InterAction member NGOs will spend more than $1 billion in private funds on programs that advance food security, agriculture and nutrition over the next three years. 

Leading NGO alliance InterAction supports efforts to reform food assistance programs and urges U.S. lawmakers to retain the focus of these programs on reaching the world’s poorest and most vulnerable. 

The U.S. G8/G20 Advocacy Alliance welcomes the G20's continued focus on global corruption and its commitment to closing the implementation and enforcement gap. The G20 Anti-Corruption Action Plan for 2013-2014 contains significant anti-corruption commitments; the United States needs to press countries to fully and rapidly implement the plan.

This month’s Power of Partn

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.  

MCC partners respond to needs in Gaza during and after November 2012 shelling.

G20 leaders meeting in St. Petersburg in September must take bold steps to improve the lives of the most vulnerable populations, remove impediments for economic growth and encourage good governance and transparency. This policy paper, by the U.S. G8/G20 Advocacy Alliance with 50 non-governmental organizations, trade unions and think tanks, makes recommendations on key issues.

John Ruthrauff,  Director of International Advocacy at InterAction, is quoted in this article speaking about the Accountability Working Group for G-8 and G-20 meetings. 

A schedule outlining the dates of the 2013 G8 and G20 summits and their related meetings. Contains additional background information on both groups. 

This document, researched and developed by Mercy Corps, shows the differences in the House and Senate FY2013 spending plans for the International Affairs Budget's development assistance accounts.

NGO alliance InterAction commends the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for convening a hearing yesterday on the progress and future of U.S. food security and agricultural development policy and for recognizing the critical role of NGOs and local civil society organizations in tackling global hunger.

InterAction, the largest alliance of U.S.-based international NGOs, announced the Best Practices and Innovations (BPI) award winners on Thursday.  ACDI/VOCA, Alliance to End Hunger and Lutheran World Relief received the awards, which focus on building the capacity of local implementing pa

On October 22, 2012, U.S. presidential candidates will hold their third and final public debate – this time focusing on foreign policy. CBS moderator Bob Schieffer is expected to ask the candidates about their views on issues ranging from the recent events in Libya and the conflict in Syria to America’s role in the world and what constitutes effective U.S. foreign assistance.

In a massive attempt to tackle global hunger, leading U.S.-based international NGOs will spend more than $1 billion in private funds over the next three years on agriculture, food and nutrition programs, announced U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and NGO alliance InterAction on Thursday.

We welcome the G20’s two year extension of the Anti-Corruption Working Group’s mandate. It is positive that the G20 endorsed the Working Group’s principles for denial of entry for corrupt officials and those who corrupt them, as well as asset and financial disclosure for public officials.

A summary of the specific committments made by G20 countries in the 2012 Leaders Declaration. Notations are made where specific reports or actions are pledged. Comparisons are also made, where relevant, to recommendations made by the InterAction G8/G20 NGO Task Force prior to the summit. 

This report is produced by the OCHA Mali office in collaboration with humanitarian partners and is issued by OCHA Headquarters in New York. It covers the period from 11 to 25 July 2012.

Samuel A. Worthington, president and CEO of InterAction, writes about how NGOs and the private secor are coming together to address humanitarian and development goals.

Since 2009 the United States has shown remarkable leadership in the fight against poverty, hunger, and malnutrition through agriculture-led growth. The leadership of President Obama, Secretary Clinton, Administrator Shah, Senators Leahy and Graham, and Congresswomen Granger and Lowey has helped reverse two decades of declining investments in agriculture and nutrition worldwide.

UNICEF calls for the rights and well-being of children in South Sudan to be made an urgent priority as the one year anniversary of independence for the world’s newest nation approaches. With half the population under the age of 18, greater investments in children are vital for the country’s growth and stability.

As the food crisis in the Sahel continues, Mali is experiencing an IDP crisis. As of June 26, donors have only contributed 37 percent of the funds needed to aid the crisis. Currently, the World Food Program is supplying food assistance for residents of Timbuktu, Gao and Kidal.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has released report that highlights the growing food crisis in the Sahel. Currently, locusts are threatening crops, the arrival of rainy season means a high risk of cholera and low rain predictions later in the season could threaten crops further. In the meantime, assisting Northern Mali remains a logistical difficulty.

InterAction CEO Sam Worthington encourages G8 leaders to work together to solve global hunger through food security intitiatives and the inclusion of civil society groups.

Conflict continues in Mali, where there are currently over 158,000 internally displaced people and 181,742 refugees in neighboring countries. Thus far, 37 percent of the required $213 million has been met and the WFP continues to distribute food to high-need areas in Mali.

