In this interview, we hear from Kayla Kawalec. Kayla has extended her service to be a Peace Corps Volunteer Leader working in Thailand. As a PCVL, she plays a crucial role in mentoring volunteers, liaising with Peace Corps staff, and supporting community projects. Kayla shares insights into what it means to step into a leadership role, the unique challenges of working with both volunteers and host communities, and the rewards of serving as a bridge between them. Join us as we learn about Kayla’s journey and see how leadership in the Peace Corps can deepen the impact of service.
Table of Contents
- PCVL Experience and Leadership Role
- Supporting Volunteers and Community Engagement
- Challenges and Growth as a PCVL
- Advice for Future PCVLs
- Diversity and Inclusion in Leadership
- Final Thoughts
PCVL Experience and Leadership Role
1. Can you describe your role as a Peace Corps Volunteer Leader in Thailand?
What I’ve learned since I started as the Peace Corps Volunteer Leader in Thailand is that the PCVL position looks vastly different post-to-post and even year-to-year within the same post, so my disclaimer is that my situation is certainly not representative of the PCVL position in general or even in Thailand specifically.
That being said, I live and work in Bangkok, so my day-to-day is different in many ways than it was over the last two years I spent serving as a Youth in Development volunteer in northern Thailand. In Bangkok, I spend three days a week with the Department of Local Administration (DLA), under the Ministry of the Interior of Thailand, and the other two at the Peace Corps Thailand office.
Within DLA, I work in an office that supports the municipal and sub-district office schools all across the country. I assist in the monitoring and evaluation of the Department’s various educational/curriculum programs and teacher trainings, and attend meetings at the Ministry of Education on various topics related to our Department.
With the Peace Corps, I serve as a resource and co-facilitator for inter-service trainings, as a support system for volunteers, and I work on various other projects as they arise.
2. What motivated you to take on a leadership role as a PCVL?
From the very first time I heard about the PCVL position, I was interested. From what I’ve been told, PC Thailand has never had a PCVL living and working in Bangkok, so I feel very fortunate that I had a great deal of support from my Program Manager, who helped me advocate for this role.
In many ways, I’m building the program from scratch, which both excites me and is a huge challenge as well. I think there’s a huge benefit to having a volunteer who has just come from working at the community, micro-level, for two years, to bring that knowledge to the procedural, macro-level, so I’m very committed to testing and ensuring the sustainability of this position.
When I’m giving advice or feedback, I try to balance out the “I made it!” success stories by adding, “and it was tough!”
Supporting Volunteers and Community Engagement
3. What kind of support do you provide to Peace Corps Volunteers in your region?
Most of the support I provide to other Peace Corps Volunteers in Thailand is by serving as a resource at inter-service trainings. I am specifically passionate about Participatory Analysis for Community Action (PACA) tools, Inter-cultural Communication, Project Design and Management, and Monitoring & Evaluation, so I have co-facilitated several sessions on those topics alongside Peace Corps Thailand staff.
I always make myself available for mentorship and troubleshooting as well. I was amazed at how much perspective I gained after I left the site where I served for two years. Everyone’s situation at site is completely different, but I do feel more equipped now to listen objectively to volunteer’s challenges and offer feedback from not only my own experience but that of my fellow volunteers as well.
4. What has been the most rewarding part of working with new and returning volunteers?
I’m hesitant to talk about impact or success in the present tense. My two years of regular service taught me that it’s difficult to see results clearly until you’re able to look back and contextualize. I’ve believed from the beginning, however, that having a more experienced volunteer who’s removed from the day-to-day challenges of living at site available to listen to current volunteer struggles is invaluable. I hear again and again from volunteers that being able to share their experience with someone who was just there and made it through is really important to them.
I also try to be really honest about my experience. I’m not serving as the PCVL because I was the perfect volunteer. I didn’t check every box or accomplish every single goal I set out to. At site I experienced boredom, loneliness, frustration, and disappointment at many different times during my service so when I’m giving advice or feedback, I try to balance out the “I made it!” success stories by adding, “and it was tough!”
5. How do you balance your own community projects with your leadership duties?
For the PCVL role in Thailand, my responsibility is to spend 70% of my time working with our country partner and 30% with the Peace Corps, so from the start, I’ve spent more of my time and attention with the Department of Local Administration. This can be quite challenging as it means working 3 days a week in a Thai government office — communicating, reading documents, and creating deliverables fully in Thai. There’s been a huge learning curve, but I’m infinitely grateful for my Peace Corps trainings and experience I had in my community over the last two years, which I feel prepared me as much as possible to address the language and office culture barriers.
That being said, it hasn’t been difficult to balance the two for me. The other volunteers in the country know that I’m here for them any time they want to call me up and talk through something. When I have duties at either organization that conflicts with my normal schedule, I just move things around. I’m fortunate to have flexibility on both sides.
Challenges and Growth as a PCVL
6. What has been the biggest challenge in transitioning from a volunteer to a PCVL?
Making comparisons is inherent to the volunteer experience. It’s hard to be isolated at site and not compare your experience with that of other volunteers, whether on social media or at in-person trainings, and draw assumptions based on the little information you have. A concern of mine was that other volunteers might see the PCVL position as preferential.
The reality is that, like any Peace Corps Volunteer, I still face most of the same challenges I did at site. I still experience loneliness, confusion over my role, communication barriers, and imposter syndrome, but just in a different role and location.
