International Voluntary Services

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International Voluntary Services
Founded1953
FounderPrivate individuals, especially those from Mennonite, Brethren, and Quaker Churches
Dissolved2002
TypePrivate international development organization
Location
Area served
39 countries
Method Volunteerism

International Voluntary Services,Inc. (IVS) was a private, non-profit corporation for benevolent, charitable, and educational purposes chartered under the laws of the District of Columbia in 1953 to place volunteers in international humanitarian and development projects. [1] From its founding until its dissolution in 2002, IVS placed volunteers in 39 countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Its largest and longest programs were in South Vietnam, Laos, Algeria, and Bangladesh. Although the organization's roots were grounded in part in Christian pacifism, it operated on a nonsectarian basis, accepting volunteers regardless of their religious beliefs or nationality. [2] , [3] Over its lifetime, the IVS program evolved from the placement of only American citizen volunteers to placement of internationally-recruited volunteers and then in later years to recruitment of local volunteers from within the country being assisted. Elements of the IVS program model have been adopted by the U.S. Peace Corps and many present day non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Sections below discuss the IVS program model, activities over time, and legacy. [1]

Contents

Much of this article is based on two books on the IVS experience: The Fortunate Few: IVS Volunteers From Asia To The Andes by Thierry Sagnier and A Legacy Of America's Global Volunteerism - International Voluntary Services (1953-2002) edited by Gary Alex, Mike Chilton, and Frederic C. Benson. Much documentation on IVS is available in the IVS Collection of the Mennonite Church USA Archives, 3145 Benham Ave., Elkhart, IN 46517.

Note: “IVS” is also used as a generic acronym for “international voluntary service” and for a U.K.-based service organization of the same name.

Founding of International Voluntary Services (IVS)

IVS was founded and its organization and program heavily influenced by: 1) staff of the new U.S, foreign assistance agency in 1953; 2) private individuals from traditional peace churches and other groups; and 3) its first Executive Director. [1]

The 1948 Marshall Plan for direct U.S. assistance to Europe for recovery after World War II proved highly successful. President Truman in his 1949 inauguration speech proposed to extend the Marshall Plan concept with a “Four Point” program, including an ambitious fourth point for “a bold new program for making the benefits of our scientific advances and industrial progress available for the improvement and growth of underdeveloped areas.” A Technical Cooperation Administration (TCA) was charged with implementing this program.

Two men in the newly created TCA, Stanley Andrews and Dale D. Clarke, saw the potential to tap talents of the religious community for the new initiative. Andrews identified about 75 religious organizations with programs around the world that understood local conditions and were supported by American citizens, who were willing to work for the common good. He felt they could come together to form a non-profit organization to send young people out to work in village development activities. Andrews also recognized the need to assist in bringing such an organization into reality and assigned Dale Clark to this task. [1]

Clark accepted this assignment and met with an interested group that included: Mennonite Central Committee representative William Snyder, W. Harold Rowe of the Brethren Service Committee, and Benjamin Bushong, Director of the Brethren’s Heifer Project. Clark outlined the concept and arranged an initial planning meeting. At that planning meeting (date unknown), Clark stressed the need for an interdenominational approach adapted to needs of the Point Four Program and provided the group with a copy of the Near East Foundation charter to use as a model. [1]  The church representatives agreed that there was a role for young, well-trained agriculturalists and nurses to work in rural villages of developing nations.

IVS’s corporate charter, dated February 16, 1953, stated as its first objective “to utilize the services of volunteers on an organized basis to combat hunger, poverty, disease, and illiteracy in the underdeveloped areas of the world and thereby further the peace, happiness and prosperity of the peoples thereof.” [4] Arrangements for initial projects in Egypt and Iraq were completed by July, when the first meeting of the IVS Board of Directors confirmed the concepts for the new organization. IVS would be a “people-to-people” program where local people were participants in IVS projects and not just recipients of foreign assistance and that it should remain independent and private in nature.

An Operations Advisory Committee (OAC) set up to guide institutional and program development included, in addition to Rowe, Snyder, and Bushong: Roy A. Burkhart of World Neighbors, John H. Reisner of Agricultural Missions, Inc. and former dean of an agricultural college in China, Franklin S. Harris of Salt Lake City, E.B. Evans of Prairie View A & M College, Captain William H. Tuck, director general of international refugees during World War II, Carl C. Taylor of the Ford Foundation, and Margaret Hickey, an attorney, journalist, and women's rights activist. [1] While a diverse group, key leadership and program design came from representatives of three traditional “peace churches”: the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), the Mennonites, and the Church of the Brethren. Because the three churches opposed war, as an alternative to military service, their members sought Conscientious Objector status so volunteers could serve in various Alternative Service roles in lieu of military service. This and their humanitarian service ethic gave them a wealth of experience in international work, experience that proved very relevant to the IVS agenda.

