Candidate for NPCA President

The NPCA Advocacy Committee met February 1st at the NPCA Winter Board meeting in Providence, RI.  The committee decided to give priority to securing passage of Peace Corps authorizing legislation which doubles the Peace Corps by FY2007, reaffirms the independence of the Peace Corps, reconstitutes the Advisory Council with a majority of Peace Corps alumni, and creates a Development Innovation Fund targeted to RPCV initiatives, with a priority on international initiatives. 

The Committee also decided that the NPCA will strengthen its network of advocates and organize an annual advocacy activity or conference.  The Committee recommended and the Board approve the wording of a resolution on Strengthening Developing Country Economies.  NPCA will educate the Peace Corps Community about the economic issues that affect the developing countries in which its members served through the advocacy network.  To find out how you can actively take a part in this effort, contact committee members Katy Hansen, kwhansen@ia.net, or Amy Cogan, acogan@mba2002.hbs.edu.

On the federal foreign aid front, InterAction has compiled a briefing paper to be sent to Congress concerning the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA).  InterAction is an organization made up of 160
non-governmental organizations, including the National Peace Corps
Association.  The paper addresses the purpose of the MCA, country eligibility, MCA country agreements/contracts, integrating gender into the MCA, the implementation structure, policy coherence, oversight and accountability and the role of USAID.  Each of these points is discussed and a policy is advocated for each section in the briefing paper. For more information on InterAction's briefing paper on the MCA, visit the website at www.interaction.org.

In 2001 the NPCA President's Forum recommended and the NPCA Board approved a resolution to make combating human-induced global warming and promoting alternative energy sources an official NPCA advocacy issue.  As part of that effort Mike Tidwell (Congo) conducted a well-attended workshop at our 40+1 Conference in June, 2002.  The NPCA is now in

active discussion with the Rockefeller Brothers Fund about a grant to strengthen NPCA's capacity to advocate for this issue during the 2003-2005 period.  If you would like to work on this issue, including development of a proposal for submission to the RBF, please contact Sarah Silverthorne at 202-293-7728 x14 or e-mail advocintern@rpcv.org

Jubilee USA works to relieve the burden of external debt in many of Peace Corps Counties of Service.  Debt relief allows impoverished nations to put more resources towards essential needs such as health care and education and to reduce resources channeled into debt relief repayments.  Debt relief works!   

To get involved with this project, please call or email Jubilee USA Outreach Assistant Cheryl Duckworth (RPCV Zimbabwe) at duckwo1@gmu.edu or (202) 546-4470 or Outreach Coordinator Mara Vanderslice at mara@jubileeusa.org or (202) 783-0129. More information can be found at www.jubileeusa.org.

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Volume 14, Issue 1

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