192. Beyond Good Intentions

An American woman has traveled the world with her backpack and her camera to try the story of international aid.  She traveled to Asia, Africa and South America and created 10 short episodes.  The stories she made are about 10 different subjects, from micro-finance to researching what works in international aid.

If you are interested at all in international aid or would like to hear some stories about how people are trying to help others all around the world, check out the website:

Beyond Good Intentions: BeyondGoodIntentions.com

She also did an episode about Peace Corps Volunteers in Madagascar:  Episode 6

Overall I think she did a good job on the episode about the Peace Corps, but she did not address the goals of the Peace Corps.  The Peace Corps' mission and goals are (PeaceCorps.gov):

Mission

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy established the Peace Corps to promote world peace and friendship.

The Peace Corps' mission has three simple goals:

1.     Helping the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women.

2.     Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.

3.     Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.

So as you can see, the Peace Corps is not your typical international aid organization.  We focus more on capacity building, education and relationships rather than aid projects.  I think the episode could have been better if she would have started out by establishing the Peace Corps goals and then proceeding into what we do.

Peace Corps also affects how other countries view America.  If nothing else, the Peace Corps helps other people understand America and American people better.  I would say that most Peace Corps volunteers are one of the first/few Americans that many of the people we generally work with meet (maybe not so much in Moldova), especially because we are Americans living in villages and speaking the native language.