work to do at their sites. In our 2011 evaluations of
PC/Swaziland and PC/Romania we found well developed project plans and solid
processes for identifying and preparing Volunteer work sites.
Fundamental to Peace Corps success is the commitment to service displayed by
Volunteers who are willing to serve, often under very challenging conditions. The
agency has a new training approach to support Volunteers called, Focus In/Train Up
intended to zero in on programming and training in areas where the Peace Corps can have
maximum impact.
In addition to these elements our audits and program evaluations have found that these high
performing posts have systematized processes, clear policies, and procedures. In our 2011 audit
of PC/Ukraine, currently the agencys largest program, we found solid administrative systems in
place and a clear organizational structure. The posts size allowed for economies of scale and
specialized support for financial and administrative programs, such as vehicle management,
contracting, and grants programs. Unfortunately consistent application of policies and
procedures remains a challenge for the Peace Corps.
The Peace Corps Management Challenges
The Peace Corps, like other international organizations, faces a range of challenges everything
from safety and security incidents to currency fluctuations that impact posts operating funds.
Volunteers serve in 76 countries and operate at the grass roots level, usually in rural
communities, often in remote areas far from the capital city and the Peace Corps office.
Volunteers live and work with people of diverse cultural backgrounds and languages, and their
projects and assignments are carried out with host partner agencies, without direct supervision by
Peace Corps program managers. In short, the model of volunteerism that makes the Peace Corps
such a unique and compelling experience can at the same time makes the agencys efforts to
support and ensure the safety of Volunteers a challenge.

The Peace Corps operates 70 overseas posts, spread throughout five continents. Each post is
managed by a country director (CD). The Peace Corps is a highly decentralized agency with
headquarters staff primarily relying on the CDs and their staff to run the programs in the field.
This model is only successful when there are clear lines of communication, well-established
policies and procedures, and adequate oversight functions. Our audit, evaluations, and
investigations demonstrate that one or more of these key elements are not always present in
agency programs and operations.
We have found that the agency is challenged in providing strong management oversight and
accountability to ensure the agencys mission is carried out consistently throughout the world.
The agency is constrained by limited resources, inadequate planning, and shifting priorities.
President Obama, like his predecessor, committed to increasing the number of Volunteers in the
field and at the end of this fiscal year, the number of Volunteers serving surpassed 9,100, the
most since 1971, a 40 year high. Regardless of prospects for growth, currently serving
Volunteers must be effectively supported.
During my tenure, OIGs oversight work has been focused on two broad issues: critical
Volunteer support and agency business processes. Critical Volunteer support systems such as
safety and security and healthcare form the pillars of the Volunteer program. Without efficient
and effective support services Volunteers may be put in jeopardy and precious resources could
be misdirected. Peace Corps business processes, broadly defined, are the tools and systems the
agency utilizes to accomplish its mission. Some of the key management challenges my office
has identified follow.
A. Critical Volunteer Support
Volunteer service is central to the mission of the Peace Corps. The success of the Volunteer
depends in part on how effectively the Peace Corps supports Volunteer health, safety and
security needs. In recent years, my office has conducted two major reviews of the Volunteer
safety and security program and several reviews of Volunteer health and safety.1 Every time we
conduct a post audit or evaluation we focus on these Volunteer support areas. This year we also
began a review of how the agency responds to incidents of Volunteer rape and sexual assaults.
The testimony of these survivors during the Peace Corps hearing before the House Foreign
Affairs Committee in May and our own work suggest that responding to incidents of rape and
sexual assaults requires a well-conceived and comprehensive Volunteer safety and security
program, as well as providing necessary compassionate care and support to Volunteer survivors
of these crimes.
1. Volunteer Safety and Security
The Peace Corps Office of Safety and Security was created in response to a 2002 GAO report
that identified weaknesses in the agencys safety and security program. Our 2010 audit of
Volunteer safety and security found that, although the Peace Corps established the Office of
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The OIGs 2008 evaluation focused on the agencys implementation of five key tenets of its safety and security
program - responding to crimes and reporting and analyzing crime statistics; monitoring, assessing, and
disseminating information on the security environment; providing safety and security training to Volunteers;
developing, monitoring, and inspecting Volunteer sites; and planning for emergencies. The 2010 OIG audit of
safety and security focused on the organization and implementation of the agencys safety and security function.

