Developmentary, Inc.

Peace Corps Wiki and Peace Corps Journals are Temporary Out of Service

Will — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 14:23:34 +0000

*UPDATE: March 21th 2013

As of Saturday March 2nd 2013 the Peace Corps Wiki and Peace Corps Journals are Off Line, due to a lack of funding for the monthly site hosting. In 2010 Developmentary approached the National Peace Corps Association (NPCA) about taking over the sites; after a lengthy negotiation we were unable to reach an agreement. In February 2013 we approached the NPCA again and met with them on Thursday March 21st to discuss the future of the sites. This was a productive meeting during and I hope that an agreement will be reached in the next few days or weeks, please check back at this site for more details.

We are accepting donations through our non-profit bank account. All donations will go directly toward restoring hosting services. It costs approximately $200 monthly to provide hosting for both sites. All donations are tax-deductible.
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Regards,
Will Dickinson
wdickinson(AT)developmentary.org

*UPDATE March 21st : Thank you for your generous donations over the past two weeks, we received several hundred dollars that will be used to either find a new hosting option for the sites or move them to different organization that can create a sustainable plan to continue to support the sites. Chuck Ludlam and Paula Hirschoff have been supporters of these projects for many years. They both served in the 1960s and today and have seen how the organization has changed and stayed the same. They have some deep insights into the functioning of the agency and I want to share that with you so I did a video interview of them in early 2012.I hope these interview clips can inform applicants and the public about just what Peace Corps is and WHY it still exists and the numerous political and social forces at work that keep the organization in its present state.

Peace Corps Volunteer Empowerment Act Testimonies on Youtube

Developmentary — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 16:08:45 +0000

The testimonies from the 2007 Peace Corps Volunteer Empowerment Act have been published on Developmentary’s Youtube channel.

Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1OM9eY1-Ng

Part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0ivRxijCKg&feature=channel&list=UL

Part 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ynj9F_XRG-Q&feature=channel&list=UL

A Shriver Learns It’s Harder To Be Good Than Great

Developmentary — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 21:21:47 +0000

“When Mark Shriver’s father died last year at the age of 95, it seemed that everyone who knew him — politicians, priests, waitresses, presidents and trash collectors — used the same phrase to tell him what they had thought of his father. He was “a good man.”

A Good Man is also the title of Shriver’s new memoir about his father, R. Sargent Shriver. The elder Shriver, who once ran for president, ran the War on Poverty, the Peace Corps, Job Corps and the Special Olympics. On top of that, he was U.S. ambassador to France and married into the Kennedy family.”

http://www.npr.org/2012/06/16/155026881/a-shriver-learns-its-harder-to-be-good-than-great

IAMA Former Peace Corps volunteer that was raped during service.

Developmentary — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 05:00:54 +0000

“In the weeks that would follow, I received emails from the Peace Corps on how I could have prevented this.”

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/uj3ym/iama_former_peace_corps_volunteer_that_was_raped/

A quote from the discussion thread:

“When I was a volunteer in West Africa, I remember a similar assault on a volunteer then. Peace Corps treated her exactly the same way, essentially telling her she’d put herself at risk and doing nothing to prosecute the man involved. At the time, a few dozen volunteers (we were a small program, so this represented the vast majority of our population) went to the embassy to protest directly with the ambassador, as PC HQ wasn’t hearing our complaints. I’m appalled this attitude hasn’t changed in the decade since. I hope you’ll continue to tell your story and, hopefully, this awful experience won’t have to be repeated ad infinitum. I agree with your analysis that this is one clear weak spot in an otherwise very worthwhile program.”

Ross Unit Accepts Peabody Award for Peace Corps Investigation

Developmentary — Wed, 30 May 2012 07:33:08 +0000

“The Brian Ross Investigative Unit received a George Foster Peabody Award on Monday for a year-long investigation of the murder of Peace Corps volunteer Kate Puzey, and of an alleged “blame the victim” culture within the Peace Corps in which whistleblowers were not protected and women were made to feel responsible for being sexually assaulted.”

Chuck Ludlam Interviews on the Stateless Man Radio Show

Developmentary — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:54:31 +0000

Chuck Ludlam gives an interview about his recent lawsuit against the Peace Corps, regarding their refusal to release volunteer survey results under the Freedom of Information Act. Ludlam also discusses his efforts to reform the Peace Corps and the Peace Corps Volunteer Empowerment Act.

Read an open letter to the Peace Corps community written by Chuck Ludlam and Paula Hirschoff.

Listen to it at the Stateless Man.

Visit the Stateless Man’s website here.

Peace Corps: the Icon and the Reality

Developmentary — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 14:49:19 +0000

An investigative report was recently released which harshly criticizes the Peace Corps for its failure to respond to criticism and calls for reform. According to the author, the Peace Corps has been intentionally hiding its failures from the public for years in order to protect its reputation, and silencing those who could cause any negative publicity. This includes Volunteers who are victims of violence, illness, and sexual assault. The report is available on Amazon.com.More can be found at the author’s website.

Watkins has published the bibliography he used to create his report on PeaceCorpsWiki.org.

Peace Corps Files Motion to Dismiss Lawsuit Over Volunteer Survey Results

Developmentary — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 15:02:56 +0000

The Peace Corps is being sued for refusing to release the country-by-country breakouts of volunteer survey results post-2008. They filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit on 4/3/12. The motion has been uploaded to PeaceCorpsWiki.org.

Chuck Ludlam and Paula Hirschoff’s Reform Chronology

Developmentary — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:54:45 +0000

Chuck Ludlam and Paula Hirschoff have written an open letter to the Peace Corps community, and details their reform efforts over the past eight years. It has been published on PeaceCorpsWiki.org.

Obama Signs the Kate Puzey Act

Developmentary — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 14:57:23 +0000

Obama signed the Kate Puzey Act into law.