U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Https

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock () or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Breadcrumb

Review of New Country Entry Guidance for Conflict-Affected Countries

Report Information

Date Issued
Report Number
IG-19-05-SR
Report Type
Review
Component
Agency-wide
Description
The Peace Corps works in countries with histories of civil wars, ethnic clashes, cross-border conflicts, rebel incursions, foreign occupations, genocide, violent protests, and repressive dictatorships. These conflicts often have on-going impacts. This review evaluated the adequacy of Peace Corps guidance on new country entries and re-entries in conflict-affected environments.We found that the Peace Corps needed to more fully assess the conflict status of countries under consideration for opening, re-opening, or expanding a Peace Corps program. The agency should also address gaps in the current “New Country Assessment Guide” and the “New Country Entry Guide” to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the agency’s processes and procedures for opening posts in conflict-affected environments.
Participating OIG
Peace Corps OIG
Agency Wide
Yes (agency-wide)

Recommendations

Disclaimer: Open/Closed recommendations are updated semiannually.

We recommend that the associate directors for the Offices of Volunteer Recruitment and Selection, Global Operations, and Peace Corps Response develop focused Volunteer recruitment protocols and pre-departure communications for conflict-affected environments which inform invitees about challenges of service

We recommend that the associate director of the Office of Global Operations revise the “New Country Entry Guide” to provide guidance on Volunteer training competencies for conflict-affected environments.

We recommend that the associate director of the Office of Overseas Programming and Training Support create, collect, and make available appropriate references and trauma-informed training materials for conflict-affected posts.

We recommend that the associate director of the Office of Global Operations revise the “New Country Entry Guide” to include guidance related to the use of external local resources to assist with training Volunteers about the conflict.