A two-week edition of InterAction's Weekly Public Policy Update, which includes an analysis of the current FY2013 budget situation, a summary on a hearing about terrorist threats in Africa, and a list of recommended articles.

Statement of Samuel A. Worthington at the Mini-Summit on the Humanitarian Response to the Horn of Africa

Read how one woman improved life for herself and her husband through literacy classes in Zambia, and how an historic Episcopal parish in Virginia has raised over $2 million for mission and outreach.

The Climate Change and African Political Stability (CCAPS) program of the University of Texas, in partnership with AidData, released an interactive mapping dashboard of climate change vulnerability and conflict events in Africa,

Joel Charny, Vice President for Humanitarian Practice and Policy, discusses the difficulties of delivering aid to Syria in the face of continued fighting.  

Watch the full interview at PBS News Hour. 

InterAction welcomes Ertharin Cousin as the new executive director of the United Nations World Food Programme.

Joel Charny is quoted in this radio piece about marketing and fundraising for the Horn of Africa crisis.  InterAction members The ONE Campaign and IRD are also quoted.

http://www.marketplace.org/topics/world/not-exactly-aiding-relief

Los Angeles, CA – International Medical Corps’ team in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is preparing to respond if violence breaks out following the presidential elections. The country’s electoral commission has confirmed President Joseph Kabila as the winner.

Did you know…
… that together, InterAction members and U.S. corporations manage an estimated $19.4 billion in international development program funds? Together, we represent more than half of the total U.S. private investment in developing countries.*

A recent survey of InterAction member CEOs, presidents and executive directors revealed:

Four million people are starving in Somalia, as the Horn of Africa continues to be ravaged by a combination of low rainfall, political instability, and high food prices. Roughly 750,000 of them are expected to perish if they do not get help soon. All together, there are 13 million people suffering from hunger in the Horn of Africa.

InterAction is an alliance of international NGOs and more than 50 of our members are responding to the crisis in the Horn of Africa, including groups such as Save the Children, World Vision and Catholic Relief Services.

USAID and the AdCouncil have launched a campaign to raise awareness about the drought in the Horn of Africa where more than 13.3 million people are in crisis.

This article is written on food theft that has occurred for months in Somalia where there is a severe food famine.

During the first day of InterAction's 2011 Forum, InterAction was joined by the UN's Valerie Amos and USAID's Don Steinberg at a media roundtable on the Horn of Africa.

Lions Clubs International Foundation is supporting Lions in the Horn of Africa to provide famine relief by providing a grant of US$15,000 to help with the procurement and distribution of food and other necessities.

InterAction President and CEO Samuel A. Worthington quoted in article.

Three new areas in southern Somalia have deteriorated into a famine situation. These are parts of Middle Shabelle region, the Afgooye Corridor settlements home to roughly 400,000 displaced people since 2007 and parts of Mogadishu which are hosting displaced populations.

This week, the House State, Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee unveiled its draft bill for FY2012, which contained substantial cuts for humanitarian and poverty-focused development assistance.

Hundreds of thousands of Somali children are severely and acutely malnourished inside Somalia and are in dire need of help, Save the Children warned after the UN declared a famine in parts of the drought-afflicted nation.

Los Angeles-based International relief agency Operation USA announced today that it will send emergency aid to East Africa as part of relief efforts responding to the worst drought to hit East Africa in 60 years.

The worst drought in 60 years has hit East Africa, leaving 11 million people malnourished and sick.

War forced tens of thousands of Somalis to flee their capital, Mogadishu. Famine is bringing them back.

Hungry and sick Somalis are trekking from their homes in famine-struck southern areas in search of food, water and medicine. More than 50,000, by a July 18 United Nations count, have arrived in Mogadishu, a city destroyed by two decades of conflict.

With the danger of widespread famine in the Horn of Africa increasing daily, Lutheran World Relief is rushing $500,000 for an immediate response to this unfolding humanitarian crisis.

As more than ten million men, women and children face hunger and life-threatening health consequences from the worst drought to hit the Horn of Africa in 60 years, International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC) is responding with aid to relieve victims of the worst food shortage crisis in the world today. 

International Medical Corps’ Emergency Response Team (ERT) has deployed to the Dolo Ado refugee camps in the Somali Region of Ethiopia, where the worst drought crisis in 60 years is creating a potential humanitarian crisis.  

With the crisis in Somalia today declared a famine by the FSNAU and FEWSNET, the Somalia NGO Consortium (representing 78 agencies working in Somalia) urgently calls on the international community to act now to respond to this catastrophe.

The Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC) is rapidly expanding its current drought response to meet a vastly increased need for food and other aid in the Horn of Africa after two failed rainy seasons in the past 12 months.

Hunger and the threat of malnutrition are becoming the daily reality for millions of people in East Africa.

CARE scales up response, urges donors to ease restrictions on aid delivery.

More than 10 million people in East Africa are in dire need of humanitarian aid as a result of diminishing food sources stemming from the recent rise in food prices and severe drought that has overwhelmed the region. 

An estimated 10 million people in the Horn of Africa are in urgent need of assistance as drought-like conditions threaten to push populations into a devastating nutritional crisis, warns humanitarian organization ACTION AGAINST HUNGER | ACF INTERNATIONAL.

Food insecurity remains at emergency levels across parts of the Horn of Africa, famine has been declared in two regions of Southern Somalia. Humanitarian organizations are struggling to cope with the influx of Somali refugees in Ethiopia and Kenya. Malnutrition and mortality rates are alarmingly high in many parts of the region.