Managing the fledgling IVS organization fell to its first Executive Director, John S. Noffsinger, who assumed the position in 1953 and served until he left to work at the new Peace Corps in 1961. Noffsinger had spent two years assigned to a town in the far northeastern province of Cagayan of the Philippines under an American colonial program to establish a Philippine public education system. [5] This program relied on youthful American teachers that came to be called “Thomasites” after the ship, the USS Thomas, that brought about 600 of these young Americans to Manila in 1901. After his two years in the Philippines, Noffsinger received a Ph.D. in Education from Columbia University and spent his adult working life in education. He had retired by 1953 but retained a desire to assist people overseas. His experience as a teacher in the Philippines and as an educator were foundational in his shaping the IVS, and later the Peace Corps, programs.

IVS Program Model Evolution Over Time

IVS’s initial program model was that of sending teams of volunteers for two-year assignments to work on rural development from training centers supported by the U.S. International Cooperation Administration (Egypt, Iraq, Nepal, Laos, Vietnam). [6] As an example, the Iraq program had a team including: a crop production volunteer, livestock volunteer, two home economics volunteers, two farm equipment/engineering volunteers, and a Country Team Leader. Volunteers were mostly young Americans with agriculture and rural backgrounds supervised by a senior Country Team Leader. [1] Volunteers were people who chose to work in a foreign country usually at a grass roots level for nominal pay for two years. They were required to possess a skill useful to local people, learn the local language, develop an understanding of the local culture, and work on a person-to-person basis. [7] The model was considered highly effective.

As IVS entered the 1960s, the program model evolved from placing multiple volunteers together on teams to that of individual volunteer placements. Rural development and agriculture remained a focus, but education assignments also became important (Laos, Liberia, Algeria) and assignments diversified into public health and other fields. [8] The program model continued – largely, but not exclusively – to support U.S. government development agency programs (Laos, Vietnam, Morocco, Algeria, Bangladesh, Congo). [1] IVS began recruiting non-American volunteers and, by the early 1970s, committed to increasing multinational recruitment of volunteers, staff, and board members. The U.S. Peace Corps adopted the IVS program model for its American volunteer assignments and has continued it for sixty years. [2]

The IVS program changed substantially in the late 1970s and early 1980s as IVS committed to diversifying its funding and becoming more independent of the U.S. Government in its development activities. Program activities became much more diverse. [1] Some U.S. Government funding continued for specific and comprehensive country projects including operating costs, construction, materials, training, and other inputs complementing volunteer services (Sudan, Bangladesh, Botswana). At the same time, a change in USAID policy provided central program funding for NGOs and allowed IVS to independently launch project activities in countries of its choice (Mauritania, Honduras, Indonesia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Papua New Guinea, Sudan). These programs generally involved fewer and more experienced volunteers working with partner organizations that had resources needed to support volunteer activities. Increasing numbers of staff and volunteers were recruited from outside the U.S. IVS was forced to compete for funding with other NGOs, many of which were engaged in economic development and relief work. Consequently, cost effectiveness and program flexibility became major considerations.

In the 1980s, IVS transitioned its program model to the use of skilled local volunteers supported by a few international professionals. By the end of the decade, over 80 percent of IVS staff and volunteers were host country nationals or internationals. IVS/Bangladesh to some extent pioneered this with the establishment of a National Volunteer Program for professionals and a Village Volunteer Program for community service workers implementing literacy, disaster preparedness, agriculture, health, organization development, and micro-credit projects. [1] Other programs in Ecuador, Bolivia, Botswana, Caribbean, and Zimbabwe also used local volunteers extensively. Programs emphasized local organizational capacity development, often working independently with local NGOs. IVS committed to participatory approaches, targeting basic human needs and poverty reduction, and empowering local people by strengthening local organizations. Some program direction changes were self-initiated, while others were a pragmatic attempt to keep up with changing priorities for USAID, which moved away from the agriculture and rural development programs that had been an emphasis of IVS.

