Sidebar #24 - What is a "Counterpart"?

If you’re a loyal reader of my blog - first of all, thank you. Second, you’ve probably picked up on the fact that I use the term “counterpart” a bunch in my weekly recaps. “Counterpart” is a term that is ubiquitous in the Peace Corps lexicon. In short, a counterpart is anyone in a community who a volunteer collaborates with on projects. A hallmark of the Peace Corps model is that volunteers don’t work alone, nor do they impose their own ideas and projects without community input. Rather, volunteers first complete a diagnostic report, meet with community leaders and stakeholders, and then must determine potential projects and project partners. Then, volunteers must co-plan and co-facilitate projects with these partners in the community, who are known as counterparts. Working with counterparts ensures that our projects are sustainable long after we depart the host country. Because I’m a Youth Development volunteer, most of my counterparts are teachers at the schools where I teach. However, the term counterpart is used because it can refer to literally any co-collaborator within the community. Some of these counterparts are pre-determined by Peace Corps when selecting the site while others develop organically as the volunteer integrates into the community. The thumbnail for this sidebar is from a “Counterpart Workshop” that Peace Corps organized in which each volunteer brought a counterpart from site to San Jose.