Identified as a key principle of effective development, country ownership has become an ever-present part of the foreign assistance reform debate. While the Obama administration has embraced country ownership in the Presidential Policy Directive on Global Development (PPD) and other executive initiatives, it remains unclear how to put this principle into practice on the ground.

The December 2011 issue of Monday Developments Magazine

Today, Congress is passing and sending to the president the final conference agreement on the nine remaining spending measures for fiscal 2012.

Episcopal Relief & Development has been awarded a grant from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation to launch a program in Zambia for children and their caregivers affected by HIV/AIDS.

“Country ownership” has become an often used term in international development. The purpose of this paper is to provide some clarification by presenting InterAction’s definition along with an outline of its core elements and recommendations for ensuring meaningful stakeholder participation in U.S. government development processes.

This week House and Senate appropriators inched closer toward a nine-bill omnibus spending package to complete the FY2012 appropriations process by Dec. 16, which is the date when the continuing resolution currently funding the government is set to expire. Please see the Washington Update section for more details on the end game for FY2012 appropriations.

The Busan Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation is the outcome document of the 4th High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, held November 29 - December 1, 2011 in Busan, South Korea.

Sam Worthington's op-ed on foreign assistance, published on the day of the CNN National Security Debate on 11/22/11.

After a week of rumor and innuendo, amendments and points of order, the FY2012 Senate State, Foreign Operations (SFOps) bill appears headed for inclusion in a nine-bill omnibus that leadership will attempt to push through by mid-December.

Last Friday, we reported that the next Senate minibus would likely include the State, Foreign Operations bill, along with Financial Services and Energy-Water and that it would move to the floor sometime this week.

The FY2012 appropriations continued on a contorted path this week as House Appropriations Committee Chair Harold Rogers (R-KY) outlined his path toward completing the process and details emerged that the next Senate mini-bus will likely include the State, Foreign Operations bill, along with Financial Services and Energy—Water.

NGO alliance InterAction applauds the recent introduction of the Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act of 2012 by Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX), member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs (HCFA).

This week, House and Senate committees scrambled to submit their recommendations to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (JSC) before today’s deadline.

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations finally released their FY2012 report, available here.

The budget table details account levels for international poverty-focused and humanitarian assistance as well as other pertinent accounts within the U.S. International Affairs Budget (Function 150) that InterAction tracks and analyzes for its members.

On September 26th, grassroots activists across the U.S. will mobilize for a national call-in day.

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.  

This week the House Appropriations Committee unveiled the Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2012, a stopgap measur

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

Read how leadership training in Sierra Leone is improving gender equality, and how one young woman's entrepreneurial spirit is raising awareness and funds for NetsforLife^®.

CARE and The World Wildlife Fund released a joint statement in applauding Senator John Kerry's inclusion of language linking conservation and development in the Foreign Relations Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 2012-2013.   

Current budget battles in Washington could result in an erosion of our country's "soft power" as US agencies who implement core foreign assistance programmes come under financial attack.

Legislation that would sharply cut U.S. foreign aid programs and slash support for family planning advanced on Wednesday in the Republican-controlled House, drawing protests from State Department officials and relief agencies.

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.

On July 21, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs passed H.R.2583, the FY2012 Foreign Relations Authorization Act, on a party-line vote of 23-20. The mark-up, which clocked in at over 30 hours, was thoroughly partisan with very few substantive bipartisan amendments adopted.

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.

On Capitol Hill next week, the House Foreign Affairs Committee is holding a markup hearing of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Year 2012 on Wednesday, July 20 at 10:00am in room 2172 of the Rayburn House Office Building. Check for other upcoming hearings in the Update below.

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.

Read about clean water and sanitation work in Nicaragua, and a bake sale in California that raised money to help with the Japan earthquake and tsunami response. 

Robust foreign assistance helps governments in developing countries build more stable, prosperous societies, and can be a catalyst in pulling a country out of poverty.

The June 2011 issue of Monday Developments Magazine

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.