Throughout its fifth decade, IVS struggled with funding limitations, but retained a commitment to self-help projects using volunteers from developing countries and appropriate technologies to develop self-reliant communities. [1] IVS volunteers served as consultants helping communities solve their own problems with their own resources. The thematic focus was on sustainable agriculture, assistance to exploited minorities, income generation for women, and AIDS prevention. However, most funding was from sub-contracts with USAID-funded projects to provide local field staff as IVS volunteers for their projects (Bolivia, Bangladesh). Other activities were implemented with private funds but were small scale and provided little funding for home office operations (Ecuador, Southeast Asia, Bangladesh). IVS committed to establishing local organizations to continue IVS-type services as sustainability strategy, but these did not survive the closure of IVS (Caribbean, Ecuador, Bolivia, Bangladesh). IVS lost its unique volunteer-based program model but continued its commitment to community level service delivery and participatory development.

1st Decade Program (1953–1962) - Start Up

The first decade of IVS focused on establishing management systems and starting country programs. The first four country programs were in the Middle East and South Asia for the following reasons: 1) individuals from the Peace Churches had prior experience in the region; 2) the U.S. foreign assistance agency staff of the International Cooperation Administration (ICA) [Link to his Wiki article] supporting establishment of IVS had contacts there; and 3) the area was a priority for U.S. foreign policy due to the political tensions following formation of Israel. [1]   As these programs got underway, IVS explored additional opportunities in Asia and launched programs in Indochina, where the U.S. was seeking to counter communist insurgencies. [9] Profiles of country programs started in this decade are listed below.

The initial programs (Egypt and Jordan) were small and privately funded. [6] Subsequent programs were mainly larger and funded by the International Cooperation Administration for a program model of teams of volunteers to work on community development from a local training center. As an example, the Iraq program had a team including: a crop production volunteer, livestock volunteer, two home economics volunteers, two farm equipment/engineering volunteers, and a Country Team Leader. Later, education programs were added, complementing rural development and agricultural work.

Initial programs demonstrated that volunteers could perform well and had valued skills to meet local needs. Most programs worked closely with U.S. foreign assistance agency staff, effectively using foreign assistance program resources and program direction for work at the community level. [1] Positive reporting on the IVS volunteers by embassy staff, reporters, and Congressional delegations led to Congressional proposals for a “Point 4 Youth Corps” and eventually the formation of the Peace Corps modeled after IVS. [10]

The decade provided other lessons. Volunteers found that technologies and innovations had to be tailored to local conditions, and IVS found the need to add a staff specialist position to provide teams with technical guidance and to share lessons learned across countries. [1] More troubling was the instability in programs (Egypt, Jordan. Iraq, Nepal, Liberia, Cambodia) forced to close due to shifts in international relations, U.S. government strategies, or host country policies.

2nd Decade Program (1963–1972) – Expansion and Change

IVS’s second decade began with strong programs in place in Laos and Vietnam and proven models for effective use of volunteers. The new Peace Corps was expected to be a reliable source of funding for private volunteer programs. IVS teams worked closely with the U.S. government development agency on rural development programs and had added education programs. [6] Nine new country programs [9] [1] were launched in the following countries:

Two major challenges arose for IVS during this decade. First, the newly created Peace Corps chose to field volunteers directly and not, as expected, fund other private agencies to do so. Its secure funding, high visibility, and government support enabled the Peace Corps to open programs in many countries. IVS opted to avoid overlap in working in the same countries and ended up working in more “difficult” countries.

A larger problem was the escalating civil wars in Vietnam and Laos, where IVS had its major programs. Approximately 800 volunteer assignments (56% of all IVS assignments) were in those two countries over the full period IVS worked there. [1] Volunteers worked in both rural and urban settings. Many volunteers, such as Edgar “Pop” Buell in Laos [11] [12] and David Nuttle in Vietnam actively supported counter-insurgency efforts, but by the late 1960s, as fighting intensified and American involvement grew, volunteers’ work became more difficult, and many began to question or oppose the war. [13] [14] Nine volunteers died in Laos and Vietnam, seven due to hostile action, and three others were captured, one was released within weeks and two were imprisoned in North Vietnam for about five years. [8] [1] [15] The first volunteer to lose his life was Peter M. Hunting, killed in an ambush in the Mekong Delta in 1965. [16]

