P EACE C ORPS INDONESIA

P ARTNERS UPDATE
I SSUE 2 - O CTOBER 2010

Peace Corps Indonesia Report July to September 2010

P ARTNERS IN A CTION
On September 27 to 29, a seven -member team of Republic of Indonesia officials from Jakarta came to East Java to monitor the activities of Peace Corps Indonesia, particularly the work of its Volunteers. The 18 Volunteers have just completed their first three months of service at high schools throughout East Java. The group included ibu Siliwanti and pak Otho of BAPPENAS; pak Bunyan of KEMLU; pak Mukti of MORA, pak Rekso of MONE, and two representatives of SETNEG, ibu Eva and ibu Suri. Pak Syairofi, representing the East Java Regional Office of Ministry of Religious Affairs, also participated. Over the two days of field visits, the team met four Volunteers and spoke with school principals, teaching colleagues, and other community members about the Volunteers. In Mojosari, the team observed Maggie Lautzenheiser-Page and ibu Umi co-teach a tenth grade class at MAN Mojosari (see picture below). At SMAN Mojoagung, Lauren Ebersole demonstrated her teaching skills during a eleventh grade class; her colleagues praised her work in extracurricular activities, including developing a football club. The last visit of the day was to MAN 6 Jombang, where a group of enthusiastic students were led by Volunteer Truong Nguyen and his counterpart pak Abdul Mukhid in a series of afterschool English club activities. On the second day, the group traveled to Madura, to visit Volunteer Scott Lea at SMAN 1 Galis and had the pleasure of visiting with his host family and neighbors in addition to observing his co-teaching with ibu Rifa. The visit to these four different communities was an exceptional way for Peace Corps partners to become acquainted with the work of the Volunteers, observe their integration within their schools and communities, and consider the potential for increased positive impact as teachers and members of their host communities. After the visits, the team was welcomed to the Peace Corps facility in Surabaya, where they toured the offices and met with staff members. We are deeply grateful to ibu Siliwanti, pak Bunyan, and the rest of the team for their support and advice during their monitoring visit.

M ISSION
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy established the Peace Corps to promote world peace and friendship. Peace Corps is an independent U.S. government agency that provides Volunteers for countries requesting assistance around the world. Since 1961, nearly 200,000 Volunteers have served in 139 countries. The Peace Corps mission has three simple goals: Helping people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women. Helping promote a better understanding of the American people on the part of the peoples served. Helping to promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.

Inside this Update: Volunteer activities after 3 months at site Monitoring & Evaluation Strong Partnerships World-Wise Schools

P AGE 2
G OAL T HREE : I NCREASING A MERICANS
American teachers are educating their students about the similarities and differences between life in Indonesia and life in the USA, thanks to efforts by Peace Corps Indonesia Volunteers. Through the Coverdell World Wise Schools program, eleven of our currently serving Volunteers are partnered with American elementary and high school teachers. These teachers use the Volunteers letters to bring a distant part of the world a bit closer. The first-hand experiences of the Volunteers enrich lessons in geography, culture, or history. Teachers often invite students to exchange letters or emails so they can ask questions of one another, and share photos and drawings which depict their lives. For Indonesian students this an opportunity to practice their English, share their pride in their homeUNDERSTANDING OF I NDONESIA

P ARTNERS UPDATE

Volunteers are partnered with US schools in: Boulder, Colorado Pahoa, Hawaii Columbus, Indiana Jackson, Michigan Laurel, Missouri Sandia Park, New Mexico New York, New York Bronx, New York Cincinnati, Ohio Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

town, and satisfy any curiosities about life in the US. The World Wise Schools program offers Volunteers a meaningful way to fulfill the Peace Corps' third goal: to increase Americans' understanding of other peoples and cultures. Volunteer Bart Thanhauser, who teaches at MAN Rejotangan, Tulungagung, wrote about his experience celebrating his first Ramadan in Indonesia on his blog, which his partner school in the New York City accesses. Midway through the month he wrote: Bulan Puasa (Ramadan) has been going well. The first day or two it was a little difficult to fast. But at this point its not that tough. The most meaningful and interesting thing over the past

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M ONITORING & E VALUATION AT P EACE C ORPS