Safety and Security to provide oversight and management of all agency safety and security, the
office has acted in a consultative fashion, not as an oversight office. It has relied on Peace
Corps overseas posts to request its assistance and implement its suggestions. Our review found
that without a clear management structure, no office accepted complete ownership of the safety
and security program, and the agencys security program lacked essential elements. As a result,
Volunteers were placed at greater risk because the agency did not ensure posts fully implemented
required safety and security policies.
In a review of data available since 2004, OIG has found that 44 percent of posts we audited were
not in compliance with the requirement to obtain a background check of post staff. After the
policy was revised in September 2009 to include short term contractors, OIG found that 73
percent of posts audited were not compliant. Our 2008 evaluation of Volunteer safety and
security revealed that 40 percent of Volunteers houses did not meet the posts own criteria for
safe housing. Also, 37 percent of the Volunteer Site Locator Forms did not contain sufficient
information to locate Volunteers sites in emergency situations.
Our 2010 audit also found deficiencies in the qualifications and training of overseas safety and
security personnel. Peace Corps overseas safety and security staff were not consistently
qualified to support Volunteers. The agency had not defined the skills and experience needed for
security positions, nor provided consistent training or development opportunities to match the
position responsibilities. Our audit reported the agency had not tracked and ensured corrective
action on safety and security recommendations made to overseas posts.
Further, dealing with serious safety and security incidents against Volunteerssuch as murder,
rape, sexual assault, kidnapping, terrorism, or finding missing Volunteersrequires strong
coordination between the Peace Corps and the Department of State. In our 2010 audit we
recommended that the Peace Corps establish a memorandum of understanding with the
Department of State that would define each agencys roles and responsibilities for Volunteer
safety and security as a critical step in improving the agencys capacity to effectively respond to
security incidents. This recommendation remains open pending the MOU being finalized.
To date the agency has provided sufficient information to close 25 of 28 recommendations from
our 2010 safety and security audit and 18 of 20 recommendations from our 2008 safety and
security evaluation. We continue to collaborate closely with agency management by providing
needed clarifications and comments to its proposed actions as well as general advice with the
aim of closing all remaining open safety and security recommendations. Taking the necessary
corrective action to response to our recommendations is an important step to improving its
Volunteer safety and security program but the agency will need to continuously monitor the
program to ensure the changes take hold and new issues that surface receive timely and effective
resolution. I maintain that the successful implementation of these recommendations depends in
large part on whether the Office of Safety and Security functions as the management and
oversight office it was intended to be, rather than as a consultative office for overseas posts that
responds to requests for assistance and offers suggestions. In late FY12, we plan to conduct a
follow-up audit on the programs effectiveness and the implementation of OIG
recommendations.

2. Medical Care of Volunteers

The provision of high quality medical care is a critical Volunteer support area and essential
agency function. Our post audits and evaluations review and assess whether Volunteer health
care needs are being met. Additionally, our office also responds to agency special requests for
advice and assistance in this area. Following the death of a Volunteer in Morocco, the Peace
Corps Director requested that OIG conduct an assessment of the provision of health services to
Volunteers in Morocco. The report, issued in 2010, determined that the way in which
PC/Morocco organized its medical services and provided health care to Volunteers had an
impact on the deceased Volunteers medical care.
The report had agency wide implications because it identified weaknesses in core agency-wide
medical operations such as the hiring of Peace Corps Medical Officers (PCMOs) and their scope
of practice, oversight of health units, and quality assurance.2 It determined that there was
minimal clinical oversight of the Morocco PCMOs by the agency, which is responsible for
developing and managing the Volunteer health care program. The report also concluded that the
way the agency measured and monitored the quality of health care services provided to Morocco
Volunteers was insufficient. The Peace Corps Director concurred with all the recommendations
and made a firm commitment to implement them not only in PC/Morocco, but throughout all of
Peace Corps posts as appropriate.
In response to our report, the agency stated that is was going to take substantial measures to
increase its oversight of medical care provided to PC/Morocco and Volunteers throughout the
world. The agency took the following actions:
Realigned the PCMOs reporting chain to ensure qualified medical staff, not only the CD,
oversee the medical support provided to Volunteers.
Adopted a Quality Improvement Plan for enhancing clinical oversight and medical care
of all Volunteers.
Drafted a policy to ensure effective transfer of patient information between PC/Morocco
medical unit personnel.
Issued a series of technical guidelines for PCMOs intended to raise the standards of care
for Volunteers.
Implemented a more rigorous process for hiring and credentialing of overseas medical
staff.
Reformed the agencys scope of practice policies defining the levels of work to be
performed by PCMOs, based on their credentials and experience.
Defined situations when the agency must be notified of a significant illness of a
Volunteer. An initiative to develop a process for the immediate investigation of medical
events is underway.
Nonetheless, certain planned initiatives have been delayed or not implemented due to resource
constraints. For instance:

PCMOs are staffed at each Peace Corps post to support Volunteers health needs.