Volunteers were torn between their commitment to continuing service to Laos and Vietnam and opposition to the war. [17] This climaxed in 1967, when 49 IVS volunteers signed a letter addressed to President Lyndon Johnson and shared with the New York Times describing the devastating impact of the U.S. military presence in Vietnam. [18] The letter noted the dissatisfaction of many IVS team members with the U.S. war effort and announcing the resignation of IVS Country Chief of Party Don Luce and three other IVS team leaders. Don Luce and John Sommer later recounted their experiences in Viet Nam in an influential book, Viet Nam – The Unheard Voices. [19] On March 15, 1971, volunteers in Laos wrote to President Richard Nixon protesting U.S. support for the South Vietnamese military invasion of Laos. A White House response acknowledged the letter and described U.S. policy in opposing insurgencies in Laos and Vietnam. These developments led to IVS’s distancing itself from USAID in Vietnam in the late 1960s and in Laos in the early 1970s and closing programs in Vietnam in 1971 and Laos in 1975.

As a result of the worsening situation in Indochina, the IVS Board of Directors met in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia in 1971 to assess the continued relevance of IVS and international volunteerism. [1] The meeting concluded that there remained a role for volunteers and that IVS would need to:

These commitments greatly influenced IVS program operations through the rest of its life. The large numbers of volunteers who served in Laos and Vietnam also influenced later programs and management and formed the core of IVS alumni activities in support of the IVS programs.

3rd Decade Program (1973–1982) - Internationalization

The decisions of the 1971 Harpers Ferry meeting and changes in global development assistance strategies program changed IVS in its third decade. By 1975, all volunteers had been pulled out of mainland southeast Asia, ending the "Indochina" period of IVS. [1] Expansion in other regions around the world gave IVS a diverse, dispersed, and challenging portfolio of development projects. The Bangladesh Program was prominent with its work in agriculture, horticulture, and health and family planning, as well as its support to development of local NGOs. IVS moved into Latin America in a significant way.

IVS committed to internationalizing staff and diversifying its funding base. In 1974, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) began funding IVS through a Washington General Support Grant that allowed IVS more independence in programming than did country grants for specific projects. In 1977, IVS opened an office for two years in Luxembourg to seek European funding and recruit European volunteers. [9] Over the decade, IVS started programs in the following nine countries:

Throughout the decade IVS was successful in internationalizing its program. By 1979, more than half of its volunteers were non-US citizens. [1] Diversifying funding was more difficult but became essential as new USAID grants required matching funding from non-US government sources to cover at least half of program costs. IVS was able to obtain private funding from many sources, but most were in modest amounts.

IVS programs changed. Funding constraints limited project volunteer numbers. Donor agencies, particularly the U.S. government, were unwilling to fund larger programs, in part because the Peace Corps was fielding large numbers of volunteers. In previous programs, IVS volunteers had access to other resources from U.S. government assistance programs to expedite their work (Iraq, Nepal, Laos, Vietnam, Morocco, Congo, and others). This continued in some countries (Yemen, Bangladesh), but in other countries IVS had to find other partners with which to collaborate. In a few cases (Sudan, Botswana, Bangladesh), IVS obtained USAID country funding for comprehensive projects including operating costs, construction, materials, training, and other inputs to complement volunteer services.

Programs began to require volunteers with more experience and specialized skills. [1] This reflected the increasing sophistication of organizations assisted within host countries. In addition, the limited numbers of volunteers within a country program made it impossible to cost-effectively provide needed support and required volunteers to be more self-sufficient.

4th Decade Program (1983–1992) - Localization

This period saw IVS complete its transition from the earlier model of sending numbers of young international volunteers to work in a country to using a few international professionals and recruiting skilled and educated locals as volunteers in their country program. By the 1990s over 80% of IVS staff and volunteers were host country nationals or internationals. [1] This was pioneered by IVS/Bangladesh, which established a National Volunteer Program of professionals and Village Volunteer Program of community service workers to implement literacy, disaster preparedness, agriculture, health, organization development, and micro-credit projects. The Ecuador, Bolivia, Botswana, Caribbean, and Zimbabwe programs also used local volunteers. Bolivia and Bangladesh had relatively large local volunteer programs, as other USAID projects sub-contracted with IVS to provide local field staff for their projects. [9]

During this period, the IVS programs emphasized local organizational capacity development and often worked independently with local NGOs. Budget limitations generally restricted IVS to provision of services with little funding for other project costs. As a result, IVS often worked with other aid organizations, supplying volunteers to these existing programs. [9] U.S. development assistance began to de-emphasize agriculture and rural development, which had been a major focus on many earlier IVS programs. During this decade, six new country programs were launched in the following countries:

By the late 1980s, IVS was struggling. Funding was a perennial problem with remaining high dependency on USAID grants but weakening relations with USAID. Funding from Washington allowed IVS programming independence but weakened working relationships at the country level and limited potential for larger country-level funding. [1] With more NGOs active, competition for donor funding had become intense. Private funding was often too limited to launch substantive programs and programs required a certain scale to be cost-effective. IVS struggled to meet its required 50 percent match for USAID grants.

