At the Camp David Summit, G8 and African leaders will commit to the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, the next phase of our shared commitment to achieving global food security. 

At the Camp David Summit, G8 leaders recognized that the development of and universal access to environmentally safe, sustainable, secure, and affordable sources of energy is essential to global economic growth and to their overall efforts to address climate change.

Bill Gates commended today’s announcement by President Obama of investment in Africa’s agriculture to help millions of people lift themselves out of hunger and poverty.

Save the Children welcomes the G8 "New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition," but leaders must not allow the Eurozone crisis to derail their leadership needed to fulfill its promise. G8 leaders can't let the economic crisis in Europe cast a dark shadow over the bright promise they rolled out with African leaders this weekend.

As the Camp David G8 Summit winds down, international agency Oxfam criticized G8 leaders for failing to renew measureable funding and policy commitments to help address global food security. 

Michael Elliott, President and CEO of ONE, issued the following statement on the new G8 food security plan announced at the Camp David Summit.

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

President Obama's new food security and nutrition initiative announced earlier today is a welcome and significant step in the right direction, but the real success of the alliance will hinge on how successfully G8 leaders focus their investments on improving nutrition and engaging smallholder farmers.

Leaders from the Group of Eight nations meeting at Camp David on May 18-19 must commit to concrete, time-bound goals on reducing poverty, malnutrition and hunger, and deliver on previous food security pledges, said leading NGO alliance InterAction.

DATE: Monday, May 14th, 10 am to 5 pm

LOCATION: Fordham University at Lincoln Center, 113 West 60th Street, New York, NY 10023, Lowenstein Building, 12th floor lounge

RSVP: iiha@fordham.edu

InterAction is pleased the Senate Appropriations Committee, by an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 17-2, approved spending allocations today that would maintain spending for international diplomacy and development at current FY2012 levels. 

Samuel Worthington is quoted in this article about the upcoming raining season and its consequences in Haiti. 

InterAction’s 197 member NGOs are troubled by the proposed 10 percent cut in support for international development and humanitarian response which was passed by the House Budget Committee late on Wednesday.

Learn how the "Give a Goat" Coffee House is empowering families to provide for themselves, and how the Church of Guatemala's micro-finance program is helping small businesses grow.

InterAction's president and CEO, Samuel A. Worthington, says that the Obama administration’s FY2013 budget request is a mixed bag for the world’s poor, with continued investment in international assistance overall but targeted cuts in areas such as global health and refugee assistance.

President and CEO of InterAction, Sam Worthington states that NGOs unfairly get the brunt of the blame for slow progress in Haiti, NGOs cannot be the only face of recovery.

InterAction, the largest alliance of U.S.-based international NGOs, welcomes the appointment of Ertharin Cousin as the new executive director of the United Nations World Food Programme.

The crackdown in Egypt this week on civil society organizations, including several U.S. groups, is deeply troubling and must stop immediately, said InterAction, the largest alliance of U.S.-based international NGOs.

InterAction News Release

InterAction news release:

International leaders meeting in Bonn on Monday to discuss the future of Afghanistan should expand their focus from short-term stabilization efforts  to longer term development work that will have a lasting impact on the country.

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.

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.

Today marks 10 years since major U.S. military operations began in Afghanistan. As the U.S.

InterAction News Release: NGO alliance InterAction supports the level of 2012 funding for international affairs approved Wednesday by the Senate Appropriations Committee in a bipartisan 28-2 vote.

InterAction and 129 NGOs placed an ad in Roll Call magazine this week.  The ad was an open letter to Congress, asking them to oppose the severe cuts to foreign aid proposed in the current budget.  

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

Mark A. Lotwis has been appointed Senior Director of Public Policy at InterAction, a Washington, D.C.-based alliance of U.S.

InterAction Statement: Proposed cuts included in the State Department and foreign operations appropriations bill in the House of Representatives would have devastating consequences for the world's most vulnerable populations and gut core development and humanitarian spending accounts, said InterAction, the biggest alliance of U.S.-based international NGOs on Wednesday.

InterAction condemns the alleged staging of an immunization campaign in Pakistan by the U.S. government in order to gather information for counterterrorism purposes

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: At a critical juncture in the deficit reduction talks a diverse coalition of over 40 prominent international and domestic NGOs have joined the leaders of dozens of national faith organizations in calling on the Obama administration and congressional leadership to protect programs benefitting poor and hungry people both here and abroad from budget cuts.