The agency did not fully increase the number of medical staff required at headquarters to
perform oversight and quality assurance functions in FY11.
The agency failed to procure systems that could provide more effective medical screening
or better track pharmaceutical supply inventory.
A medical chart review process intended to increase clinical oversight was made more
rigorous. However, only a small fraction of charts are being submitted by the posts and
reviewed by clinical staff at headquarters.
Implementation of an electronic health record system, which would facilitate clinical
oversight and case management by headquarters clinical staff and provide data to inform
management decisions and policies, has not occurred due to resource constraints.
However, the agency is looking for feasible options.
3. Sexual Assaults
In response to a 20/20 broadcast earlier this year and a previous Congressional hearing, OIG has
initiated a review of the agencys guidelines for responding to rape and major sexual assault,
which is ongoing. For the purpose of this review, sexual assaults include incidents in three
categories: rape (including attempted rape), major sexual assault, and other sexual assault. Our
review is assessing:
Agency guidelines and protocols for responding to a Volunteer sexual assault, including
the support provided to Volunteer survivors.
Staff training, roles, and responsibilities for responding to Volunteer sexual assault.
Best practices in responding to sexual assaults that would improve the way Peace Corps
responds to Volunteer sexual assaults and supports victims.
The agency has initiated the following:
Hired a victims advocate, who serves as the central point of contact to coordinate
support of Volunteer survivors. The victims advocate functions as a liaison between the
Volunteer, the post, and other offices within the Peace Corps responsible for Volunteer
sexual assault incident management.
Issued new staff guidelines for responding to rape and sexual assault in February 2011.
The guidelines define and clarify staff roles and responsibilities and the required steps to
respond to an incident to ensure that a coordinated, compassionate response is provided
to every Volunteer survivor.
Provided standardized training on new guidelines for Peace Corps staff involved in
supporting sexual assault victims in February of 2011.
Provided response training on rape and sexual assault to current PCMOs in continuing
education sessions.
We have conducted field work and interviewed staff responsible for the response and care of
rape and sexual assault victims worldwide, including at eight Peace Corps posts. We will
complete field work in three additional posts as part of this review and hope to issue a
preliminary report at the end of next month.

And in this context Mr. Chairman, I would be remiss if I did not mention the Kate Puzey Peace
Corps Volunteer Protection Act of 2011, which the Senate adopted by unanimous consent. The
legislation institutionalizes comprehensive sexual assault risk reduction training within the Peace
Corps, and supports our offices ongoing efforts to reach out to Volunteers early in their service
so they understand how to report instances of wrongdoing or misconduct. We support a strong
confidentiality policy, including authorizing penalties in cases of inappropriate disclosure - for
example disciplinary action and ineligibility for re-employment with the agency.
We also appreciate your efforts to strengthen the independence of the Peace Corps Office of
Inspector General. Our credibility is enhanced when OIG is free from any perception of
partiality.
B. The Need for Enhanced Business Processes and Modernization
As part of the comprehensive assessment process the agency identified strengthening the
Peace Corps management and operations by using modern technology, innovative approaches
and improved business processes as one of its six key strategies for guiding the agency in the
coming decade. In our statement on the Peace Corps Management and Performance Challenges
published in the agencys 2010 Performance and Accountability Report (PAR) we identified the
need to improve the agencys business processes in order to accommodate growth and
expansion. While Volunteer growth has not matched expectations, there is still a need for the
agency to modernize and enhance its business tools and processes.
Throughout our audit, evaluation, and investigative work we have noted an absence of updated,
clear policies and procedures and a lack of consistency in how the agency functions. Frequent
turnover of the workforce, a result of the Five-year Rule (FYR) that limits staff appointments
to five-years, in most cases, contributes to a lack of institutional knowledge and exacerbates
other management challenges, such as putting in place more modern administrative processes.
In addition to the challenges already outlined, below are some of the more significant areas that
OIG has identified.
1. The Volunteer Delivery System
The Volunteer Delivery System (VDS) is the agencys most important process for meeting its
Volunteer recruitment and placement needs. The VDS is the continuous cycle of activities
intended to enable the Peace Corps to attain its goals by delivering qualified and suitable
Volunteers to interested countries. The VDS cycle begins when overseas Peace Corps staff,
together with host country partners, decides on the number and qualifications of Volunteers that
are needed to fulfill project goals. This information forms the basis of the agencys annual
Volunteer trainee input goals, including the total number of Volunteers needed, the specific
technical and language skills needed, and when Volunteers are expected to begin service. After
the trainee requests are received, assessed, and approved, the agency aligns its recruitment and
applicant process to recruit and screen applicants, and invite them to Volunteer service. Without
significant modernization and improvements to the VDS, the agency will risk not meeting its
performance and strategic goals.
In 2010 our office evaluated the VDS. The evaluation served as a follow-up to a 2003 OIG
program evaluation report that identified several weaknesses in the VDS, including the areas of
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leadership and organizational change; information flow; information technology; medical

