KATHMANDU – Today, Peace Corps Deputy Director, David E. White Jr., arrived for a five-day trip to Nepal. While in Nepal, Deputy Director White will be meeting with government and civil society representatives to thank them for their long-standing support of the Peace Corps program since its founding and discuss plans to expand Peace Corps programming in Nepal.

Deputy Director White will also participate in the swearing-in of ten newly arrived Peace Corps Response Volunteers. This is the first ever group of Response Volunteers to serve in Nepal. The Peace Corps Response Program brings U.S. citizen Volunteers with experience targeted to complete short-term (e.g., nine-twelve months), high-impact service assignments in countries that request them.

During his visit, Deputy Director White will also meet currently serving Volunteers and their counterparts across Nepal. Volunteers in Nepal work on locally prioritized projects in agriculture, education, and health sectors, learning the Nepali language and other local languages to effectively communicate and engage with communities.

Currently, there are forty Peace Corps Volunteers serving in seven districts of Nepal teaching English in government schools and working on food and nutrition security in rural communities. The new group being sworn in will now bring the total to fifty Peace Corps Volunteers serving in eight districts of Nepal.

Peace Corps first established operations in Nepal in September 1962 and, since that time, nearly 4,000 Americans have served in Nepal working in multiple sectors and across the country.

About the Peace Corps:The Peace Corps is an international service network of volunteers, community members, host country partners and staff who are driven by the agency’s mission of world peace and friendship. At the invitation of governments around the world, Peace Corps volunteers work alongside community members on locally-prioritized projects in the areas of education, health, environment, agriculture, community economic development and youth development.

Through service, members of the Peace Corps network develop transferable skills and hone intercultural competencies that position them to be the next generation of global leaders. Since President John F. Kennedy established the Peace Corps in 1961, more than 240,000 Americans have served in 142 countries worldwide.