Looking to get reconnected with your country of service? Most RPCVs stay engaged with their host country long after their Peace Corps service has ended. Although the suspension of operations at all posts in March 2020 made contact with host communities difficult, most posts are now back up and running. How have the posts in the Europe, Mediterranean, & Asia regions begun to welcome back Volunteers? How many Volunteers are currently serving, in what programs, and what is new since the evacuation? Register Here.
Presenter
Mark Vander Vort is Peace Corps’ Chief of Operations for the Europe, and Asia (EMA) Region. He brings more than 30 years of international development experience to the role, including 20 years as a Country Director (CD) and five years supervising CDs. Mr. Vander Vort’s previous assignments with the Peace Corps were: serving as a fisheries Volunteer and Volunteer Leader in (then) Zaire, a campus recruiter at Cornell, an Associate Peace Corps Director in Gabon, and a CD in both Gabon/Sao Tome and Zambia. Following Peace Corps, Mr. Vander Vort worked as a Country Director with CARE in Zambia and Zimbabwe, with Africare in Malawi, the International Rescue Committee in Congo (Brazzaville) and Liberia, and with Chemonics in Liberia. He also served as World Vision’s East Africa Regional Director and CMMB’s Senior Vice President for Country Programs.
While based in Gabon, Mr. Vander Vort was instrumental in opening up Peace Corps’ new program in Sao Tome e Principe. Similarly, when reassigned to Zambia, he expanded Peace Corps’ one-year-old program there from a handful of Volunteers serving in one province and in one sector, to more than 120 Volunteers working in six provinces in four sectors. Among other new county start-ups, Mr. Vander Vort was selected to initiate World Vision’s new $35 million PEPFAR project in Zambia. He was also chosen to start Chemonics’ new global supply-chain project in Liberia. Most recently, Mr. Vander Vort lead a six-person Peace Corps team for a three-week assessment in Viet Nam (Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City) to pave the way to establish a Peace Corps program there. All is now on track to have Peace Corps Volunteers begin teaching English in Ha Noi secondary schools by the fall of 2022. Originally from Edina, Minnesota, Mr. Vander Vort attended Gonzaga University for undergrad and Cornell University for graduate school. He now resides in Poolesville, Maryland with his wife and four children.
In Case You Missed It: Watch the previous presentations hosted by NPCA and Peace Corps staff:
InterAmerican and Pacific Region: Then and Now (Featuring PC/Samoa staff, recorded on June 27, 2024) [Watch here]
Africa Region: Then and Now (Featuring PC/Gambia staff, recorded on July 11, 2024) [Watch here]