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

When critics suggest that the Obama administration is hard on the corporate sector, they may be missing specific elements of the Obama agenda that have lots of corporate sector promotions built into government programs. Take the volunteerism program of the U.S. Agency for International Development.

The G8 is committed to aid effectiveness in the areas of global health and food security. Food security is central in the G8's development concerns as the countries focus on financial aid as well as research. The G8 has also mobilized over 40 percent of the $60 billion that was pledged towards global health in 2007.

This week, House Appropriations Chair Hal Rogers (R-KY) announced a disappointing FY2012 subcommittee allocation for State, Foreign Operations that continues the radically downward trend in spending for international affairs begun in FY2011.

Led by the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) (http://www.gainhealth.org).and InterAction (http://www.interaction.org), 1,000 Days informs key partners about the economic consequences of and cost-effective interventions for undernutrition to make this a priority in donor and country governments’ development strategie

In the federal budget debate, Rep. Paul Ryan proposes cutting back U.S. foreign aid significantly. Here, U.S. Reps. Adam Smith and Jim McDermott as well as Global Washington founder Bill Clapp argue that such aid helps U.S. security and trade.

InterAction's analysis of the FY2011 federal budget for the last half of the year, to be signed by President Obama today. The analysis covers several humanitarian and development related accounts that InterAction tracks for members.

Note: Last updated April 20, 2011.

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.

Negotiations over FY2011 spending between Senate Democrats and House Republicans remain at an impasse this afternoon. A government shutdown looms if an agreement is not reached by midnight tonight. Please check out InterAction’s extended coverage of the FY 2011 appropriations process in the Washington Update section below.

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.

Last week, General David Petraeus and Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Michéle Flournoy testified before the Armed Services Committee in both chambers about recent developments in Afghanistan. Find a summary of these hearings below, as well as information about legislation on Haiti recently introduced by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and a list of upcoming hearings and articles of interest.

Japan continues to reel from the multiple disasters triggered by last Friday’s massive earthquake near its northeast coast. The media attention following this disaster has brought about a compassionate response from Americans. InterAction has developed guidelines on the most appropriate ways to help those affected by overseas disasters.

Our thoughts are with those in Japan and other countries across the Pacific Ocean that have been affected by the devastating earthquake and subsequent tsunami. InterAction member organizations have strong partnerships with civil society groups in Japan that are responding.

Earlier this afternoon, the Senate Appropriations Committee released detailed text of its Department of Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011.

The American public appears to be clamoring for a discussion about the size and scope of the federal government. But how can Washington have a serious debate when most Americans are ignorant of what is in the budget?

This is final list of what happened to the amendments to the House Continuing Resolution (CR) Extension. The final bill  passed at 4:40 a.m. Saturday morning, with all but three Republicans voting for it and all 186 Democrats voting against.

Transcript of a State Department discussion on its FY2012 budget request.

Letter to the editor in The Miami Herald on why now is the wrong time to be cutting U.S. foreign assistance.

Letter from State Department Assistant Secretary of Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration Eric Schwartz. Posted from Liberia, the letter explores the positive impact of U.S. foreign assistance while the House of Representatives makes massive cuts in the FY2011 budget.

Article in The Washington Post on the cuts to the foreign assistance accounts in the federal FY2011 budget. Staff from InterAction members World Food Program USA, World Vision and ONE are interviewed.

In the aftermath of a successful referendum process in South Sudan which will likely lead to the emergence of two new states—North and South Sudan—from one, and against the backdrop of sweeping changes throughout the Middle East and North Africa, violence in Darfur appears to be on the rise.

On the House floor,  Congressman Berman condemned House Republicans for their irresponsible slash-and-burn tactics to cut spending in a way that seriously jeopardizes our national security and hampers our country’s economic growth.

InterAction member CARE's statement on the FY2011 Continuing Resolution.

Statement by U.S. House of Representatives Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi on the FY2011 Continuing Resolution.

A line-by-line look at how InterAction is crunching the numbers in the House of Representative's 2011 "Continuing Resolution Extension" bill.