Also, while I might have more responsibility, I certainly don’t have any more authority or privileges than any other volunteer. I still abide by the same rules, receive the same amount of annual leave, and have to report my Whereabouts like any other volunteer.
7. How has your perspective on Peace Corps service changed since becoming a leader?
I strongly believe in the Peace Corps’ approach to sustainable development, and serving as the PCVL has only strengthened that resolve. There is no perfect system, and the Peace Corps is vulnerable to the inefficiencies, apathy, and other issues that plague organizations of all types. However, I think that the role of PCVL in and of itself can be an antidote. I liked it better when the position was called the “Peace Corps Volunteer Liaison” because I see my role as a bridge between the ideological, logistical framework of the Peace Corps and the actual, lived experience of a volunteer. It’s like using participatory analysis within the organization itself, and I see great potential in this role.
8. Can you share a challenging situation you faced as a PCVL and how you handled it?
The most challenging situation I’ve faced as PCVL is ongoing, and it’s navigating the job itself. Having a PCVL live in the capital city is entirely new territory for PC Thailand, and straddling the line between “staff” and “volunteer” remains tricky. I think that the benefits of having a volunteer in Bangkok outweigh the difficulties, but it is a very delicate role in many ways.
I did a lot of goal setting and planning in the beginning in order to lay out what I thought I could offer PC staff and our Thai government partners as the PCVL, but I’m still constantly adjusting and advocating for myself. The fact that most of the internal systems used for communication in the Peace Corps are accessed via .gov pages, which PCVs are unable to access, is a major barrier there. As far as working with the Thai government, my language level can only take me so far, and there’s a lot of puzzling over my role still. These are challenges that every PCV deals with, though, so I appreciate that these situations keep me plugged into the volunteer experience and allow me to empathize with my fellow volunteers.
Advice for Future PCVLs
9. What advice would you give to a volunteer considering applying for a PCVL position?
Do your research on the PCVL position and the different ways it can look. There’s not a ton of information out there, and as I said earlier, every post’s PCVL position will look different. Many posts have very defined and long-standing PCVL responsibilities already laid out. However, if you’re starting fresh like me or just want a different perspective on what the role can look like, there is a guide created in 2022 and available online (MS 202 Volunteer Leaders) that can give you some direction.
Also, don’t be afraid to ask for meetings with various staff members (your Program Manager(s), Director of Programming & Training, Country Director, etc.) in the beginning and throughout your tenure in order to continually assess and redefine the role, staff needs, and expectations as needed.
As far as skills go, at least in Thailand, language is paramount. I learned how to read and write formal Thai and practiced that skill throughout service, which has been a necessary and crucial tool in my work at the Thai Department of Local Administration. I spent a lot of time at my local municipal department during my first two years of service as a Youth in Development volunteer, so knowing how Thai offices are structured, how work moves through them, and what power dynamics are at play has helped immensely, too. With the Peace Corps, feeling comfortable speaking up has been the most important skill I’m continually flexing.
10. Has has your experience as a PCVL shaped your career or personal goals?
I started the PCVL position interested in going deeper into policy and project development. At the Thai Department of Local Administration, I have the opportunity to zoom out to the macro-level of what I’d been implementing at the grassroots over the last two years. There’s a lot I’m still learning about working on policy initiatives, but the experience has definitely caused me to think more critically about whether I’d like to pursue policy development in my future career.
Getting to be more involved in project development with the Peace Corps inter-service trainings, I’ve really leaned in and continue to enjoy it the more I’m involved in it. I can already see that my experience in the PCVL role is going to shape what I do after it immensely.
Diversity and Inclusion in Leadership
11. As a PCVL, how do you support volunteers from diverse backgrounds in their service?
Just like Peace Corps volunteers in their community, PCVLs can offer an additional perspective to discussions about how various aspects of training and programmatic logistics can be structured. At any given post, both the American and host country national perspectives are represented by Peace Corps staff, but except in meetings with the Service Improvement Committee (SIC), there’s often no direct volunteer perspective.
I think a crucial responsibility of the PCVL is to represent the diversity of their fellow volunteers in those spaces. This means the PCVL needs to not only be available and open to hearing from all volunteers but also proactive about reaching out to them too.
12. How has your own identity or background influenced your leadership style?
I come from a privileged background in many aspects of my life. As an adult, I continuously try to put myself in unfamiliar spaces. I hope that by doing this, I’m able to step outside my social bubbles and better understand the challenges of people with experiences different than my own.
Being a Peace Corps volunteer, of course, naturally creates the opportunity to build empathy in this way, but empathy is not the same as lived experience. The best way I know to truly understand people is by listening to them. This has certainly influenced the way I try to approach my role as PCVL — by being a listening ear for my fellow PCVs above all.
Final Thoughts
13. Any last comments for future PCVLs?
Nothing I didn’t cover above! Feel free to find me on any form of social media if you have questions about the role or Peace Corps service in Thailand, and I’ll try to answer the best I can or connect you with someone who can relate better. Thank you for the opportunity to share more about this role, Jim, and for all you do to share the Peace Corps Volunteer experience by providing resources for aspiring, serving, and returned volunteers.
Thinking about becoming a Peace Corps Volunteer Leader? Reach out to your Program Manager or Country Director to learn more about the role. If you’re ready to take your service to the next level, this is your chance to mentor fellow volunteers, strengthen community projects, and gain valuable leadership experience. Don’t miss the opportunity to make an even bigger impact!
The content of this post does not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Government, the Peace Corps, or Thailand Government.
