SUMMARY FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS

The following observations are limited to Peace Corps programs in the five countries visited: Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Upper Volta, Ghana and Senegal. They may well, however, point up problems confronting the Peace Corps worldwide.

The Peace Corps program in Nigeria is presently being phased-outwith only three volunteers left in the country as of December 1975. Prospects for future Peace Corps involvement in Nigeria are, however, being studied by Nigerian and U.S. Government officials. This is a special case which will be discussed separately under section V.

I. MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION

Peace Corps overseas operations in West Africa have suffered and are still suffering from: (a) lack of clear direction and firm leadership at the top; and (b) inadequate staff support.

LEADERSHIP

A major factor in the leadership problem has been the apparent inability of ACTION/Washington to maintain continuity in the country director position. In all but one of the countries visited, substantial vacancies in that position have occurred in the past, are still being experienced, or are anticipated in the future.

The practice of assigning "acting directors" on an interim basisparticularly over extended periods-has generally proven to be unsatisfactory. The mandate of an acting director is necessarily limited. and major administrative and policy decisions often must be deferred. Moreover, the assignment of temporary Directors from among the incountry staff usually means that the designee's original staff responsibilities are neglected in the process.1

STAFF SUPPORT

Staff support throughout the West African region generally has been inadequate because: (a) overseas staff positions have been drastically cut back in recent years (apparently for budgetary reasons), and (b) positions which have been authorized often remain vacant for extended periods.

Advance programing and followup on all Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) assignments are essential to the program's success. In many instances, host government requests for volunteers are merely being routinely transmitted to Washington without prior investigation of specific job specifications and the conditions under which volunteers

That is, unless ACTION formally promotes a subordinate staff member into the Director position and "fills in from behind." This practice is uncommon in West Africa, however.

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will be expected to work. At present, staff resources apparently are spread too thin to carry out such responsibilities and to maintain a regular program of on-site visits to insure effective utilization of volunteers.

Staff members throughout West Africa seem to be spending a disproportionate amount of time setting up new training programs and preparing for new arrivals at the expense of supporting programs already in being.

There has also been evidence of a lack of coordination between Washington and the field-leading to some confusion and misassignment of volunteers. One such failure in Sierra Leone produced adverse political repercussions. (See page 12.)

A key element in the support of volunteers in the field involves the question of vehicles-both for staff members and for individual PCV's. Owing to the unavailability of service facilities for American-made vehicles and the difficulty of obtaining spare parts, any attempt to impose a "buy-American" procurement policy on Peace Corps operations in West Africa would tend to exacerbate an already serious maintenance problem encountered throughout the region. This topic is discussed in greater detail under section I.

II. HEALTH CARE FOR VOLUNTEERS

The level of medical care being afforded to volunteers serving in high-risk health areas is clearly insufficient. The problem exists in Sierra Leone, Upper Volta, Niger 2 and Mali 2-where no American doctors are currently assigned. Instead these countries are serviced on an occasional, irregular basis by regional Peace Corps doctors stationed in Abidjan (Ivory Coast) and Daker (Senegal).

This situation leaves much to be desired. We recognize that the recruitment of compentent American physicians for Peace Corps service is not always easy. Several doctors have terminated early, in fact, because there was not enough steady work to do or professional challenge in the assignment. A research project or related activity apparently must be built into the program (along the lines of the proposed Sierra Leone model, discussed on page 12) if it is to attract qualified professionals for overseas tours.

Above all, there is a pressing need for closer institutional planning and cooperation between Peace Corps and State Department medical programs. At present, bureaucratic restrictions prohibit State Department physicians from attending to the medical needs of volunteers, although they do so on an informal basis when emergencies arise.

Such regulations make little sense from an organizational standpoint: In several capitals, both Peace Corps and State Department physicians are headquartered, while in other countries, no American doctors are present. It was suggested, for instance, that the Peace Corps doctor in Abidjan be relocated in Niamey, Niger, to cover the medical needs of all Americans serving in Niger, Upper Volta, and Eastern Mali. The State Department doctor in Abidjan could then take over equivalent responsibilities for all U.S. personnel in the Ivory Coast.

Clearly, some rationalization of federally funded medical resources on a regional basis is long overdue.

2 Countries not visited by the staff survey team.

III. SELECTION AND TRAINING

In the Peace Corps of 1975, training is the basic mechanism for selection of volunteers. Preliminary screening procedures within the United States are now practically nonexistant. Trainee applicants are merely directed to report to staging areas within the United States and then are sent directly to their countries of assignment.

This procedure leaves the task of selecting out unacceptable candidates to the overseas staff, which is rarely up to full strength and overburdened with other responsibilities. As a result, trainee attrition has remained at a generally high level.

To alleviate this situation to some degree, Peace Corps Directors in West Africa have recommended the institution of a so-called "splitlevel" training program, whereby trainees-especially generalists with bachelor's degrees-would receive a concentrated course of technical instruction in job-related activities at selected training sites within the United States. This initial phase of the training cycle would then be followed by language and cross-cultural training incountry.

If adopted, such a procedure might be expected to produce the following benefits:

(1) Technical training could be standardized and upgraded.

(2) Preliminary screening procedures could be made an integral part of the program and hopefully serve to reduce high trainee attrition rates.

(3) Medical and related administrative processing could be completed prior to trainees' departure overseas.

(4) The advantages of in-country language instruction and cultural orientation (set forth on page 18) would be retained.

While we recognize that the cost of such a split-level training program will be a major consideration, we believe the proposal has sufficient merit as to warrant further study.

Overseas training costs (especially the technical training phase of each training cycle) are rising since in most instances qualified instructors or specialists have to be imported from abroad. Any feasibility study along this line should, therefore, include a comparison of such costs with those projected for similar programs which might be set up on a contract basis with selected educational and vocational training institutions in the United States-preferably those located near major ports of embarkation.

Training and selection are, in our judgment, the key to successful programing and both are in need of substantial upgrading. Preliminary screening procedures, in particular, are less thorough and less effective today than at anytime in the past.

IV. PROGRAM EMPHASIS

(A) EDUCATION

In all but one of the countries we visited in West Africa, the overwhelming emphasis in Peace Corps programing is in education-primarily in the so-called TEFL program (teaching English as a foreign language).