InterAction, the largest alliance of U.S.-based NGOs, announces the Best Practices and Innovations (BPI) award winners on Wednesday.  Mercy Corps and Heifer International received the awards, which focus on building the capacity of local implementing partners working in food security and agriculture. 

The NGO alliance InterAction welcomes the G20’s inclusion of development issues; however, these words of support are not accompanied by concrete steps, action plans, or benchmarks for completion.

Members of the G8/G20 Task Force released the following quotes on the Task Force Recommendations of the B20, which met in San Jose del Cabo, Mexico from June 16-17.  InterAction’s G8/G20 Task Force has over 30 InterAction members and allies working to influence G8 and G20 outcomes.

This Tuesday afternoon session focused on the varied factors that impact food security including climate change, natural resource degradation, and population growth. Panelists discussed the changing role of agriculture in the broader development context. Increased funding and leadership have made food security an important development topic.

"The June 18-19 summit of the Group of Twenty (G20) major economies in the Mexican resort of Los Cabos is expected to be dominated by discussions on resolving the Eurozone’s crippling debt crisis and restoring global growth."

As a food crisis intensifies across the semi-arid Sahel region of West Africa, millions of farming and herding families are struggling to get enough to eat.  

UNICEF urgently requires US$ 67 million to address the immediate needs of children and women affected by the Sahel nutrition crisis in the first half of 2012, which is part of UNICEF’s total 2012 requirements of US$ 120 million.

Report looks at countries' donations to the Sahel.  As of May 2012, there is a 42 percent gap in funding needs.

A joint report from Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Program (WFP) looks that the food crisis in the Sahel.

The Sahel region of West and Central Africa is in the grip of a food crisis. Already, families in hard-hit areas are employing desperate measures to find food, like foraging in anthills for bits of edible grain.

This week's update includes analysis of the latest news on the McGovern Dole Food for Peace Program and the FY2012 federal appropriations outlook; a summary of a hearing on waste and fraud in Afghanistan; and a list of upcoming hearings and a selection of recommended articles.

Sam Worthington is quoted in this article saying that the G8 can make a difference by coming together over issues of food security and agriculture.

G-8 leaders urged to end child malnutrition in order to stimulate long-term economic development and greater progress against hunger and poverty

President Obama's speech at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs' annual symposium, where he announced the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition.

At the Camp David Summit, G8 leaders recognized the important progress that has been achieved in a number of countries undergoing transition and committed to maintaining their support for these transitions in four key priority areas: stabilization, job creation, participation/governance, and integration.

The Leaders of the Group of Eight, met at Camp David on May 18 and 19, 2012 to address major global economic and political challenges.

ActionAid today called the just released 2012 G8 Accountability a big step forward for accountability and transparency, but cautioned that the large unfinished agenda outlined in the report stood in stark contrast to the inadequate new initiatives taken by the G8 at this year’s summit.

Over the course of this weekend’s G8 Summit, President Obama and the other G8 leaders took real strides to improve food security and nutrition for children around the world; the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition set an important target of bringing 50 million people out of poverty in the next 10 years.

ActionAid USA offered to the following reaction to the food security section of the communique of the 2012 G8 summit. 

Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, delivered a speech on food scurity at an annual symposium hosted by the Chicago Council on May 18, 2012.

InterAction members respond to the final communique released at the end of the G8 summit.

Members of the U.S.-based NGO alliance InterAction released the following quotes on President Obama’s New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition.

Leading NGO alliance InterAction welcomes an announcement by President Barack Obama on Friday that the Group of Eight  nations will commit to a new food security alliance during talks in Camp David this weekend and  urges G8 nations to follow through on previous promises.

Washington, DC— On the eve of the G8 Summit, international agency Oxfam called on world leaders heading to Camp David to make predictable, measureable funding and policy commitments that will help 50 million people lift themselves out of poverty through sustainable, small-scale agriculture by 2015.

Congressional Hunger Caucus and Global Health Caucus sent a letter to President Obama to maintain a global commitment to food security and nutrition at the G8 Summit.
 

Accountability is more than a process, it is the means by which governments, international organizations and institutions build and preserve credibility.

The U.S. G8/G20 Task Force urges G8 leaders to implement the following recommendations at the May summit in Camp David. As the largest association of U.S.-based, non-profit organizations, InterAction, its members, and allies seek to address the impact of global poverty. The current financial crisis has had a serious impact on commitments made by G8 members to developing nations.