Note: Last updated June 27, 2011.

“In a tough fiscal environment, the Obama administration has presented a responsible and sensible FY 2012 international assistance budget; one that will help save lives, create economic prosperity here and abroad, and reduce future deficits by preventing bigger security outlays in the future.

 As the United States seeks to get its fiscal house in order, Congress must realize that cuts to foreign assistance now will only cost our country more later. Such a strategy would-–in the most basic terms-–be penny-wise and pound foolish.

The term “budget process,” when applied to the federal government, actually refers to a number of processes that have evolved separately and that occur with varying degrees of coordination.

Asked to estimate how much of the federal budget goes to foreign aid the median estimate is 25 percent. Asked how much they thought would be an "appropriate" percentage the median response is 10 percent.  In fact just 1 percent of the federal budget goes to foreign aid.

The unrelated crises roiling Egypt and the federal budget have at least one thing in common: They both have brought calls to eliminate foreign aid.

As the ranking Democrat on the Appropriations subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs for 10 years, and chairwoman for the past four, I know we can come together because we have. And our cooperation must continue — even as major foreign assistance has been put on the chopping block — because our national security demands it.

Article in the Huffington Post on Feb. 3, 2011, on the fight to protect the U.S. foreign assistance budget from cuts in FY2011. InterAction's president and CEO, Samuel A. Worthington, is interviewed.

“We estimate that between 2005 and 2010, nearly half a billion people escaped extreme hardship, as the total number of the world's poor fell to 878 million people. Never before in history have so many people been lifted out of poverty in such a short period.”

Save the Children's assessment of Pakistan six months after the flooding.

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.

Articleon life in Imperial Beach one year after the earthquake in Haiti on January 12, 2010.

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

Article from Scientific American on the health sector in Haiti one year after the January 12, 2010, earthquake, including discussion on NGOs' impact.

U.S. Department of State fact sheet on an agreement to develop the North Industrial Park in Haiti to create 20,000 permanent jobs.

Transcript of an interview of InterAction's president and CEO, Sam Worthington, and the State Department's Special Coordinator for Haiti, Thomas Adams, on the way forward in Haiti after the one year anniversary of the earthquake on January 12, 2010.

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

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

Joint press statement released by InterAction and 38 of its members on January 10, 2011, regarding the reconstruction in Haiti leading up to the one year anniversary of the earthquake in Port-au-Prince.

One year progress report from InterAction member the American Red Cross after the January 12, 2010, earthquake in Haiti.

An article in Forbes on the dangers of using entirely foreign contractors to rebuild Haiti.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton unveiled the final report of the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR). The report provides a blueprint for elevating American "civilian power" to better advance national interests and to be a better partner to the U.S. military.

Sam Worthington quoted in Devex.com's report out on the QDDR.

“For the first time, there’s been an attempt to rationalize the role of U.S. diplomats and development officers around the world and how diplomacy and development advance U.S.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton released the long-awaited Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR) on Wednesday, December 15, 2010, the result of a 17-month review of U.S. development and diplomacy policies. Called “Leading Through Civilian Power”, if offers a blueprint to better coordinate diplomacy and development in order that U.S.

The Obama administration is releasing the most comprehensive review of U.S. development and diplomacy efforts in half a century. The system which now delivers U.S. foreign assistance is based on legislation that was signed into law by President John F. Kennedy in 1961.  

Blog by Katie Gresham on the Development Assistance Task Force of the U.S. Summit for Global Citizen Diplomacy, November 16-19, 2010.

Haiti is now facing one of the most severe outbreaks of cholera that has been seen in the last century. This outbreak is made more complex by the humanitarian situation which resulted from the 12 January earthquake, which killed an estimated 230,000 people and injured 300,000.

Originally developed as part of InterAction's Africa Liaison Program Inititiative (ALPI) to foster relationships between the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and nongovernmental organizations in the U.S.