Peace Corps develops a set of goals, objectives, and indicators for each of its projects by gathering input from host government officials and community-level colleagues. The goals framework for Peace Corps Indonesia's TEFL program is currently in draft form and being circulated for feedback. Once finalized, this framework will become the centerpiece of a project plan which will guide the development of the TEFL program. In order to monitor progress, Peace Corps tracks both implementation data, such as the number of teachers and students a Volunteer is working with, as well as outcome data, such as the percentage of students who show improvement in their language skills or the percentage of teachers who use interactive methods more often. In recent years, Peace Corps Washington has begun hiring external consultants to evaluate long-term outcomes, such as whether teachers can identify sustained changes to teaching or learning that were made as a result of working with a Volunteer. Volunteers report on their work three times each year. They provide both quantitative and qualitative details regarding their work. This trimester report is also an opportunity for school colleagues to comment on the Volunteers work. All data received is summarized for distribution through this quarterly Partners Update and an Annual Report released in January. Additional methods of data collection are described below. The goals framework is meant to measure a Volunteers success at his/her site. Peace Corps posts also monitor the safety and satisfaction of its Volunteers. Safety is assessed through records of incidents which have affected a Volunteer, such as petty theft or other crimes, or through documentation of preparation in the event of a larger scale problem, such as a natural disaster. Satisfaction is assessed through Volunteer feedback collected throughout his/her service, including an on-line Annual Volunteer Survey which is administered by Peace Corps Washington.

M ONITORING & E VALUATION

T YPE OF DATA COLLECTED : P ROJECT I MPLEMNETATION T HE NUMBER OF TRAINED V OLUNTEERS PLACED WITH IDENTIFIED SCHOOLS . ( INPUT )

OF A

P EACE C ORPS

PROJECT

M ETHODS OF DATA COLLECTION : O BSERVATION , INTERVIEWS , TESTING THROUGHOUT PRE - SERVICE TRAINING . S ITE DEVELOPMENT CRITERIA APPLIED TO PROSPECTIVE COMMUNITIES . O BSERVATION OF V OLUNTEER AND INTERVIEWS WITH TEACHING COLLEAGUES DURING STAFF SITE VISITS . T RISEMESTER REPORTS ON PROJECT GOALS AND OBJECTIVES , COMPLETED BY V OLUNTEERS AND TEACHING COLLEAGUES .

T HE NUMBER OF CLASSES AND STUDENTS TAUGHT BY THE V OLUNTEER IN PARTNERSHIP WITH HIS / HER SCHOOL COLLEAGUES . (O UTPUT )

T HE NEW KNOWLEDGE OR SKILLS THAT STUDENTS OR TEACHERS ACQUIRE AS A RESULT OF WORKING WITH A V OLUNTEER . ( SHORT TERM OUTCOME ) P ROJECT RESULTS

T HE KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS THAT PARTICIPANTS MAKE USE OF OVER TIME , AND THE SYSTEMS CREATED TO SUPPORT THOSE SKILLS . ( INTERMEDIATE - TERM OUTCOME ) T HE DIFFERENCE MADE TO AN INDIVIDUAL , ORGANIZATION , OR COMMUNITY AS A RESULT OF APPLYING THESE SKILLS OR KNOWLEDGE . ( LONG -TERM OUTCOME )

F INAL REPORT COMPLETED AT THE END OF TWO YEARS BY V OLUNTEERS AND TEACHING COLLEAGUES .

I MPACT S TUDY COMPLETED BY EXTERNAL CONSULTANT , APPROXIMATELY EVERY FIVE YEARS .

I SSUE 2 - O CTOBER 2010

THE FIRST THREE MONTHS OF SERVICE
After completing training on June 3, Peace Corps Indonesia Volunteers traveled to their host communities and got down to work. Throughout training, Volunteers heard this message: don't just be an English teacher, be a Peace Corps Volunteer who teaches English. Expectations are high. To be a successful Volunteer you must become fully integrated into an Indonesian community. This means getting to know students and their families, learning the language, living and working alongside their host family, and enjoying the culture and customs of their new home. While difficult to quantify, we believe making these kinds of efforts ultimately yield more than increased English test scores. On this page are summaries of the work that has been accomplished by Volunteers to date. In their first weeks at site, Volunteers: introduced themselves to community leaders become familiar with school resources and materials got to know their families & neighbors through shared meals and celebrations established daily routines and school schedules

P AGE 3

Peace Corps Indonesia's eighteen Volunteers are: teaching English at 9 MAN and 9 SMAN schools recommended by provincial officials partnering with Indonesian colleagues to teach 10th and 11th grades located in 10 regencies throughout East Java living with local host families recommended by their school becoming competent speakers of Bahasa Indonesia

After three months of service, Volunteers report: increased student confidence in speaking spontaneously in English introducing songs, games, small group and pair work in the classroom English teachers using Volunteer skills and ideas to enrich classroom activities a desire to increase planning time with teaching colleagues a desire to expand extracurricular activities and develop community projects

On average, each Volunteer is: teaching almost 250 students each week in regular English classes working with over 60 students each week in extracurricular classes teaching or co-teaching over 19 hours of English leading 4 hours of extracurricular activities co-planning lessons with counterparts 3 hours each week

