The United States Peace Corps and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that will allow for the placement of Peace Corps volunteers in SPC to assist in some institutional and organisational work.
In welcoming this arrangement, SPC Director-General Dr Jimmie Rodgers said that the MOU is an overarching understanding that will benefit SPC, particularly since the specialist volunteers will be working at SPC during a transitional period.The volunteers will be engaged under the Peace Response Volunteers programme, and they come to the Secretariat with many years of experience in their fields.
'In signing this MOU, the Peace Corps and SPC are agreeing to collaborate on organisational strengthening in Fiji,' Dr Rodgers said.
Peace Corps provides volunteers with courses in local languages and cultures, as well as some technical training.
'We recognise that Peace Corps service is a life-defining leadership experience in an organisation with more than 50 years of existence and a volunteer service programme in the areas of education, youth and community development, health, business, information and communications technology, agriculture and the environment, all of which are development issues at the heart of the work that SPC carries out in its 22 member countries and in communities across the Pacific region,' Dr Rodgers said.