G20 leaders meeting in Los Cabos, Mexico in June must take bold steps to encourage good governance and transparency and remove impediments for economic growth which further impoverish the world’s most vulnerable populations.

Joel Charny is quoted in this article donations to the famine in Somalia.  

Audio is available at: http://www.theworld.org/2012/02/us-somalis-trying-to-help-people-back-home/

InterAction, Oxfam and Save the Children are quoted in the Croatian news publication.

http://www.nacional.hr/clanak/119130/siromasnima-ne-pakovati-krizu

ActionAid today issued the following reactions at the conclusion of the G20 summit in Cannes, France.

“The G20 summit outcomes show progress on tax and banking secrecy but fall far short of what is needed to resolve the world`s food crises,” said Soren Ambrose, Head of Policy for ActionAid.



 

Sam Worthington quoted. Members ONE and Oxfam were also quoted.

Bill Gates has urged politicians to use the proceeds from a financial transaction tax to fight poverty and disease

Sam Worthington quoted.

The president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, had planned to use his leadership of the G20 this year to highlight some of the needs of the developing world. Instead, the focus of G20 summit in Cannes has been on the threat of a Greek default and destabilization of the eurozone.

Sam Worthington quoted in G-20 photo gallery.

''The fact that it takes a report from Bill Gates to get development back on the agenda speaks volumes about how the G20 needs to shift its focus in the future from not only being in crisis mode but towards building a more inclusive, sustainable global economy"

Sam Worthington quoted in news story published by multiple media outlets including Germany's Greenpeace magazine.

John Ruthrauff, InterAction's Director of Intl Advocacy, was interviewed about the G20.

http://english.cntv.cn/program/newshour/20111103/110252.shtml

InterAction News Release: G20 leaders meeting in Cannes should heed recommendations by philanthropist Bill Gates today in his innovative funding report and invest in inclusive and sustainable growth, said the largest alliance of U.S.-based international NGOs on Thursday.

John Ruthrauff, InterAction's Director of International Advocacy, was quoted.

Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel (R) walks with France's President Nicolas Sarkozy as they arrive at the G20 venue where world leaders gather in Cannes, France, November 2, 2011.

InterAction News Release: G20 leaders meeting in Cannes tomorrow must not solve the sovereign debt crisis on the backs of the world’s poor and should take the lead on fulfilling previous commitments, particularly on food and agricultural assistance, said the largest alliance of U.S.-based international NGOs.

Sam Worthington quoted in article

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Global development groups on Friday called on G20 leaders to step up to their commitments to tackle global food security and come up with new ways to boost world growth that also benefit the poorest.

InterAction attended the G8 summit last month in Deauville, a pretty seaside town in northern

After a nearly month-long recess, Congress—and thus, InterAction’s Weekly Update—rolled back into town this week.

A statement by the Somalia NGO Consortium from July 20, 2011, on the UN's declaration of the first famine of the 21st century, in two regions in southern Somalia.

InterAction News Release: Members of InterAction, the largest alliance of U.S.-based international nongovernmental organizations working abroad, are responding to the massive humanitarian crisis occurring in the Horn of Africa. The UN is estimating that as many as 10 million people are struggling with food and water shortages, acute malnutrition and mass displacement.

On July 8, the full House of Representatives passed the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2012 by a 336-87 vote, with 12 Republicans and 75 Democrats opposing the spending measure.

InterAction News Release: Members of Congress and U.S. NGOs announce the need to integrate global development and environmental policies with the launch of InterAction's new policy paper titled "The Nature of Development," which calls for alignment of the two issues in order to improve the effectiveness of U.S. foreign policy investments.

At the G-8 summit in France, Obama wins support for aid to shore up emerging democracies and movements. Aid groups are skeptical, noting that the G-8 is behind on previous financial pledges.

InterAction News Release: G8 leaders meeting in Deauville this week must break a cycle of broken promises and honor billions of dollars in commitments for food, agricultural and health assistance, said the largest alliance of U.S.-based NGOs.

InterAction News Release: The selection of the next leader of the International Monetary Fund should be done in a transparent and inclusive manner, said the U.S-based NGO alliance, InterAction, whose work focuses on the world’s most poor and vulnerable populations.

 Almost six years ago at the Gleneagles Summit, the G8 promised to increase overseas aid by US$50 billion by 2010, with $25 billion of it going to Africa. But today, the G8 have failed to deliver on their aid promises to the world’s poor.

InterAction News Release: The official G8 “Deauville Accountability Report” released today underscores the need for the world’s richest nations to be fully accountable and follow through on previous public promises to deliver aid in key areas like food security and global health.

