US Peace Corps phasing out operations in two Caribbean islands

Monday, February 25, 2013

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (CMC) - The United States Peace Corps says it is phasing out its operations in St Kitts & Nevis, and Antigua & Barbuda after five decades of successfully meeting the their needs for trained people in education, health, agriculture, environment, youth and development, and community economic development.
According to a statement released in Washington, the Peace Corps programmes in these Eastern Caribbean countries “have been extraordinarily successful by achieving development and cultural exchange goals such as empowering local youth”.
It said that the programmes leave a strong legacy in both countries that will be carried on in the communities served.
Volunteers in St Kitts and Nevis worked in the sectors of youth development, institutional development, small business development and HIV/AIDS prevention, and as Peace Corps Response volunteers, while those in Antigua and Barbuda worked in youth development and as Peace Corps Response volunteers.
“Long after the last volunteer’s departure, the most essential component of these nations’ cooperation with the United States will remain in the fellowship between Peace Corps volunteers and their Eastern Caribbean host families, colleagues and friends,” the statement said.
It said that in addition to St. Kitts and Nevis, and Antigua and Barbuda, the Eastern Caribbean post also has programmes in Dominica, St Lucia, Grenada, and St Vincent and the Grenadines, and that those programmes would continue.
More than 3,770 Peace Corps volunteers have served in the Eastern Caribbean since the programme was established in 1961 by President John F Kennedy by executive order on March 1, 1961.
Since its formation, more than 210,000 Americans have served in 139 host countries.