Service World
“We envision a world in which volunteer service by people of all nations is a common strategy in meeting pressing challenges in education, health, the environment, agriculture and more.”
The sentence above opens the vision statement of Service World, a bold agenda to expand international volunteer opportunities for individuals – at every age and among all socio-economic groups – to learn about global problems and find more effective ways to help solve them.
Several years in the making, the National Peace Corps Association has been a leader in this movement. It began with NPCA’s leadership in the establishment of the Building Bridges Coalition, a growing consortium of more than 200 organizations which believe in the power and the purpose of overseas volunteer service.
Now, NPCA is a primary convener of Service World. With expanded mobilization attracting groups such as AARP, Voices For National Service and Youth Service America, the Service World initiative is modeled after the Service Nation Coalition that helped advance sweeping legislation to expand domestic service opportunities. Service World will mobilize to advance similar opportunities for international service.
Advocacy to improve and embolden the Peace Corps, and double its size is central to the Service World agenda:
“The Peace Corps should double its ranks to 15,000 volunteers for two-year assignments by 2015 and forge partnerships with other volunteer-sending and international development organizations to maximize impact and leverage funding. In addition to requesting an increase in funding for the Peace Corps, we propose that the Corps should also strengthen current programs, lower the cost per volunteer, enable more volunteers to serve and respond to requests from additional countries. It should work to form service partnerships with countries such as Brazil, India and Nigeria where there are no Peace Corps Volunteers.”
Service World also recognizes that international volunteerism comes in many forms and promotes other avenues for service. The Service World agenda also proposes expansion of the Volunteers for Prosperity program, the creation of Global Service Fellowships to expand short-term service opportunities, and the creation of an International Social Innovation Fund to fuel further innovation in how Americans can have a greater impact through international volunteer service.
“We propose the enactment, by the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps in 2011, of the Sargent Shriver International Service Act. It will be designed to engage 100,000 volunteers each year in full-time and part-time global service by scaling up the Peace Corps and Volunteers for Prosperity and creating Global Service Fellowships.”
Be on the lookout for updates and action opportunities to advance the Service World Initiative.
Read Service World: Strategies for the Future of International Volunteer Service (June 2010)
Read International Volunteer Service: A Smart Way to Build Bridges co-authored by NPCA President Kevin Quigley (June 2009)
