RPCV-NJ raises funds to support current Peace Corps Volunteers from New Jersey with Peace Corps Partnership projects, as well as selected projects around New Jersey.
2018 Funded Projects:
SEPTEMBER 2018
JUNE 2018
PCPP project “Explore Your Country-Girls” in The Gambia
NJ PCV Keeley Ffrench
Funded: $500
Explore Your Country for Girls 2018 will bring up to ten female students from rural and semi urban areas of the country into the capital city for a five-day educational training. With the support of teacher counterparts and PCV, the participants will be selected by their respective schools administration and they (student participant, teacher CP and PCV) will travel together into the capital city.
The objectives of the training include but are not limited to: (i) expose participants to educational and professional opportunities located within the capital city, (ii) equip them with the skills to pursue higher education and careers, and (iii) educate them about gender roles and barriers to education. Activities will include seminars sessions by guest speakers on a variety of topics, including goal setting, professionalism, resume writing, gender stereotypes, and barriers that prevent students from attending school. Guest speakers will include professors from local universities, female Peace Corps staff, and successful businesswomen. Additionally, participants will visit multiple professional and educational institutions within the capital city, exposing them to careers they may wish to pursue in the future.
MAY 2018
MARCH 2018
$500 contribution by RPCVNJ in March 2018 to a project sponsored by NJ PCV Sara Pauwels who is serving in Zambia.
The Northwest Reusable Menstruation Pad Making Workshops will be based in individual volunteer’s communities, where they will use the materials provided to teach women and girls in their communities how to create reusable menstruation pads. The attendees (women and girls) will also learn about better hygiene, health skills and leadership skills. The communities will be providing the attendees and the meeting locations. The impact of these workshops is immeasurable because when women/girls have a safe, hygienic way to handle a their periods, they can return to school, have a better quality of life and change the world. Women/girls have been fighting for their place in the world for many years and due to cultural norms and tradition, many women are held back due to their assumed biological provisions. However, the workshops are a step towards a better life for rural women and the future. Without women, we are missing half of the world’s intelligence, ingenuity and way of thinking.
FEBRUARY 2018
Youth Leadership Summit for Boys Reaching Out (BRO) Project in Swaziland
Peace Corps Volunteer Sara Butter of Short Hills, New Jersey. Sara is currently serving as a Community Health Volunteer.
Funded: $700
The Youth Leadership Summit is a four night youth summit with the mission of developing young male leaders in Swaziland by providing them with the tools to develop leadership skills in areas such as facilitation, effective communication, and role modelling, and confidence to conduct respectful relationships. The goal is that the alumni of the summit will become role models in their communities. During the summit, Peace Corps Volunteers will support counselors, who will facilitate sessions and lead discussions on GBV, Gender Equality, and HIV, as well as facilitation and public speaking. Throughout the week, guest speakers from different organizations will be invited to speak about challenges they face through workshops on male identity, planning for the future and being positive role models in the lives around them in the face of an HIV epidemic.
RPCV-NJ 