Press Release

Ambassador McCulley Swears In 75 New Peace Corps Volunteers

On the morning of September 21, 2007, in the presence of the Minister of Investment and Small and Medium Enterprises, the US Ambassador to Mali, HE Terence P. McCulley, swore in seventy-six new American Peace Corps Volunteers.  These seventy-six American volunteers recently completed nine weeks of linguistic, cultural, and technical training and will be assigned to villages throughout Mali.

The Peace Corps program in Mali was established in 1971 and celebrated its 35th anniversary in May of 2006.  Since 1971, the Peace Corps in Mali had evolved dramatically.  From 25 volunteers in 1971 to 155 volunteers today, nearly 2,300 volunteers have served in Mali since 1971.  Today, Peace Corps in Mali is one of the largest programs in Africa.

The mission of Peace Corps-Mali is to assist the Malian government in its efforts to promote socio-economic development.  This is achieved by building individual and institutional capacities through technical exchange and cultural integration.  Peace Corps Volunteers assist the government of Mali in an effort to address multiple development challenges.  Volunteers work to transfer knowledge and skills to their host communities and assist in the development of local institutions that respond to the development needs of the population.  An important element of their work is also the institutional development of the national and regional organizations, governmental and non-governmental, with which Volunteers collaborate.

Currently, the Peace Corps places its emphasis in Mali on sustainable capacity-building projects in five technical areas: food production, access to potable water, environmental conservation, micro-enterprise development, and preventive health care.  Volunteers are also engaged in secondary activities related to any one of four agency-wide initiatives: HIV/AIDS education, Information Technology, Youth Development, and Women in Development.

The Peace Corps is an American government agency whose mission is to promote peace around the world by sharing one of the greatest American assets – volunteers.  The Peace Corps traces its roots and mission to 1960, when then Senator John F. Kennedy challenged students at the University of Michigan to serve their country in the cause of peace by living and working in developing countries. From that inspiration grew an agency of the federal government devoted to world peace and friendship.