Local and regional volunteers were effective and often very well qualified. Still, reliance on local volunteers eliminated the cultural exchange and citizen diplomacy element of international volunteerism. [1] This reduced IVS’s domestic constituency for international volunteerism. There was also a question of definition of “volunteers” as local volunteers were often paid at or above the local salary scales. Other agencies could just as easily hire local staff for their projects, and IVS’s unique institutional capability for value addition to international development was eroded.

5th Decade Program (1993–2002) - The End Game

By the 1990s, IVS’s financial situation was desperate, and the organization was kept alive only by committed staff working largely on a voluntary basis. Remaining programs were limited to: Bangladesh, which had some European and private funding and a contract to provide local volunteers as field staff for a USAID grantee’s project; Bolivia, which also had a contract to provide local and regional volunteers for a USAID contractor’s project; Ecuador, which had a small program and a local country director committed to continuing work if funding became available; and the Southeast Asia HIV/AIDS Prevention project in Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia which operated on a small and declining basis. [9] The only program to continue substantial activities until 2002 was Bangladesh.

By about 1993/94, USAID funding ended. This was the first time in 40 years that IVS was not receiving U.S. government funding. Several factors contributed to this. USAID central funding for global programs declined. More seriously, IVS had struggled to meet its required private funding match of the government grant funds and to provide a convincing argument for its developmental impacts. The indirect funding coming to IVS from other organizations funded by USAID, as mentioned above, continued after this, but the lack of direct funding from USAID for IVS core programs and management costs was a severe blow.

As its funding declined during the 1990s, IVS committed itself to establishing local organizations to continue to IVS-type services. An earlier model for this had been Friends In Village Development, Bangladesh (FIVDB), which spun off from an IVS activity in 1979 to become a sustainable local NGO. In 1984, the IVS Caribbean Program volunteers had also formed a local entity, Caribbean Advisory and Professional Services to continue business development service provision to local entrepreneurs after the end of the IVS project. [9] When the eventuality of closing IVS became unavoidable, the organization committed itself to establishing its remaining operating programs in Bolivia, Ecuador, and Bangladesh as national NGOs. In the 1990s, IVS fostered creation of Fundación Mina in Ecuador, IVS Bangladesh in Bangladesh, and IVS/Bolivia in Bolivia. [6] Unfortunately, none of these, except FIVDB, survived long. [1]

Several initiatives were attempted to turn things around to enable IVS to continue. A 1996 strategic alliance with PACT (formerly Private Agencies Collaborating Together) allowed IVS to use USAID funds to design a new program for local voluntary organizations, but no new project resulted, and the alliance faded away. A 2000 “IVS Program Development Sub-Committee” sought to establish a new flexible, self-financed volunteer program and restart other development activities. Two short term volunteers were sent to Vietnam, but that was the only activity, and by then IVS had too few resources to relaunch significant activities. In 2001, an alumni-proposed “IVS Endowment Fund” to support IVS renewal was well received but again this was too late. On November 30, 2001, the IVS Board concluded there were no other options and decided to dissolve IVS by March 30, 2002.

Following dissolution of IVS, an active IVS Alumni Association has continued as a network for volunteers and friends of IVS to stay in contact. IVS alumni established a small 501(c)3 organization, “IVS for Development,” to promote volunteerism and document the history and impacts of IVS. [20]

Finances

IVS always had some private support, but from its beginning IVS relied heavily on funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and its predecessors, the United States Technical Cooperation Administration (TCA) and the United States International Cooperation Administration (ICA). Records indicate that ICA/USAID funds accounted for about 92 percent of IVS’s total funding up to 1960. Until 1973, ICA/USAID funding was largely through service contracts with regional or country offices. [1]

From the early 1970s, IVS took steps to broaden its financial base and reduce the share of government funding to less than 50 percent. [6] This decision coincided with a policy change within USAID to require a 50 percent matching contribution for its grants to private voluntary organizations. From 1976 to 1993, the USAID share of IVS’s funding was about 48 percent. [1]

IVS received private funding from many churches, corporations, individuals, European organizations, and others, but amounts were modest and often covered only country activities and not the Washington management and overhead costs. As an example, in 1993, IVS had funding of $1.1 million U.S. dollars from 288 individual donors and 35 institutional donors. [1]   Substantial fundraising efforts were needed to reach this number of donors.

