Happy Peace Corps Week! – Returned Peace Corps Volunteers Make Great F2F Volunteers Too

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On March 1, 1961, President John F. Kennedy established the Peace Corps. This year, from February 23 to March 1, 2014, the Peace Corps community celebrates the many ways that Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs) have made a difference both at home and abroad.

Claire Clugston in the Dominican Republic (RPCV DR '10-'12)


Many RPCVs also have served as Farmer-to-Farmer volunteers. The skills and experience RPCVs gain from their Peace Corps experience is invaluable to their work as F2F volunteers. Their ability to quickly adapt to their surroundings and understand and communicate across diverse cultures allows them to successfully collaborate with their country partners and implement successful and sustainable change. Here are some examples of RPCVs who also have served as F2F volunteers:

Claire Clugston: served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Dominican Republic from 2010 to 2012. During her service, she lived and worked in a farming community of 50 households and collaborated with local community members and organizations to plant 3,000 citrus trees. After seeing the value this project brought to her Peace Corps community, and because she loved the DR so much, she returned to the DR in August 2013 as an F2F volunteer to complete a 3-week F2F horticulture and tree crop project.


Alicia Macmanus in Haiti (RPCV Gambia '07-'09)
Alicia Macmanus: served as an agriculture and forestry Peace Corps Volunteer in the Gambia, West Africa from 2007 to 2009. During her service, she worked to improve the food security and income opportunities of her community through the production of rabbits, poultry, and sheep. In May 2013, she took these skills and experience to Haiti as an F2F volunteer, where she provided 12 trainings throughout the country on proper rabbit management and assisted rabbit producers to better understand the factors related to rabbit reproduction. 

Richard Meunier: served in the Peace Corps in Peru from 1968 to 1970. In March 2013, he returned to Latin America as an F2F volunteer to train local farmers on composting, irrigation methods, weed control, integrated pest management and seedling production in Nicaragua. Because of the extensive presence of Peace Corps Volunteers throughout Nicaragua, one of Richard’s recommendations was for local organizations to explore opportunities to partner with current Peace Corps volunteers who could provide follow-up technical support.

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