About Peace Corps in Kazakhstan

The United States Peace Corps traces its roots and mission to 1960, when then Senator John F. Kennedy challenged students at the University of Michigan to serve their country in the cause of peace by living and working in developing countries. From that inspiration grew an agency of the federal government devoted to world peace and friendship.  Since the official founding of the Peace Corps in 1961, over 200,000 Americans have served as Peace Corps volunteers in 139 countries around the world.

The Peace Corps' mission has three simple goals:

1. Helping the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women.
2. Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.
3. Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of American

The seeds of the Peace Corps Kazakhstan program were planted on December 22, 1992, when the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Peace Corps of the United States signed a country agreement in Washington, D.C.  The Kazakhstani government initially invited Peace Corps to begin working in the areas of English Teaching and Small Business Development, and the first 50 Peace Corps Volunteers arrived in Kazakhstan in June 1993. The Ministry of Ecology and Bio-resources invited the Peace Corps to begin an environment program in 1994, and the Ministry of Education, Culture and Health invited health program Volunteers in 1996.

In November 0f 2011, the mission of the Peace Corps in Kazakhstan came to an end.  During the 18 years that the Peace Corps worked in Kazakhstan, nearly 1,120 Americans served here, assisting the people of Kazakhstan in a variety of projects focused on education, youth development, HIV/AIDS, and community development.  Their positive contributions left an indelible mark on the people of Kazakhstan, and their legacy is the increase in quality of life and English-speaking ability in the Kazakhstani people that interacted with them.