IVS found itself in the funding predicament of having a foot in both public and private funding worlds. Neither was big enough to ensure financial viability or achieve a convincing scale of operations and institutional identity. Dependency on government funding was a critical problem for the organization, as it required IVS to respond to changing government priorities that may have differed from those of a volunteer organization. [1] IVS never developed a strong fiscal support system. [9]

People

Volunteers were the heart of IVS, bringing a commitment of services to others and a naive optimism. Records are incomplete, but, over 50 years, at least 1,368 IVS volunteers served on 1,419 assignments in 39 countries. Forty-eight volunteers served in two countries and three in three countries. The typical assignment was two years, but some were much less than this and some much longer. Forty-three IVS volunteers also served as Peace Corps volunteers, and at least 15 IVS volunteers and staff also served in Peace Corps staff and management positions. [21] A considerable number of early IVS volunteers also completed U.S. military service. [6]

IVS was an ambitious experiment, positing that placing young people in foreign countries and institutions could promote social and economic development. IVS management initially considered the ideal IVS volunteer to be of small town or farm origin, be single and 20-30 years of age, have completed at least a significant part of a college degree, be of good character, and have a dedication to service. [1] Over time, most of these criteria were put aside, except - hopefully – those for the good character and dedication to service.

One issue was whether IVS service would be acceptable to the Selective Service as “alternative service” in place of military service. This was important to the Peace Churches, whose members frequently sought “conscientious objector” status and avoided serving in the military, because of their opposition to war. IVS determined that conscientious objector status was not automatic, and young men would have to petition their local draft board for such status. Many IVS volunteers did their IVS assignments as alternative service, but many others did not have or seek such status.

Volunteers from other countries and the national and regional volunteers of later years typically exhibited the same volunteer spirit and commitment to serving others as embodied in the IVS ethos. Some volunteers became prominent during their service. [22] Others gained recognition later. [23] Many went on to careers in foreign service, business, government, and civil society organizations that benefited greatly from their volunteer experience.

Regrettably, ten volunteers died during their volunteer assignments – one in Ecuador, three in Vietnam, and six in Laos.

Executive Directors provided leadership for IVS program development and management. Executive Directors over the lifetime of IVS were: [1]

IVS Board of Directors included many diverse and prominent individuals, who provided overall direction for the organization. The Board of Director’s leadership position was variously termed President, Chairman, Honorary Director, and Director. Archival documentation lists the following as Board leaders: [1]

Legacy

IVS was dissolved in 2002. It is considered a precursor to the Peace Corps. The archives of IVS are at the Mennonite Church USA Archives. [9] [24] Archival materials of Charles F. Sweet, an IVS volunteer who served in Vietnam during wartime, are available at Cornell University Library in its Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections. [25]

Despite the complications of assessing the impact of development programs such as that of IVS due to the many variables involved in social or economic change, the legacy of IVS exists at two levels: its influence on organizations and its influence on and by individual volunteers. [1] [6] Notwithstanding the diverse, highly personal, scattered and often short activities of volunteers, IVS has left its mark after its closure March 31, 2002.

The most obvious organizational legacy of IVS is likely the U.S. Peace Corps, which was to a significant extent inspired by and modeled after the IVS programs started in the 1950s. Two politicians, Sen. Hubert Humphrey (D-Minnesota.) and Rep. Henry Reuss (D-Wisconsin) visited early IVS programs and were so impressed that, beginning in 1957, they pushed for creation of a U.S. government voluntary program to place American youth in international development projects run on a people-to-people basis. [10] They passed this proposal on to President John F. Kennedy, whose administration launched the Peace Corps, drawing on IVS staff and operational policies in its establishment. Sargent Shriver, the first Peace Corps Director, hired IVS Director, John S. Noffsinger in 1961 to assist in launching Peace Corps and adopted much from IVS experience. [1]

Over the years IVS's innovative programs guided by its executive directors and board members with diverse backgrounds provided lessons and direction for many other development efforts. IVS provided good program models through its leadership and/or effective programs in several areas: rural and community development, people-to-people exchanges, international volunteers, local volunteers, local organizational capacity development, agricultural technology adaptations, public-private partnerships, and others. [6] Lessons learned from the IVS experience paved the way for future development of many other private and voluntary development efforts.

