Peace Corps program proposed for Palau, Micronesia and Marshall Islands
- Admin
- 46 minutes ago
- 3 min read
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
The United States has signed a letter of intent with Palau, the Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia to establish a unified North Pacific Peace Corps mission to serve the freely associated states despite a new proposal to defund the program in fiscal 2027.
Christopher Landau, assistant secretary of the Department of State and Peace Corps acting director, signed the agreement with FSM President Wesley W. Simina, Marshall Islands President Hilda C. Heine and Palau President Surangel S. Whipps Jr. on the sidelines of the 55th Pacific Islands Forum Leadership Meeting in Koror on Sept. 1.
“With the signed letter of intent, the Peace Corps will follow its established, comprehensive process for opening programs,” the Peace Corps program said in a press release.
The Peace Corps Mission returned to Palau in July after an eight-year hiatus.
More than 4,400 Peace Corps volunteers served in Palau and the FSM under a single program from 1966 to 2018, assisting both nations in obtaining grants for social programs and infrastructure projects.
In the Marshall Islands, more than 140 Peace Corps volunteers served from 1966 until 1996.
The FSM officially requested the return of the U.S. Peace Corps Mission to the Pacific nation in 2022. The Marshall Islands followed suit in 2023 and renewed its invitation this year.
“This letter of intent reflects the shared understanding of four sovereign governments that our people-to-people ties are worth strengthening, formally and deliberately, in the spirit of the shared history that already binds us,” Landau said.
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“Each of our nations brings its own laws, its own institutions and its own processes to this effort," he added.
Under the Trump administration, the Peace Corps has undergone sweeping changes, including a 40 percent cut to the mission's staff and organizational restructuring.
Landau is serving a dual role as acting Peace Corps director and deputy Secretary of State, which is a break from convention.
According to the congressional think tank Legis1, the Peace Corps' interim performance plan “is explicitly oriented toward advancing an America First foreign policy.”
Landau said the resurrection of the mission in Palau, the Marshall Islands and the FSM will "actively renew and further our engagement, and to give a new generation of Peace Corps volunteers the opportunity to serve in the North Pacific."
He said the agency will consider factors including the health and safety of volunteers and staff, administrative priorities, programmatic alignment, agency resources, and host government engagement in its country assessments of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands.
The Peace Corps headquarters is requesting a budget of $430.5 million for fiscal 2027. In the U.S. House of Representatives, Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry has proposed amendments to a U.S. House appropriations bill that would chop off funding for the Peace Corps and other foreign aid programs in the 2027 fiscal year.
The Peace Corps was established in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy to foster world peace and friendship and assist developing countries by providing skilled volunteers in areas such as education, health, agriculture, entrepreneurship, women’s empowerment and community development.
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