Once a volunteer, new Peace Corps chief will 'reset' atrophied agency

When Carol Spahn began her Peace Corps career training at the Number 5 School in central Bucharest, Romania was still recovering from the dark days of dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu’s rule. She never imagined that 29 years later she would be sworn in as the agency’s 21st director, leading its global effort from headquarters in Washington, D.C. Spahn takes the reins at the Peace Corps during a challenging time. The U.S. agency — which encourages peace through community engagement — grappled with its future after it withdrew its volunteers in 2020 as COVID-19 spread. While it has pulled volunteers from trouble spots before, it had never done so globally in its 62-year history. With no volunteers on the ground, Peace Corps — an agency with a $430.5 million annual budget this year — wrestled with its identity and what it should look like moving forward. “That is not just restarting the system. That is not just turning the crank and having things start over again.” --— Carol Spahn, CEO, Peace Corps It also faced questions in the U.S. Congress about whether it should continue, how it would respond to past challenges, particularly sexual assault, and whether it could adapt to the myriad global crises underway. In the end, an effort by former Peace Corps volunteers helped convince lawmakers of its worth and even clinched an increase in funding — for the first time in about six years. “We have been through a profoundly disruptive, pivotal period in history,” said Spahn, who had been the acting director since 2021 and previously served as Peace Corps chief of operations in the Africa region following a five-year term as the Malawi country director. The pandemic, Ukraine conflict, and climate change have set back development progress, creating a “true inflection point,” she said at her swearing-in ceremony. With no global volunteers during the pandemic, Peace Corps worked to recalibrate and “reimagine” the experience of serving at the agency to “strengthen” its systems and advance equity. Spahn helped oversee the return of some 900 former and new volunteers to 46 countries last year. “That is not just restarting the system. That is not just turning the crank and having things start over again,” she said. “It is just the beginning of a long and exciting journey, not just to rebuild, but also to reshape the Peace Corps.” And Spahn intends to do that “with the joy I see when our teams come together, when we smile with our eyes and laugh with our whole bodies, dance in the middle of the day,” she said during the swearing-in ceremony, joking that video footage of her dancing in Malawi is “off limits.” Spahn’s jovial spirit has followed her since she began her career, say former colleagues. Arthur Flanagan, her now-retired country director in Romania, recalls Spahn getting up on stage at a Temptations concert in Romania during her Peace Corps service. Rick Record, who trained her as a volunteer, characterizes her as an “intelligent, thoughtful, very caring volunteer.” She has an unusual emotional intelligence; skills that will serve her well, he said. He was with Spahn at the Number 5 school, where volunteers spent their mornings studying the Romanian language and afternoons learning about history and culture, visiting different organizations and agencies, and learning about their roles as volunteers. Back then, Spahn volunteered as a small-business adviser, alongside her husband. The two were known for taking care of each other, as well as the cohort of volunteers, Record told Devex. To the outside observer, her swearing-in seemed like a family affair — hugs, tears, and greetings from old friends. But the agency has not always lived up to its responsibilities to volunteers, particularly when it comes to addressing sexual assault and mental health care. Peace Corps used the pandemic to “reset,” look internally and ask hard questions, including about its approach and response to sexual assault, 54-year-old Spahn said. The agency has a long history of sexual assault challenges, including accusations of a lack of support, shaming, and finger-pointing; though it has tried to make improvements in the past decade. Management has evaluated the agency’s systems and expanded mental health support, provided more coaching services, and “tightened our programming and reporting to really look at how we’re accountable to our host communities,” Spahn told Devex after the ceremony. Her many roles at the agency and her experience speaking with world leaders have helped her take a broad view of Peace Corps, but she understands that “this is hard work … as we navigate this new era.” While Peace Corps had some 7,000 volunteers in about 60 countries around the world prior to the pandemic, only 900 have returned since global operations restarted in March. Spahn said that the agency is intentionally expanding slowly as they return. There is “incredible demand” both from countries that used to host Peace Corps volunteers and new ones, but the agency wants to ensure that the new systems and pandemic protocols in place are running smoothly and serving volunteers as they head back around the world, she explained. In the past year, the Peace Corps sent volunteers to Vietnam and Montenegro for the first time, and Spahn expects new cohorts to head to Sri Lanka and Kenya soon. Peace Corps is also working to solidify agreements with the Solomon Islands and El Salvador and has 10 additional formal invitations from countries that would like to have Peace Corps presence. “We will gradually ramp up. It’s not about the numbers of volunteers, it's about the quality of our systems and in programs and in making sure that we are meeting the needs of the host countries and host communities,” she said. Spahn wants to see the Peace Corps grow bigger than ever, but it may come down to factors outside her control. “The skills that volunteers learn in bridging difference, in working in cross-cultural environments are critical,” especially given the isolation, divisiveness, and polarization in today’s world, which was only exacerbated by the pandemic, she said. Though Peace Corps received a boost in funding from lawmakers for this year, an effort to pass a bill to reauthorize the agency fell short in Congress. While such a bill isn’t necessary for its continued operation, it could help update the agency for the first time in 20 years. Representative John Garamendi, a Democrat from California and former Peace Corps volunteer, said the bill would be reintroduced this year. The reauthorization would put “in place a lot of the programs and improvements that are necessary,” he said at the ceremony, shortly before administering Spahn’s oath. It’s the same oath she has used to induct volunteers, including recently the first ever in Vietnam. And it’s the same words used when she began her service as a Peace Corps volunteer.