259 



ureas other Federal agencies were already carrying out research whose 

 results the Peace Corp could use.®*^ 



Despite denials of duplication of research by the Peace Corps and 

 by the Agency for International Development,^^ subsequent requests 

 for increased fimds for researcli have not been met by the Congress.®* 



Technology transfer in the Peace Corps 



Evaluation of the technology transfer function of the Peace Corps 

 must relate to the assumptions and objectives of the program, i.e., 

 highly technically trained volunteers versus moderately trained vol- 

 unteers who are culturally and linguistically prepared to demonstrate 

 the rudiments of technological skills needed for a particular task. It 

 must also relate to research on technical training and impact — as 

 yet decidedly inadequate components of the program. 



Legislative inquiry relating to the technical assistance facets of the 

 program per se in 1961 was limited to brief exploration of the rela- 

 tionship of the Peace Corps to the Point IV program. Those legislators 

 who inquired into the relationship appeared to agree with the reply 

 that the Peace Corps would provide practical technicians : 



Now in between that actual physical help, physical capital resources, and 

 technical advice [of the ongoing overseas aid programs of the United States] 

 we believe there is room for actual workers, for doers, for practitioners of 

 what we preach. So that if a man preaches and teaches about how to cultivate a 

 farm, he will have a Peace Corps volunteer who actually goes out and practices 

 and does what the technical adviser preaches/" 



Apparently it was assumed tliat in tliis admittedly experimental pro- 

 gram, appropriate technical training would be provided by the Peace 

 Corps after projects were selected. It is also likely that not enough 

 was known at the outset — or indeed subsequently — about the complex 

 processes of intercultural transfer of technology. However, there is no 

 evidence that the Peace Corps foresaw much difRculty with the tech- 

 nical training and technical assistance components of the program. 

 The idea was to send over volunteers as quickly as possible, and to rely 

 on their iniriative; whatever degree of proficiency in particular tech- 

 nological skills that was required could be quickly introduced into the 



^^U.S. Congress. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. Report on the Peace Corps 

 S. Rept. 267', in United States Code, Congressional and Administrative News (1965), 

 p. 2766. 



*^ Included in the Senate Foreign Relations hearings on the Peace Corps authorization 

 for fiscal year 1966. was a memo from the Agency for International Development stating 

 that while the research programs of the two agencies are complementary, they are different 

 and duplication is avoided. "To Amend the Peace Corps Act," op. clt., 1965. "p. 8(2. 



** In fiscal year 1969 appropriations hearings, Jack Vaughn, Director of the Peace Corps 

 stated : 



Peace Corps research supports applied research that will help the Peace Corps better 

 to carry out its operations. The strategy adopted capitalizes on Peace Corps staff talent 

 through a program of in-house studies and selected contracted research. A major focus of 

 I'eaee Corps research concentrates on overseas performance of the volunteers through 

 studies of programing and impact. These studies are designed to measure tlie effectiveness, 

 or impact, of volunteers in helping host countries, and to study systematically how Peace 

 Corps programs can be improved to increase this impact. Other studies deal with improv- 

 ing Peace Corps recruiting, selection, training of volunteers in skills such as community 

 development and teaching, language training of volunteers, programing in new areas such 

 as tuberculosis control, agricultural improvement, etc. Much more research is needed 

 than can be carried out under the budgetary amount requested ; only the most crucial 

 projects have been carried out in fiscal year L96S and planned for fiscal year 1969. The 

 Peace Corps research budget is less than one-half of 1 percent of its total budget. (U.S. 

 Congress. House Committee on Appropriations. Foreign assistance and related agencies 

 appropriations for 1969. Hearings before a subcommittee of the • * * Part 1. 90th Cong., 

 2d sess. (Washington, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1968, p. 795.) 



* Statement of Robert Sargent Shriver. In "Nomination of Robert Sargent Shrlver, Jr., 

 to be Director of the Peace Corps," Hearings, op. clt., p. 49. 



