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

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.

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.

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

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

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, 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.

Read about water wells, vegetable gardens and multilateral cooperation in the Philippines, and about a congregation in Tennessee calling members to act for social justice through their first U2charist.

InterAction News Release:

The outcome of the G20 summit in Cannes was mixed, with progress on tax havens but not enough concrete action to ease the burden of the financial crisis on the world’s poor, said InterAction, the largest alliance of U.S.-based NGOs.

InterAction and Oxfam (Mexico) are quoted in this article.

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:

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.

The G20 Summit has evolved from its initial focus on the global financial crisis and macroeconomics to include issues of interest to development NGOs.

InterAction continues to monitor the situation in the Horn of Africa and advocate for the needs of the over 12 million people who have been affected by the drought that has engulfed the region.

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.

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

InterAction’s G8/G20 Task Force urges G8 leaders to implement the following recommendations at the May 26-27 summit in Deauville, France.

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.

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.

Facts and figures to support the 2011 Sphere Handbook: Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Humanitarian Response.

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 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.

With funding from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), InterAction aims to dramatically improve current efforts to gather data from the field, generate partnerships and inform resource allocation by supporting the display of InterAction member activities by location.

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.

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.  

A progress report on Agricultural Development for Reducing Hunger and Rural Poverty since publication of InterAction’s

2008 Foreign Assistance Briefing Book.

A progress report on Agricultural Development for Reducing Hunger and Rural Poverty 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.

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.