screening; customer service; and staffing and staff training. The 2003 evaluation report
determined that VDS lacked effective business processes and was poorly supported by
technology. Many systems were paper-based or done manually, and the system could not easily
match applicants skills with host country needs. It was also difficult to process applicants with
complex medical histories. The 2003 report included 24 recommendations and our follow-up
report, issued in December 2010, found that most of the corrective actions agreed to by the
agency in response to the 2003 report were either not initiated or were not fully carried out, and
many of the same issues remained. As a result the 2010 evaluation report made 13
recommendations in an attempt to address these long-standing concerns.
In addition to following up on the progress the Peace Corps has made since the 2003 report, the
evaluation also assessed whether the agency was positioned to support growth and expansion of
Volunteers serving without decreasing Volunteer quality. We were unable to conclusively
determine whether the agency is maintaining Volunteer quality while increasing the number of
Volunteers in the field. Notably, the agency does not have a formalized definition of Volunteer
quality and does not systematically track Volunteer quality levels. We also found that the agency
does not accurately track and measure its ability to recruit and place Volunteers whose skills
meet host country needs and, because of difficulty in recruiting applicants with technical
experience, posts were encouraged to request lower-skilled trainees.
The agency is currently implementing a new Volunteer lifecycle management system under the
name Database of Volunteer Experience or DOVE. The agency anticipates that this new
information technology system will drive the Volunteer delivery process and help the agency
better match posts program needs with Volunteer applicant profiles, resulting in better
Volunteer placement. The new system will also provide the agency with enhanced reporting
capabilities that will provide important information to managers and agency leadership. The new
system has the capability to accommodate evolving agency needs and priorities. Through the
implementation of DOVE, the agency will be able to eliminate some of the inefficient paper
processes and address some of the long-standing recommendations made by OIG. The agencys
commitment to implementing DOVE, modernizing the VDS, and implementing other long-term
projects that require resources will determine whether it can achieve its goals. Also critical is the
agencys commitment to maintaining Volunteer quality and putting in place processes and data
measurement systems to ensure Peace Corps is selecting and placing Volunteers who can help
the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women.
2. Accessibility of Data Related to Peace Corps Operations
In conducting audits, evaluations and investigations, OIG continues to encounter problems
obtaining significant data related to Peace Corps key business processes. For example OIG has
had difficulty accessing summary data related to employee retention and turnover, cost and
cumulative impact of Volunteer medical accommodations, acceptance rate for Volunteer
applicants and the number of Volunteer applicants who do not fully match the skills requested by
host countries. Access to timely and accurate data related to headquarters and international
operations is essential to establishing efficient agency business processes and systems. This data
should inform managements strategic and performance planning; program development and
management strategy; and budget formulation and execution. Further the availability of accurate
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and complete data allows Peace Corps management to assess program effectiveness, efficiency,
and ways to eliminate waste.
We found that some of the databases and IT systems used by the agency do not effectively
capture and distribute useful data to decision makers. Gathering data often requires access to
numerous systems and databases and staff must manually assemble it to develop needed reports
and information. For example, up until late FY 2010, the Peace Corps did not have a central
database to capture formal unfunded resource requests submitted by its component offices to
management for review and approval. In addition, prior year data was not readily available for
review and analysis, and as a result any data assembled may be potentially incomplete or
inaccurate, which could impact important business decisions.
In addition, document management systems and certain key functions, including travel
authorizations, vouchering, contract management, and leave requests, remain largely paperbased. Streamlining and integrating these functions through an IT solution would reduce data
entry error, improve efficiency, reduce paper dependency, and provide greater storage and
retrieval capabilities. These reforms would improve the agencys efficiency and effectiveness
and support allow managers to make more informed choices.
3. The Protection of Personally Identifiable Information
The Peace Corps routinely receives, processes, and maintains significant amounts of Personally
Identifiable Information (PII)3, and OIG continues to identify problems with the agencys ability
to protect this information. Since FY 2009 we identified the protection of PII as a management
challenge that requires enhanced management and internal controls. In June 2009, this matter
came to the forefront, as OIG investigated and issued two reports related to the breach of more
than 495 medical files that included applicant names, Social Security Numbers, addresses,
birthdates, dental records, lab reports, and medical questionnaires. In October 2010 the agency
has identified nine breaches that compromised over 180 individuals information. Unfortunately,
the trend in human errors that are usually attributed to the cause of these breaches continues to
persist
The agency has stated that the implementation of DOVE and an electronic health records system
are measures that would significantly reduce the risk of PII security breaches. However, until
these proposed system improvements are made protection of PII will continue to be a
management challenge. As previously mentioned, the agencys plan to implement an electronic
health record system has not occurred due to resource constraints.
C. Ongoing Related Reviews
Currently, we are engaged in two important reviews which impact Peace Corps management
challenges and support reform and enhancement of key agency business processes and tools.
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PII includes information that can be used to distinguish or trace an individuals identity, such as name, Social
Security Number, or biometric records. Such information can be used to link to other data such as bank accounts
and other financial or personal information that can assist perpetrators in committing crimes associated with identity
theft.

