I was in the Peace Corps and received $110 per month as a volunteer, $1,320 per year. When I completed service I received a lump sum adjustment allowance of $1,800. Today, volunteers continue to receive a modest living allowance, and most I've met in Africa and Latin America received between $100 and $200 a month. At the end of service they get a $6,000 resettlement allowance. My guess is that Ambassador Rice used the average annual cost of fielding a volunteer that includes all administrative overhead, training, travel and medical expenses. These do total about $10,000 per year.

What Ambassador fails to do is to compare this figure with the cost of supporting and paying Embassy staf...

I was in the Peace Corps and received $110 per month as a volunteer, $1,320 per year. When I completed service I received a lump sum adjustment allowance of $1,800. Today, volunteers continue to receive a modest living allowance, and most I've met in Africa and Latin America received between $100 and $200 a month. At the end of service they get a $6,000 resettlement allowance. My guess is that Ambassador Rice used the average annual cost of fielding a volunteer that includes all administrative overhead, training, travel and medical expenses. These do total about $10,000 per year.

What Ambassador fails to do is to compare this figure with the cost of supporting and paying Embassy staff and contractors. I used to budget for Technical Assistance positions at $250,000 to $300,000 per year and that was 10 years ago. Having seen Peace Corps Volunteers, Foreign Service Officers and contractors in action, I think the USA gets a better return from the volunteers.

Dr. Ronald A. Schwarz