On April 14, 2011, InterAction President and CEO Samuel A. Worthington testified before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs. His testimony, below, championed the importance and value of the poverty-focused development and humanitarian accounts administered by USAID and the State Department.

In preparation for the November G20 summit’s consideration of innovative financing a number of leading institutions have produced analyses of financial transaction tax options (the IMF having done two).

NGO alliance InterAction welcomes World Bank President Robert Zoellick’s speech today in which he described the importance of civil society's role in development economics.

InterAction's G8/G20 Task Force released a 2011 G20 Summit Policy Paper entitled G20 Must Increase Its Fight Against Corruption earlier last week.

InterAction's G8/G20 Task Force released its 2011 G8 Summit Policy Paper entitled U.S. Leadership at the May G8 Summit late last week.

Transcript of a U.S. Department of State Special Briefing on Haitian food security from January 7, 2011.

Chapter Two of Bread for the World's 2011 Hunger Report examines country-led development and advocates for the United States to incorporate this principle into all of its foreign aid programs, as it has with the Feed the Future Initiative. 

InterAction members continue to respond to the cholera outbreak in Haiti. Find more information on our crisis response page.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 12 – InterAction, the biggest alliance of U.S.-based NGOs working internationally, welcomes the inclusion of development on the G20 agenda but is disappointed more specific actions were not announced at the end of the summit in Seoul.

In the wake of the most severe economic shock in recent history, the G20 has the opportunity to contribute to the reconstruction of the world economy in a form conducive to strong, sustainable, inclusive and resilient growth.

Along with the Seoul Summit Document, G20 leaders, through its Development Working Group, released the Multi-year Action Plan for Development.

Bond, InterAction’s United Kingdom counterpart coalition of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) involved in international development and humanitarian relief, released Seoul G20 Summit: UK NGO Briefing Paper on Tuesday, November 9.

John Ruthrauff, InterAction's Director of International Advocacy, participated in an interview on RT's CrossTalk about the usefulness of the G20 and the G8.

http://rt.com/programs/crosstalk/crosstalk-lavelle-g20-g8/

InterAction’s G8/G20 Task Force welcomes the establishment of a G20 Development Working Group with its mandate to produce a development agenda and multi-year action

January 12, 2010 was a day when the world turned its attention to Haiti. A powerful earthquake rocked the country's capital, Port au Prince, killing an estimated 230,000 people. More than 300,000 had been injured and over one million made homeless. It was the worst earthquake in the region in more than 200 years.

A summary of recommendations from InterAction's G8/G20 Coordination Group policy briefs on global health; climate change; food, hunger, and agriculture; accountability; global safe drinking water and sanitation; global economic crisis and;  basic education.

Agricultural extension or ‘farmer advisory services’ can play a key role in enabling smallholder farmers to become more productive and to participate more profitably in agricultural markets and value chains. To achieve that goal, farmer advisory services must be reoriented and restructured.

We applaud the efforts of the international community to address the critical condition of hunger. We urge meaningful civil society engagement as decisive to successful sustainable food security. Families and communities are on the front lines of this struggle. Long-term food security depends on meeting communities and households needs by:

 Notes from the "Consultation with the Global NGO Community on Building Back Better in Haiti" which occurred on March 25, 2010 in New York City.  The event was co-hosted by the European Union, InterAction, and the U.N. Office of the Special Envoy to Haiti.  

The Global Food Security Act of 2009 (S. 384) was introducted on February 5, 2009 by Senators Dick Lugar and Robert Casey.  The Global Food Security Act calls for the creation of a comprehensive food security strategy, a White House Corodinator to develop and oversee the strategy and authorizes agriculural development measures critical to addressing long-term hunger.

The Roadmap to End Global Hunger and Promote Food Security Act of 2009 (H.R. 2817) was introduced on June 11, 2009 by Representative James McGovern.  The Roadmap Act outlines the elements of a comprehensive strategy, including emergency response, safety nets, nutrition programs, and agricultural development.

This document outlines the Lugar Casey Global Food Security Act (S.384).  The bill would re-orient U.S. foreign assistance programs to focus on promoting food security and rural development in countries with large, chronically hungry populations.

To learn more about the Best Practices and Innovations (BPI) Initiative, please visit: www.interaction.org/best-practices-innovations.

InterAction’s G8 NGO Coordination Group urges the U.S. Executive branch to take a strong leadership role at the 2009 G8 Summit and build on their 2008 commitments on food, hunger and agriculture.

This policy brief is part of a larger series in InterAction’s 2009 Foreign Assistance Briefing Book.