Today’s declaration by the United Nations of famine in Somalia makes official what aid agencies have been seeing for nearly a year – severe drought and the world’s worst food crisis has put 10 million people in desperate need of assistance and donor countries are not doing nearly enough to avert disaster, save lives and protect livelihoods.

Read how atoll permaculture in the Solomon Islands is helping to secure the food supply in spite of rising sea levels, and about the 150-year-strong Eight O’May luncheon that benefits organizations including Episcopal Relief &

The United Nations is expected to officially declare famine in parts of southern Somalia tomorrow (Wednesday, July 20), marking a new phase in a crisis that has affected the East Africa region.

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.

The International Housing Coalition (IHC), a non-profit, education, advocacy and applied research organization officially welcomed Susan Corts Hill as its new president and CEO July 1, 2011.

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.

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.

International Medical Corps is responding to the situation in Japan and tsunami-warning areas, following an 8.9-magnitude earthquake that struck Japan’s coast, triggering a tsunami that devastated northern parts of the country and put a tsunami warning in effect for much of the Pacific.

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

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

Article from NPR's website on a cash-for-work program in Haiti funded by InterAction member Catholic Relief Services after the January 12, 2010, earthquake.

Progress report by InterAction member Medical Teams International on their work in Haiti since the January 12, 2010, earthquake.

InterAction member IRD's report on activities they've completed in Haiti in the year 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.

InterAction member Catholic Relief Services' one-year report on their work since the earthquake on January 12, 2010, in Haiti.

One-year progress report by InterAction member Action Aid on their work in Haiti since the January 12, 2010, earthquake.

An article on AlertNet about InterAction member Oxfam's criticism of the recovery effort so far from the January 12, 2010, earthquake in Haiti.

One year progress report from InterAction member United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) after the January 12, 2010, earthquake in Haiti.

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

InterAction member Oxfam's one year progress report on Haiti since the January 12, 2010, earthquake. 

One year after Haiti earthquake, Habitat’s recovery program has benefited nearly 24,000 families through emergency, transitional and permanent housing solutions. Work continues toward serving 50,000 families over next five years.

This report offers international agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the media, the U.S. government, and the public an overview of the humanitarian and development assistance being provided to the people of Pakistan by InterAction member agencies.

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

Concern Worldwide has been working in Haiti for 16 years with currently close to 400 staff.

Six months after an earthquake devastated Haiti on January 12, 2010, Handicap International has made a provisional assessment of the situation, which you can find below along with an outline of its plans for the future. The association has a team of 480 people in Haiti, including 70 expatriate staff. It is the association’s largest ever deployment.

On January 12, 2010, an earthquake struck Haiti, devastating the nation’s capital and creating one of the most complex urban disasters in decades. More than 220,000 persons were killed and 330,000 injured. An estimated 3 million men, women and children – one in three Haitians  were affected.

Oxfam had been working in Haiti for 32 years when the quake struck. For the past six months, our programs have scaled up to provide water and sanitation, public health education, and ensuring people have access to food and basic needs through cash-for-work and cash grants programs. We are currently helping over 440,000 people through our relief and recovery programs.

On January 12, 2010, a devastating earthquake—the worst natural disaster to hit the Western Hemisphere in two centuries—struck Haiti, killing approximately 300,000 people and leaving as many as one million homeless.

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Six months after Haiti’s devastating 7.0 earthquake, Lutheran World Relief (LWR) remains hard at work assisting those who are still dealing with its aftermath and will be for years to come. LWR, with a 14-year history in Haiti, is focusing the majority of its efforts on underserved rural populations.

Since the earthquake, BWAid has been helping in Haiti through a network of agencies. Immediately following the earthquake the two Haitian member bodies of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA) were contacted and assistance offered. This close link with the two bodies remains as we work together.

From the immediate hours after the quake and ongoing, in all, CWS efforts - including the distribution of hygiene, school and baby kits, tents, wheelchairs, medical kits and other supplies -- have directly assisted at least 41,750 individuals so far; CWS is also working as a member of the global ACT Alliance, which has provided assistance to 341,000 Haitians.
 

During the half-year since an earthquake unleashed massive destruction in Haiti, the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) has been devoted to both providing immediate assistance to survivors and laying the groundwork for a large-scale, long-term recovery effort.  Haiti is not out of the woods yet, not by a long shot.

Since January 12, 2010, Medical Teams International has:

Tents fill every open space in Port-au-Prince: public parks, empty lots, even traffic
medians. For thousands of earthquake survivors, these crowded camps are the only
housing option.

Just six months after the earthquake, Habitat is:

FACTS AT A GLANCE:
The global Red Cross network is providing:

Six months after the devastating earthquake in Haiti, there is still much to be done, however, the communities Plant With Purpose works with have made significant progress by planting trees, constructing soil conservation barriers, and providing incomes to support their families through our “Cash for Work” program.

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

Report from the December 2008 Non-governmental Diplomacy Conference, engaging over 70 NGO leaders, diplomats, academics, policymakers and experts from foundations, think tanks and research institutions exploring the critical role of NGOs in traditional diplomatic spheres and identifying opportunities for NGOs and their institutional counterparts to better capitalize on their respective strengt

Program for the December 2008 Conference on Non-Governmental Diplomacy

 The Position Statement on Demonstrating NGO Effectiveness provides a common foundation of principles and standards for the InterAction community. It was prepared by InterAction’s Working Group on Evaluation and Program Effectiveness and approved by the InterAction Board of Directors on September 20, 2005.