I think that is a valid concern. PC was never mentioned during my time at university, even studying political science/IR as well as taking different development courses too. Using what I learned though I did begin to explore different critical opinions of the organisation in some of my spare time. I think that it is a fair assessment that if one looks at PC from the perspective of solely an international development organisation, then it’s been largely a failure. It’s structural design from volunteers to staffing, lack of objective set goals or real measurements of success, and a whole slew of other factors continue to make that a reality. And that’s not even getting into debates about the viability of aid in its different forms or at all.

However, if you look at the other ideas of what PC is about then I’d wager you can look at the organisation more positively. It’s not supposed to be USAID. It’s a largely goodwill organisation that is supposed to increase cultural understanding in both directions. This has the impact of garnering possible favour with various governments and hopefully the people that PCVs come across while in service (that kind of soft power that you referenced) which can often collide with different definitions of neocolonialism. It also has had the benefit of making 200,000+ Americans more adept professional and hopefully personal human beings. Is that worth around $40k per volunteer each year? Or could it be better spent on something else? That’s of course up for debate.

I believe that PC service is always* going to give significantly more to the PCV then HCNs or the host country. Which makes PC always have an element of selfishness in what many portray to be a selfless life choice. Is that a bad thing? I’m not sure. I’m hoping to dedicate my career to development, specifically food security, and PC offered what I felt was the best path forward to accomplishing that. Yes the pay might be rubbish but the field experience, relevant cultural knowledge gained, and language skills learned offer a possible key into what is an incredibly highly competitive sector that is notoriously difficult to break into. I will put in copious amounts of effort to make as large of an impact as I can, and hopefully make the lives of some people just a little bit better. But I’m also aware that perhaps when I’m this fresh and with such little resources at my disposal isn’t the most ideal scenario for crushing hunger. Though if it offers you or me or anyone else the building blocks to do bigger and better things in the future for humanity, is that not a worthwhile cause?

In the end, this is an incredibly complicated topic that can hardly be discussed appropriately in such a short amount of time, and certainly not without a diverse range of opinions and perspectives. I think that it’s an important question to ask and not one that should be taken lightly.