Kathmandu, April 4: Twenty-two Peace Corps Volunteers were sworn in jointly by Ambassador Dean R. Thompson and the Peace Corps/Nepal Country Director Troy Kofroth to begin their two-year service in Nepal.
The new Volunteers join the nearly 4,000 Peace Corps Volunteers who have served in Nepal and are the 209th group of American Volunteers to come to Nepal since 1962 when the governments of Nepal and the United States of America signed an agreement to establish the Peace Corps programme in Nepal.
“President Kennedy said at the programme’s founding in 1961 that “Men and women will be expected to work and live alongside the nationals of the country in which they are stationed–doing the same work, eating the same food, talking the same language.”
It was true then and remains the same now – Peace Corps Volunteers live with Nepali host families, eating alongside them and other fellow community members, learn and use the Nepali language, and work for a small stipend rather than a salary.” said Ambassador Thompson.
The twenty-two Peace Corps Volunteers arrived in January 2024 and underwent 11 weeks of intensive language, cross-cultural, and technical training in the Kavre District in preparation for their service.
The Volunteers have been assigned to five districts in Gandaki and Bagmati provinces to teach English in government schools and to work on food security and health projects in coordination with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Health and Population, and Agriculture and Livestock Development of Nepal. With this new group, there are forty Peace Corps Volunteers serving in seven districts of Nepal.
The Peace Corps is an international service network of Volunteers, community members, host country partners and staff who are driven by the agency’s mission of world peace and friendship. At the invitation of governments around the world, Peace Corps Volunteers work alongside community members on locally prioritised projects in the areas of education, health, environment, agriculture, community economic development, and youth development. Through service, members of the Peace Corps network develop transferable skills and hone intercultural competencies that position them to be the next generation of global leaders. Since President John F. Kennedy established the Peace Corps in 1961, more than 240,000 Volunteers have served in 144 countries worldwide.