The September 2010 issue of Monday Developments Magazine

InterAction President and CEO Samuel A. Worthington, in representative of the alliance of U.S. NGOs applauds the President Obama’s new global development policy.InterAction looks forward to co-work with the Administration to turn the policy framework into results.

The August 2010 issue of Monday Developments Magazine

InterAction applauds for President Obama’s action of announcing his MDG plan on July 30-over a month prior to the U.N. MDG Summit in September. Meanwhile, we strongly urges the Administration to consider the following key recommendations on each of the eight MDGs as the plan is finalized.

Since January 12, 2010, Medical Teams International has:

Mercy Corps released a briefing paper summarizing results from research in Iraq and Afghanistan to understand how local people in both places perceive the work of different groups that implement development programs in their communities.  This study adds to a growing body of research that demonstrates the value of long-term, community-led, and needs-based assistance, even in inse

Letter from InterAction's President and CEO Samuel A. Worthington to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah regarding the USAID Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance's announcement that it would reduce funding across all regions to make room for its massive response in Haiti

This is the latest version of InterAction's budget table, which include numbers from the President's FY2011 Budget Request and the FY2010 Supplemental Request.

Response to discussion in the House Foreign Affairs Committee on the Foreign Assistance Act (FAA) rewrite process with ten proposed reforms and other responses/suggestions from the InterAction community.

See also: HFAC Discussion Paper #1

Report of InterAction member organizations' activities in Iraq for 2009.

Press Release from the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the Committee's approval of the Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act of 2009.

Statement from InterAction President & CEO Samuel A. Worthington on the nomination of Dr. Rajiv Shah to head the U.S. Agency for International Development.

A progress report about the Millennium Challenge Corporation and its full funding request since publication of InterAction’s 2008 Foreign Assistance Briefing Book.

A progress report about relations between NGO (civil society) and the military since publication of InterAction’s 2008 Foreign Assistance Briefing Book.

A progress report about transformational diplomacy's the "F" process and returning budget authority to a USAID administrator since publication of InterAction’s 2008 Foreign Assistance Briefing Book.

A progress report on transformational diplomancy since publication of InterAction’s 2008 Foreign Assistance Briefing Book.

A progress report about encouraging government accountability in Uganda to rebuild the northern region since publication of InterAction’s 2008 Foreign Assistance Briefing Book.

A progress report about the call for a comprehensive national development strategy since publication of InterAction’s 2008 Foreign Assistance Briefing Book.

A progress report on Sri Lanka and providing full diplomatic and financial support for civilians since publication of InterAction’s 2008 Foreign Assistance Briefing Book.

A progress report on efforts to end conflict in Sri Lanka ince publication of InterAction’s 2008 Foreign Assistance Briefing Book.

A progress report on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) since publication of InterAction’s 2008 Foreign Assistance Briefing Book.

A progress report on Full funding of the MCC budget since publication of InterAction’s 2008 Foreign Assistance Briefing Book.

A progress report on Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment: Creation of office for global women's issues since 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.

World Vision will distribute Vestergaard Frandsen’s next-generation anti-malaria bed nets in Zambia beginning next month to better protect households in malaria-endemic communities where the mosquito-borne disease is a top killer of children.

Response from InterAction to the 2009 G8 Summit Declaration and Preliminary Accountability Report

 Reaction from InterAction to the 2009 G20 Final Communique

 Text of the Final Communique issued by leaders of the G20 member states

It is incumbent on the G8 countries to show bold leadership on climate change, particularly to mitigate and address the impacts on the poorest and most vulnerable
countries.

G8 nations must commit to meet their obligations for funding their committments on global health, including establishing a mechanism to monitor progress.

Meeting request from InterAction President & CEO Samuel Worthington to Obama transition team members Aaron Williams and Gayle Smith  to discuss the Obama administration’s plans for engaging with the NGO community in connection with USAID’s proposed Partner Vetting System.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Critical Problems, Recommendations, and actions for the Obama Administration and the 111th Congress

The current effort to reform US foreign assistance grew out of an understandable desire to better align US assistance with US interests and to improve the coordination, efficiency and transparency of that aid.