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Peace Corps Mexico reopens doors to Volunteers
Peace Corps Mexico has reopened doors for its Volunteers to serve alongside local community members and institutions.
On May 11, 2022, Peace Corps Mexico reopened its doors for Peace Corps Volunteers to serve alongside community members in Mexico. Volunteers have not served in Mexico since they were evacuated in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The event marked the first time in the agency’s 60-year history that Volunteers were evacuated from all global posts. Since that time, Peace Corps Mexico staff have continued to build on the mutual understanding, collaboration, and bonds that join our two countries.
An Education Volunteer who was previously evacuated along with his fellow cohort of Volunteers, was reinstated to complete his service. Staff are busily preparing for a new cohort of Education, Response, and Environmental Action Volunteers, who are anticipated to arrive by late summer.
“We are so grateful to our partners, communities, and host families who have all supported this historic return of Volunteers to Mexico,” said Peace Corps Mexico Country Director Matthew Colburn. “Over the course of the last two years and in close collaboration with our partners, staff completed a re-design of our Education and Environment project frameworks. Virtual Service allowed us to continue realizing our mission and expand our geographical reach. Our host government agencies and community partners have remained engaged with Peace Corps Mexico and are eager to have our Volunteers back in the field.”
At the request of the government of Mexico, Volunteers work with their communities on locally prioritized projects. Environmental Awareness and Action Volunteers will collaborate with partners to promote greater awareness of environmental issues and resilience, incorporating the perspectives of women, girls and boys, co-developing and co-facilitating activities such as development of environmental education resources and events, as well as solid waste management, and soil, water, and biodiversity conservation practices.
Education Volunteers will collaborate with semi-rural STEM-focused universities on co-planning and co-teaching English language classes; co-facilitating communities of practice and extracurricular English language learning; supporting institutional projects; mentoring students; career counseling; and strategic networking.
Response Volunteers serve as shorter term Social Impact Advisors, Project Management Specialists, Enterprise Resource Management Advisors, and Business Development Specialists in public research centers, implementing activities such as: designing and facilitating trainings; analyzing institutional processes; recommending best practices; co-creating manuals, standard operating procedures, or strategic plans; and facilitating collaboration between departments and/or institutions.
Regardless of the sector, all Peace Corps Volunteers engage in some form of COVID-19 recovery work, as either primary or secondary projects. Together, they work alongside community members to make progress on the biggest development challenge the world has faced in more than a century. From 2004 to March 2020, 494 Peace Corps Volunteers served in Mexico, working on projects in Education, Environment, and Peace Corps Response. You can follow Peace Corps Mexico on Facebook or YouTube.