The legacy of work by individual volunteers and country programs is diverse, but likely derives from five types of impacts. [1]

Of course, not all volunteer impacts were positive. Some volunteers may have been unsuited to their assignments and some assignments may have been poorly defined. Volunteers may have provided inappropriate advice and some influences on individuals or institutions may have been negative. [1] Still, most IVS volunteers have been quite positive as to their assignments. [6]

Volunteerism lives on. While the influence of IVS on the diversity of international volunteer programs beyond the Peace Corps is uncertain, international volunteerism has grown. From 2004 to 2014 between 800,000 and 1,100,000 Americans volunteered internationally each year. [26] [8] IVS was an early leader in this movement.

Notes and references

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 A legacy of America's global volunteerism : International Voluntary Services (1953-2002). Gary E. Alex, Mike Chilton, Frederic C. Benson (First Peace Corps Writers ed.). Oakland, California. 2022. ISBN   978-1-950444-52-6. OCLC   1346256516.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  2. 1 2 Paul A. Rodell, "International Voluntary Services in Vietnam: War and the Birth of Activism, 1958–1967," Peace & Change , v. 27, no. 2, April 2002, pp. 225-244.
  3. ↑ Russell D. Brackett, Pathways to Peace, Minneapolis: T.S. Denison & Co., 1965, pp. 317-319.
  4. ↑ Registered in the District of Columbia, February 16, 1953, as a domestic nonprofit corporation, File no. 223090 (http://mblr.dc.gov/corp/lookup/status.asp?id=30838).
  5. ↑ Paul A. Rodell, “John S. Noffsinger and the Global Impact of the Thomasite Experience,” in Corazon Villareal, ed., Back to the Future: Perspectives on the Thomasite Legacy to Philippine Education, Quezon City, American Studies Association of the Philippines, 2003, pp. 63-79.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Sagnier, Thierry, The Fortunate Few: IVS Volunteers From Asia To The Andes, NCNM Press, 2015.
  7. ↑ IVS. Undated. IVS – Problems and Promises in Overseas Service. Washington, DC.
  8. 1 2 3 Stuart Rawlings, ed., The IVS Experience: From Algeria to Viet Nam, International Voluntary Services, 1992, Washington, D.C.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 International Voluntary Services. International Voluntary Services: 1953-2003. Harpers Ferry, WV: International Voluntary Services Alumni Association, 2003. Print.
  10. 1 2 Smith, E. Timothy. “Roots of the Peace Corps: Youth Volunteer Service in the 1950s" from Wiley's Peace & Change, Volume 41, Issue 2, April 2016 © 2016 Peace History Society and Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
  11. ↑ Timothy N. Castle, At War in the Shadow of Vietnam: U.S. Military Aid to the Royal Lao Government, 1955-1975, New York: Columbia University Press, 1993, pp. 83-84.
  12. ↑ Schanche, Don A. Mister Pop, the Adventures of a Peaceful Man in a Small War. New York, David McKay Company, Inc. 1970.
  13. ↑ Thomas C. Fox, IVS volunteer (’66-’68, Vietnam) wrote about his experiences as a volunteer in Tuy Hoa, Vietnam on Jan. 2, 2018 the “New York Times “67” newsletter. In a first-person article entitled “The Camps,” Fox outlined the neglect and poverty he found in the Ninh Tinh and Dong Tac camps for the war displaced farmers. He wrote about the difficulties he faced getting subsistence supplies to these Vietnamese.
  14. ↑ In 1971, two IVS volunteers in Vietnam, Alexander D. Shimkin and Ronald Moreau, were terminated by the organization when they became sources for a New York Times story by Gloria Emerson about the forced use of Vietnamese civilians by South Vietnamese officers and their American advisers to clear land mines near the village of Ba Chúc. Shimkin was killed the following year while covering the war for Newsweek . Moreau later became Newsweek's Bureau Chief for Southeast Asia and South Asia. He died in 2014.
  15. ↑ IVS volunteers that died during their assignments included: Peter Hunting (Vietnam – 1965 died in ambush); Max Sinkler (Vietnam – 1966 died in vehicle accident); Michael Murphy (Laos – 1966 drowned in river); Frederick D. Cheydleur (Laos – 1967 assassinated); Martin J. Clish (Laos – 1967 died in plane crash); David L. Gitelson (Vietnam – 1968 taken prison and shot); Arthur D. Stillman (Laos – 1969 died in ambush); Dennis L. Mummert (Laos – 1969 died in ambush); Chandler Scott Edwards (Laos – 1969 died in ambush); and Susan Meunier (Ecuador – 1974 died from incompatibility of medications). Sources include: Roger Young's Northwest Veterans Newsletter, retrieved August 20, 2010. (http://northwestvets.co m/op-baby.htm) Also found at [1] (http://www.civsea.org/civsea_northwest.htm).
