Although Congress is in recess this week, there were several pertinent hearings from last week whose summaries we did not include in the April 15 edition of the Weekly Update. Among these are an April 11 Commission on Wartime Contracting hearing regarding NGOs and Provincial Reconstruction Teams operating in Afghanistan. Several InterAction members appeared as witnesses (and forceful advocates for the NGO operational profile in places like Afghanistan). Also, the Senate Foreign Relations Africa Subcommittee held a hearing on the FY2012 budget for Africa. Please find summaries of these and other hearings as well articles of interest in the shortened Update.

With Congress in recess until Monday, May 2, we will publish the next Weekly Update on Friday, May 6.