G8 Deauville Declaration outlines commitments made by world leaders on May 6-27, 2011.

InterAction News Release:

DEAUVILLE, May 27– G8 leaders meeting in France promised in their final declaration to be “fully transparent” in meeting development pledges but NGOs are troubled by vague timelines, particularly in the crucial areas of food and agriculture.

FOR REPORTERS COVERING THE G8

The following quotes on the Arab Spring and Libya conflict have been released by InterAction, the biggest alliance of U.S.-based international NGOs doing relief and humanitarian work abroad:

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.

May 13, 2011 InterAction News Release: InterAction President and CEO Samuel A. Worthington said on Friday he was very disappointed with the latest cuts made by U.S. House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY) in the  2012 foreign operations budget.

Yesterday, the compromise FY2011 full-year appropriations bill (HR 1473) passed through Congress, with a 260-117 vote in the House of Representatives and an 81-19 vote in the Senate. President Obama will sign the bill sometime today.

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.

INTERACTION STATEMENT: With food prices at record levels, financial leaders meeting in Washington this week must urge their governments to follow through on pledges they made two years ago to improve food security. 

NGO alliance InterAction calls on Congress and the Obama administration to think long-term and preserve our government’s 2012 investment in international development, diplomacy and humanitarian assistance.

InterAction is continuing to monitor the humanitarian situation in West Africa resulting from post-electoral violence in the Ivory Coast.

InterAction statement on crisis in Libya, March 1, 2011

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.

InterAction member Heifer International's one year progress report on work done in Haiti since the January 12, 2010, earthquake.

A report released by InterAction member Oxfam on agricultural work to be done in Haiti since the January 12, 2010 earthquake.

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.

The U.S. State Department will set up new offices to oversee international energy affairs and scrutinize illicit financial networks as well as dramatically scale up its USAID development arm under a new plan developed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Norgrove, who worked for the humanitarian agency Development Alternatives International (DAI), was kidnapped by militants before dying in a botched American special forces rescue operation last week. DAI’s six programmes in Afghanistan are run under contract to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Washington, D.C. (October 6, 2010) — InterAction, the largest alliance of U.S.-based international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), has chosen Joel R.

 InterAction suggests that the Administration consider the MDGs as a key issue to the U.S. foreign policy and urges President Obama to take the lead in supporting the MDGs.

Pakistan is seeing the worst flooding the country has experienced in 80 years, yet it appears the world has yet to turn its full attention to the need there.

The worst flood to hit Pakistan in 80 years has left at least three million people in need of emergency assistance.

On the six-month anniversary of Haiti's deadly earthquake, President Barack Obama said a rapid international response saved lives but the recovery effort must continue.

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 former Haitian resident travels back to the country six months after the earthquake to provide aid.  Though shocked by the continued struggle of the people, he says, "the good thing is that I saw a lot of help from different aid organizations."

Solutions to the challenges of hunger and poverty are complex and cut across the realms of economics, politics, ecology, gender and agricultural technologies. Climate change and the environmental degradation of agricultural resources in many countries make the goal of food security even more daunting.

The Columbus Dispatch (OH)
 
Smaller charities sometimes ill-prepared for relief work
Wednesday,  March 10, 2010 2:49 AM
By Elizabeth Gibson
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

A regularly updated list of agencies responding to the crisis in Haiti is available at: http://www.interaction.org/crisis-list/earthquake-haiti

A letter to Senators Lugar, Casey, and Durbin from InterAction and 26 member organizations applauding the Congressmen's leadership in promoting global food security with the introduction of the Global Food Security Act (S.384).

A progress report on Agricultural Development for Reducing Hunger and Rural Povertysince publication of InterAction’s 2008 Foreign Assistance Briefing Book.

A progress report on the Obama administration's foreign assistance efforts since publication of InterAction’s 2008 Foreign Assistance Briefing Book.

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.

Report on public dialogue hosted by InterAction and the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) on country-led development and partnerships in fighting global poverty

 Reaction from InterAction to the 2009 G20 Final Communique

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.

This Research and Policy in Development toolkit, published by the Overseas Development Institute (July 2006), describes a range of tools that CSOs can use to understand and map political context in order to engage more effectively in policy processes and promote country ownership.