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The NPCA Advocacy Committee met February 1st at the
NPCA Winter Board meeting in Providence, RI. The
committee decided to give priority to securing passage of
Peace Corps authorizing legislation which doubles the Peace
Corps by FY2007, reaffirms the independence of the Peace
Corps, reconstitutes the Advisory Council with a majority of
Peace Corps alumni, and creates a Development Innovation Fund
targeted to RPCV initiatives, with a priority on international
initiatives.
The Committee also decided that the
NPCA will strengthen its network of advocates and organize an
annual advocacy activity or conference. The Committee
recommended and the Board approve the wording of a resolution
on Strengthening Developing Country Economies. NPCA will
educate the Peace Corps Community about the economic issues
that affect the developing countries in which its members
served through the advocacy network. To find out how you
can actively take a part in this effort, contact committee
members Katy Hansen, kwhansen@ia.net, or Amy Cogan,
acogan@mba2002.hbs.edu.
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On the federal foreign aid front, InterAction has
compiled a briefing paper to be sent to Congress concerning
the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA). InterAction is
an organization made up of 160
non-governmental
organizations, including the National Peace
Corps
Association. The paper addresses the purpose of
the MCA, country eligibility, MCA country
agreements/contracts, integrating gender into the MCA, the
implementation structure, policy coherence, oversight and
accountability and the role of USAID. Each of these
points is discussed and a policy is advocated for each section
in the briefing paper. For more information on InterAction's
briefing paper on the MCA, visit the website at
www.interaction.org.
In 2001 the NPCA President's Forum
recommended and the NPCA Board approved a resolution to make
combating human-induced global warming and promoting
alternative energy sources an official NPCA advocacy
issue. As part of that effort Mike Tidwell (Congo)
conducted a well-attended workshop at our 40+1 Conference in
June, 2002. The NPCA is now in |
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active discussion with the Rockefeller Brothers Fund
about a grant to strengthen NPCA's capacity to advocate for
this issue during the 2003-2005 period. If you would
like to work on this issue, including development of a
proposal for submission to the RBF, please contact Sarah
Silverthorne at 202-293-7728 x14 or e-mail
advocintern@rpcv.org
Jubilee USA works to relieve the
burden of external debt in many of Peace Corps Counties of
Service. Debt relief allows impoverished nations to put
more resources towards essential needs such as health care and
education and to reduce resources channeled into debt relief
repayments. Debt relief works!
To
get involved with this project, please call or email Jubilee
USA Outreach Assistant Cheryl Duckworth (RPCV Zimbabwe) at
duckwo1@gmu.edu or (202) 546-4470 or Outreach Coordinator Mara
Vanderslice at mara@jubileeusa.org or (202) 783-0129. More
information can be found at www.jubileeusa.org.
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