S TRONG P ARTNERSHIPS

ARE THE

B ASIS OF P EACE C ORPS

family includes the Volunteer in its activities, and the Volunteer attends social events, tutor his/her host siblings, assist with chores, and otherwise contribute to the household. Both the Volunteer and the family must adapt to each others habits and schedules, but before long the host family and the Volunteer are transformed into simply a family. The relationship established with their family is often a highlight for Peace Corps Volunteers around the world, and often extends long after the Volunteer has returned to the US. At school, the partnership can be seen between teaching colleagues and the Volunteer. You might have an experienced Indonesian teacher working with a first-time American teacher. Or you might have an experienced American teacher working with a first-time Indonesian teacher. The Volunteer may or

Peace Corps is not, and was never intended to be, a donor agency that contributes good or services to communities in need. Instead Peace Corps is a people-to-people organization which creates opportunities for Americans and citizens of the host country to work together for the benefit of the community. In Indonesia, 18 communities have welcomed our Volunteers and, in doing so, have begun the process of creating a partnership that is built on trust, respect for one anothers skills, and an interest in service and positive change. In concrete terms, what does this partnership look like? Before a Volunteer arrives, leaders of the host school select a host family where the Volunteer will live, and arrange to compensate the family fairly for rent. As in the U.S., families in Indonesia take many forms: Volunteers may live with a mother, father, and children, or simply with one other adult. Whatever the case, the

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With Thanks to Our Partners and U.S. Government Colleagues

Badan Perencanaan dan Pembangunan Nasional The National Development Planning Agency (BAPPENAS)

P EACE C ORPS

INDONESIA

Kementrian Agama
Phone: +62 31 561 5808 Fax: +62 31 561 5837 Contact Persons: Ken Puvak, Country Director kpuvak@id.peacecorps.gov M. Miftahudin, TEFL Program Manager mmiftahudin@id.peacecorps.gov

The Ministry of Religious Affairs (Kemenag)

Kementrian Pendidikan Nasional The Ministry of National Education (Kemendiknas)

USAID The United States Agency for International Development

www.peacecorps.gov
THE PEACE CORPS SINCE 1961
Partnership, (Continued from page 3)
may not speak fluent Bahasa Indonesia, and the Indonesian may or may not speak fluent English. Both may be nervous about their own skills and their new partners skills, and both may be unsure about how to meet expectations of their Principal or their students parents. Over time they will observe each other teaching, discuss the use of materials and books, ask each other for assistance, discuss their professional aspirations and share hopes for their students. They will motivate one another to become better teachers, and together develop ideas for improving the learning environment of their school. On its face, the Volunteer-counterpart relationship is simple: the Volunteer offers native speaking ability and new perspectives on teaching, while the counterpart offers expertise on the local educational context and curriculum. Yet the results of this partnership -- professional development, student achievement, cross-cultural friendship and respect -- are anything but simple. Beyond the classroom, the Volunteer gradually meets his/her neighbors, students' parents, and community leaders. By speaking Bahasa Indonesia or Javanese, and demonstrating respect for the local traditions, the Volunteer strives to join and support local efforts, building capacity to strengthen the community. Often projects or activities emerge which leverage a Volunteers skills to meet a communitys needs. A Volunteer with a gift for sports may cocoach a sports team and help find local resources for improving the sports field. A village chief may look to the Volunteer to organize an international component for a local festival. The Volunteer may invite youth to participate in a mural painting project or a clean-up campaign. Whether at home, or at school, or in their village or town, Volunteers rely on strong partnerships to be successful. They cannot do their work without the guidance and support of those that have welcomed them to Indonesia.

The regencies and municipalities, schools, Madrasahs and host families throughout East Java which have warmly welcomed our Volunteers.

Educating Americans, (Continued from page 2)

week has been attending Tarawih. Tarawih is an optional evening prayer at the musholla (a small mosque) that is held every night of Ramadan after dinner. I was a bit shy to go to the musholla the first night, but everyone there is very friendly and tells me jangan maludont be shy. No one is expecting me to convert. And most people go to extremes to tell me that I dont have to attend if I dont want tothat I shouldnt feel forced to join. Its great because this message of tolerance is something that I feel passionately about too. And to hear people in my village take the words out of my mouth humbles me. Islam in Indonesia is a religion of tolerance and acceptance of diversity. At Tarawih, every night I sit in the back of the musholla and watch people pray. Its interesting to see them go through the motions of rokaat. But what I like most is that it gives me a chance to sit quietly and reflect on the day. Often the little kids that are too young to go through the motions of prayer climb on me while I sit there and I like this too. I feel relaxed. As it turns out, Barts descriptions of his life in Tulungagung interest more people than just his American teaching colleagues, his friends, and his family. His Indonesian teaching colleagues are also big fans of the blog and enjoy reading what he finds interesting and challenging about his new home. Bart says Indonesian friends often chat with him about the contents of his blog, and this is an enjoyable way to exchange observations and discuss their respective cultures. More information about the World Wise Schools program is available at www.peacecorps.gov/wws.