  16. ↑ Peter Hunting, a 1963 Wesleyan University graduate, is the subject of a memoir and magazine article by his sister, the author and radio essayist Jill Hunting. Jill Hunting, Finding Pete: Rediscovering the Brother I Lost in Vietnam, Wesleyan University Press, 2009, 324 pages (https://books.google.com/books?id=k9f7avRoFYAC&lpg=PP1&dq=Finding%20Pete&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false) ISBN 0-8195-6923-2 and Jill Hunting, "A Lost Brother's Lost Words," Washington Post Magazine, March 18, 2007. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/14/AR2007031400193.html). Jill Hunting writes in her memoir that volunteers in the Vietnam war zone were aware of the risks they took, with one volunteer reporting "thirty different attempts on his life that he never mentioned to anyone while he was in Vietnam." made volunteer work difficult and some volunteers embraced the U.S. anti-war movement.
  17. ↑ Bernard Weinraub, "Volunteer Aides in Saigon Dispute: American Welfare Workers Say U.S. Officials Press Them to Support War; Volunteer Groups and U.S. Aides Clash in Saigon," New York Times, September 15, 1967, p. 1.
  18. ↑ The full text of the letter appears in Don Luce and John Sommer, Viet Nam: The Unheard Voices, Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1970, pp. 315-321. ISBN 0-8014-9103-7; See also: Don Luce obituary: https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/12/08/luce-vietnam-tiger-cage-dies/ and Lieverman, Ted. 2017. The Transformation of Don Luce. Vietnam magazine. https://www.historynet.com/transformation-don-luce/.
  19. ↑ Luce, Don and John Sommer. Vietnam. The Unheard Voices. Cornell University Press. 1969.
  20. ↑ IVS Alumni Association newsletters available in the IVS Collection of the Mennonite Church USA Archives, 3145 Benham Ave., Elkhart, IN 46517.
  21. ↑ IVS Alumni Association database and Up-date of database prepared by Verle Lanier for IVS Alumni Link April 2011 available in the IVS archives section of the Mennonite Church archives.
  22. ↑ One of the most notable IVS volunteers was Edgar "Pop" Buell, a farmer from Steuben County, Indiana, who volunteered to work in agricultural development projects in Laos in 1960. Buell later became a senior USAID official in Laos and managed humanitarian relief to the Hmong people during the "Secret War" in which the Hmong, with backing from the United States Central Intelligence Agency, fought communist Pathet Lao forces.[9] In 1967, four senior IVS staff members in Vietnam, including country director Don Luce, resigned to protest American policy in the Vietnam War, which they believed undermined the humanitarian work that IVS was trying to carry out. The four also drafted a letter to President Lyndon B. Johnson calling the war "an overwhelming atrocity." Signed by 49 IVS volunteers and staff members, the letter received frontpage coverage in the New York Times.
  23. ↑ Anthony Lake, who became executive director of UNICEF in 2010, served briefly as head of IVS in the 1970s. Wendy Chamberlin was an IVS instructor at the College of Education in Laos during the early 1970s. She went on to become the U. S. Ambassador to Laos and to Pakistan and later the President of the Middle East Institute. Nicholas Katzenbach, IVS Board Chairman for a period, was United States Attorney General under Lyndon B. Johnson and was the general counsel of IBM at the time of his IVS Board service.
  24. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2018-11-26. Retrieved 2022-07-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  25. ↑ Guide to the Charles F. Sweet Papers, 1953-1990. http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/EAD/htmldocs/RMM04827.html.
  26. ↑ Lough, Benjamin J. “The Evolution of International Volunteering”, Written for presentation at the International Volunteer Service Exchange Conference, 12-13 October 2015, Beijing, China. United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme, Bonn, Germany. 2015.

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