Founded in
1961 by President John F. Kennedy, the Peace Corps is a U.S. Government agency that supports over
7,000 volunteers in more than
70 countries. For 48 years, Peace Corps has maintained apolitical and non-sectarian ideals of technical and cultural exchange. Peace Corps promotes world peace and friendship by fulfilling three fundamental goals:
- Providing American volunteers who contribute to the social and economic development of interested countries;
- Promoting a better understanding of Americans among the people who volunteers serve;
- Strengthening Americans' understanding of the world and its peoples.
Over 2000 Peace Corps Volunteers have served in Tanzania since 1962. The Peace Corps provides trained American volunteers who work with communities in the fields of secondary education (math, science, and information and communications technology), health promotion, and environmental education.
The volunteers offer assistance and training on environmental education, including land degradation, preserving water catchments, soil conservation and implementation of agro-forestry techniques and emphasize partnership with women and youth. Volunteers also offer bio-intensive gardens to promote household food security as well as a variety of income generating activities.
On the health perspective, volunteers are involved in building capacity of youth, health service providers and community groups to promote and advocate for adoption of healthy behaviors including HIV/AIDS prevention, and care and support for people living with HIV/AIDS, orphans and vulnerable children. The volunteers work closely with village health committees to analyze community needs and priorities and promote behavior change in areas of maternal and child health, nutrition, malaria, waterborne diseases, sexual and reproductive health and HIV/AIDS prevention. The local health care providers gain skills in improving data management, tracking of patients, and health behavior promotion.