Peace Corps
Peace Corps is a government-owned organization that focuses on volunteer work in communities all around the world (Peace Corps, 2020). It focuses on implementing change in communities that are in dire need of reform. Peace Corps achieves these functions through close cooperation with the community leaders to establish the different challenges in the specific community and work towards providing solutions. The US government manages the operations related to this organization since President John F. Kennedy introduced it in 1961. It was later allowed to operate by the US congress after the enactment of the Peace Corps Act the same year it was established (Peace Corps, 2020).
Role of an organization’s mission and vision in public health and safety improvements
Similar to other operational organizations, Peace Corps has a mission and a vision which provides a practical guide when it comes to decision making and ensuring that the decisions made mainstream the set goals and objectives effectively (Gordon, 2017). Through these strategies as guided by the organization’s mission, it can deliver its functions in improving public health and safety. Various communities around the world lack access to public health and safety, especially in developing countries.
Peace Corps strives to ensure that developing countries receive help in their journey to development by providing a skilled workforce in different fields such as health, education, and women economic environment (Peace Corps, 2020). Therefore, since the organization’s mission states that it aims to help people of interested nations in meeting their needs regarding labour workforce, especially in healthcare, this guides it to providing the needed workforce through its volunteers. Consequently, the Peace Corps’ vision guides the organization on the end goal, which is to promote world peace and friendship. Therefore, through the implementation of the mission, it can facilitate world peace through helping developing nations achieve development which includes public health and safety (Gordon, 2017).
In line with the organization’s contribution to the improvement of public health and safety, various global initiatives play the role of supporting the Peace Corps’ mission and vision. In this case, an excellent example of the global efforts includes the President’s Malaria Initiative which supports Peace Corps in the contribution to the improvement of public health in Africa through its Stomping Out Malaria in Africa program (Peace Corps, 2020). Another excellent example of these supporting global initiatives is the President’s Feed the Future Initiative through which Peace Corps is in a position to improve safety through food security by availing sustainable strategies to increase agricultural productivity (Peace Corps, 2020).
An organization’s ability to promote equity and improve the quality of life in the community
Peace Corps aims to spread world peace and friendship through the promotion of equal opportunity and improvement of the quality of life. Various factors influence the implementation of these goals, such as social, cultural, economic, and physical factors. Social considerations involve the difference in the roles allocated to the different genders. Some communities view men to be more important than women, which becomes a huge barrier to achieving equal opportunities and improving the quality of life. However, through women empowerment programs, this social barrier is slowly reducing in the impacted communities (Klincewicz & Kanyako, 2020).
After the introduction of the Peace Corps, the number of volunteers significantly increased within a short period, however, this was cut short due to the decrease in the finances supporting the organization. As a result, a considerable number of volunteers were reduced due to the economic barrier; however, it later recovered from the drawback. Additionally, there are a variety of the cultural-related obstacles since before Peace Corps volunteers implement their roles in the different communities, and they have to learn about the community’s culture, such as the language. As a result, this becomes a barrier since some communities view the outsiders as less than the members of the community (Storti, 2017). Therefore, it becomes difficult for the volunteers when blending into such communities to try to promote equal opportunities and better quality of life.
Implications of decisions within the community
Some of the vital services provided by Peace Corps include volunteer services; however, the overall operation by this operation is governed by its policies and legislation and gauged by the finance sources. Therefore, based on these aspects, the organization’s delivery of its services is controlled and monitored. As a result, the community receiving the organization’s services is influenced. Regarding the funding sources, once the finances supporting the organization were cut short, it led to the reduction of the volunteers to fit in the given budget (Storti, 2017). Therefore, any decision made regarding the funding sources impacts the number of volunteers, and as a result, this affects the delivery of volunteer services to different beneficiary communities.
On the other hand, policy and legislation decisions guide on the methods used to deliver these services provided by Peace Corps to the different communities. Policies governing Peace Corps are found in its global policy handbook and its code of federal regulations. Some of the formulated policies guide the overall behaviour of different volunteers. An excellent example is a policy governing on issues related to any form of sexual misconduct. Other examples include the nature in which the selection of volunteers is made in the organization. Decisions made regarding these policies affect the nature in which the delivery of services by the organization and as a result affecting the recipient community. Regarding the legislation, the primary legislation document is the Peace Corps Act which was enacted immediately after the introduction of the Peace Corps organization (Peace Corps, 2020). The Peace Corps Act defines the different terms in the organization and governs all the activities carried out. It also establishes the magnitude of the organization and the function of different positions in the organizations (Peace Corps, 2020).
Impacts of the organization on health and safety needs of a local community
The volunteer dynamics at Peace Corps incorporates individuals with different education and professional background (Peace Corps, 2020). Therefore, this provides the organization with comprehensive coverage in implementing its goals and objectives. More so, the Peace Corps focuses on uplifting the developing countries in their strive to achieve development. Some of the sectors that define a developed country are the achievement of health and safety-related needs. Therefore, to help in these sectors, there is a need for healthcare professionals. In some cases, IT professionals, since currently developed countries are incorporating technology in healthcare for more efficiency.
At the Peace Corps, the organization allocates different volunteers in different sectors depending on their skills and experience (Peace Corps, 2020). Therefore, it assigns healthcare professionals in programs that seek to improve health in various countries such as the program focusing on reducing malaria infections in Africa. In this program, Peace Corps allocates nurses and other IT related professionals, to address the provision of quality health services including the necessary education and training related to ensuring that the community dwellers are safe from different health compromises. Another program that deals with the health and safety of the local communities benefiting from the Peace Corps is related to the spread and prevention of the range of HIV/AIDS among the youth. Many developing countries are adversely affected by HIV/AIDS; therefore, to deliver their volunteer services, Peace Corps selects experienced and qualified health professionals such as nurses to educate the local communities on HIV/AIDS and ways of preventing the spread. Therefore, nurses are involved with the organization.
References
Gordon, G. (2017). Communication, Vision, and Mission. In Leadership through Trust (pp. 63-69). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Klincewicz, N., & Kanyako, A. (2020). The Question Of Empowerment Is Meaningful Where Men Also Exist. USA.gov. Retrieved 18 May 2020, from https://www.peacecorps.gov/tanzania/stories/question-empowerment-meaningful-where-men-also-exist/
Peace Corps. (2020). Global Initiatives. USA.gov. Retrieved 18 May 2020, from https://www.peacecorps.gov/about/global-initiatives/
Peace Corps. (2020). History. USA.gov. Retrieved 18 May 2020, from https://www.peacecorps.gov/about/history/
Storti, C. (2017). Intercultural Training in the Peace Corps. The International Encyclopedia of Intercultural Communication, 1-10.