1. Five-year Rule
In February of 2011 we began an evaluation, which is ongoing, of the impact of the FYR on
Peace Corps operations. The FYR became law in 19654 when an amendment to the Peace Corps
Act brought all employees, foreign and domestic, under the same personnel system and limited
all direct hire appointments to a maximum of five years. In passing the FYR the Congress
intended to permit a constant inflow of new blood and ideas.5 Congress amended the FYR in
1985 to allow for a third tour of two and one half years and again in 2003 to exempt certain
safety and security personnel from the rule. Because the FYR has an impact on Peace Corps
management challenges I would like to share some preliminary observations:
Over 50 percent of the agencys American staff from 2000 to 2010 were Returned Peace
Corps Volunteers, including almost 80 percent of overseas staff. However, the average
time between Volunteer service and staff membership is eight years.
Short staff tenures at the Peace Corps (2.5 years in 2010) are more than 3 times shorter
than the rest of the federal government (7.9 years) and even shorter than the median
tenure of private sector employees (4 years).
The agencys annual turnover rate has exceeded 20 percent historically and is more than
three times the government-wide average (5.9 percent).
Our final report will include data on staff tenure and attrition rates for each Peace Corps office
covering the past decade. We intend to issue a preliminary report by the end of next month.
Agency Budget Formulation
We are currently conducting an audit of the agencys budget process. We expect to issue a
preliminary report in the coming weeks. Our findings will focus on the following areas:
Government Performance Reporting Act (GPRA): GPRA requires that federal
agencies link performance reporting and the budget. Such linkage is essential to using
performance reporting data as an effective tool for justifying and prioritizing budget
decisions, allocating resources, and formulating future budget estimates.
Unfunded Resource Requests: The processes for these requests and budget reduction
decisions need to be sufficiently transparent and a clear line of communication regarding
budgeting decisions needs to be in place so that the highest priorities are adequately
funded and that scarce agency resources are put to the best use.
Documenting the Internal Control Structure over the Budget Process: Without an
adequately documented internal control structure over the budget process it is not
possible to confirm the level of risk assessed by management, or to determine if proper
internal controls are established and operating effectively.

4
5

To Amend Further the Peace Corps Act, Public Law 89-134, section 2054, 75 Stat. 612 (Aug. 24, 1965).
Congressional Record, 89th Cong., 2d. sess., 1965. 111, pt. 2768

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Conclusion
The Peace Corps faces a range of management and performance challenges as it looks forward to
another 50 years. Today, the Peace Corps remains unique in its mission, but unlike 1961 there
are other private and public sector entities working internationally. Peace Corps niche is still
relevant, but in this difficult budget environment its future success will depend on its ability to
concretely demonstrate its value and manage operations more effectively and efficiently.
The agency is making progress in confronting some of its challenges and has worked to
streamline operations and improve the technology that supports key business processes and
critical Volunteers support areas. The agency is taking important steps to modernize and become
more efficient. The implementation of DOVE promises to substantially improve the ability of
the agency to match posts program needs with Volunteer applicant profiles, resulting in better
Volunteer placement. Increased management oversight over Volunteer safety and security and
Volunteer medical care will support greater consistency of quality over these critical support
services. The agency must continue to evolve and ensure its business processes reflect the
activities of todays Peace Corps, not the agency that was founded fifty years ago.

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