Document Library
InterAction’s document library is a resource for and by the NGO community and our partners. It includes reports, press releases and advocacy materials. Search by document type, issue area and country to explore.
Mar 15, 2013
This week's update includes the latest on the FY2013 and FY2014 federal budget cycles, a summary of a hearing on the State, Foreign Operations budget, and a list of upcoming hearings and recommended articles.
Mar 14, 2013
Foreign assistance saves lives, stabilizes countries, opens markets and helps those in need. Yet under sequestration – automatic spending cuts taking effect this March – poverty-focused development and humanitarian accounts are being slashed by 5 percent. This translates into real human suffering.
Mar 12, 2013
In a new report, Childhood Under Fire, launched to mark two years of violence in Syria, Save the Children details the impact of the conflict on children, showing that many are struggling to find enough to eat; are living in barns, parks and caves and are unable to go to school with teachers having fled and schools being attacked.
Mar 12, 2013
BOND, InterAction's UK counterpart, featured this interview with Lindsay Coats, Executive Vice President, in the January/March issue of their Networker Magazine.
Mar 12, 2013
Foreign Policy reported on a letter that InterAction and several of its member organizations The White House and Congress warning of the impacts of sequestration.
Mar 12, 2013
During the past two years, violent conflict in Syria has forced more than 400,000 refugees across their country’s border into Jordan. Daryl Byler, MCC representative who lives in Amman, Jordan, explains why Jordan keeps its borders open even as the country struggles to meet the basic needs of its Syrian “guests” and assimilate them into its schools, communities and economy. Nongovernmental organizations, including MCC, assist Jordan with meeting its Biblical and cultural mandates to show hospitality to strangers.
Mar 12, 2013
Patricia McIlreavy, Senior Director, Humanitarian Policy, discusses the role of leadership in humanitarian activities in this guest piece for the ALNAP blog.
Mar 12, 2013
The humanitarian situation in Syria is becoming increasingly dire, with one in five people in need of emergency assistance. More than one million people have fled the conflict to neighboring countries and the United Nations estimates that 70,000 people have been killed since the war began two years ago. Hear from leading NGOs about the deteriorating humanitarian situation and the challenges in reaching those most in need. The teleconference briefing coincides with the second anniversary on March 15 of the beginning of the war.
Mar 11, 2013
Three global NGO consortia – InterAction, ICVA and VOICE – are dismayed at the Security Council’s decision for all UN functions in Somalia to be integrated under one UN umbrella. The NGO consortia believe this decision will jeopardize the delivery of impartial humanitarian assistance in the country. By requiring UN humanitarian coordination to fall under the political mandate of the new UN peace-building mission in Somalia, the neutrality, impartiality and independence of humanitarian action will be compromised.
Mar 08, 2013
People around the world are demanding more openness from their leaders and their governments. They are calling for greater participation in public affairs and are searching for ways to make governments more effective, responsive, transparent, and accountable. There is growing recognition among governments of the importance of accountability and transparency as public policy tools that broaden access to, and increase the efficiency of, public resources and services both at home and abroad.These trends are causing a growing number of countries to embrace accountability and transparency as important principles underpinning the Open Government Partnership. From the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness to the Busan principles, donors have stated that they consider accountability and transparency to be essential elements for ensuring that official development assistance (ODA) is spent wisely and effectively. The G8 deserves credit for formally establishing an accountability mechanism, but in practice it is getting the concept of accountability only half right. Accountability and transparency go hand in hand. The G8’s persistent lack of transparency is troublesome and out of step with the expectations it places on other countries.Summary of RecommendationsContinued U.S. leadership is essential to ensure that transparency – a fundamental principle underpinning the Open Government Initiative – is adopted as standard operating procedure by the G8 Accountability Working Group. Specifically, the United States should play a leading role in urging the G8 to take the following steps:Direct the Accountability Working Group (AWG) to collect input from international organizations, recipient governments and civil society to inform the preparation of the Accountability Report. International organizations should include, but not be limited to, the UN, its specialized agencies, the OECD Development Assistance Committee and the African Union. The AWG’s terms of reference for all future reports should include a requirement to make public a plan to collect input from the sources mentioned above.Mandate the AWG to initiate transparent practices by publicly identifying all G8 working groups, releasing their terms of reference, and the names and affiliation of all experts advising the AWG and its working groups as soon as they are selected. Meeting schedules for such groups and a detailed agenda should be publicly available at least 20 days before each meeting.Make public the AWG annual report 30 days before the G8 summit and release a schedule of future reports, with provisional topics, through 2015. Institute the same advance release and report schedule publication rules for future years.
