InterAction President Samuel A. Worthington issued the following statement today in response to the funding bill approved by the House Appropriations State, Foreign Operations Subcommittee on Wednesday.

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.

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. 

This document provides an overview of the results in the WFDA Commitments Report 2010. The Women, Faith and Development Alliance (WFDA) serves as a global network of partners who are committed to ending poverty. The WFDA Commitments Report showcases the results of a 2008 global summit that mobilized over $1 billion in commitments for empowering women and girls. 

Today's edition of the Weekly Update includes a write-up on Rep.

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

This week's Weekly Update includes analysis of the House budget resolution, a notification of a Sudan resolution, a list of upcoming hearings, a list of articles of interest, and summaries of hearings on U.S. policy in Iraq, the USAID FY2013 budget request and U.S. contributions to the UN budget.

In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of humanitarian responses where cash has been used to help facilitate shelter & housing reconstruction.

Summaries of five different hearings on Capitol Hill this week, an analysis of two hearings by USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah on the agency's FY2013 budget priorities, a list of upcoming hearings for next week, and a selection of articles of interest.

On March 1, 2012 AKF USA and the Mott Foundation hosted an event with 45 philanthro

The article quotes letter that Samuel Worthington sent to CIA Director David Petraeus protesting the use of a fake vaccination campaign as cover to collect intelligence in Pakistan.    

(Washington, D.C.) — In Seeking Refuge: The Chin People of Mizoram State, India, the report authors and a coalition of supporting coalitions, faith based groups, and refugee and humanitarian organizations, encourage the central government of India and Mizoram State to respond to the protection and humanitarian crisis of up to 100,000 Chins in Mizoram State, India.

InterAction's Weekly Public Policy Update, covering Feb. 21-24, 2012. The update includes a list of upcoming hearings for next week in both the House and Senate, a summary of a hearing from last week on the situation for NGOs in Egypt, and a list of recommended articles that have come out this week.

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/

Revealing the Power of Gender Mainstreaming—Enhancing Development Effectiveness of Non-Governmental Organizations in Africa

In November 2010, the Protection Working Group at InterAction issued a series of papers documenting an array of issues affecting the lives of Haitians made even more vulnerable by the 2010 earthquake. The papers set forth a number of recommendations calling on interested parties to ensure that all steps taken in rebuilding Haiti would uphold and restore lives with safety, dignity and rights.

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.

When we went to press Friday afternoon, the House had passed H.R. 2055, the “megabus” conference agreement on the nine remaining appropriations bills including State, Foreign Operations. The vote was 296-121.

Written by Tawana Jacobs, InterAction's Associate Director of Public Relations.

The UN’s integration policy requires the close alignment of all objectives and activities of UN entities, including its humanitarian bodies, to achieve political ends. This is fundamentally incompatible with the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence -- all essential to operating safely in situations of armed conflict and other political violence.

Country ownership empowers and supports effective states and citizens to take responsibility for their own development, using local systems and resources to build capacity and create change in communities that they are committed to sustaining.

InterAction News Release

PowerPoint presentation from the December 1st presentation by Tameeza Alibhai, Program Manager of Aga Khan Foundation USA and FOCUS Humanitarian Assistance in Afghanistan.

Sam Worthington quoted in story, offering a civil society perspective.

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.

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

Sam Worthington quoted in Chinese news clip.

http://news.china.com.cn/2011-11/02/content_23799833.htm

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.

Late last week, the Obama administration announced that it has sent a “small number of U.S. military advisors” to central Africa to assist forces in the region that are pursuing the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

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

This week, the House of Representatives cleared a short-term continuing resolution (HR 2068) that will keep the government running through November 18.

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

This week the full Senate Appropriations Committee approved its FY2012 State, Foreign Operations bill by a 28-2 vote. The bill provided $44.6 billion in discretionary spending, with an additional $8.7 billion for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO).

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.

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.

Reuters' writers Susan Cornwell and Andrew Quinn wrote about the significant loss the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development could face under Obama's new plan.

This PowerPoint presentation highlights Global Links' work in Haiti.

Results, indicators, metrics, evaluation, accountability, transparency, cost-benefit analysis – these seemed to be the buzzwords this week as more than 1,000 international aid agency representatives gathered in the nation’s capital to discuss the theme of “Investing in Common Solutions” to the world’s most pressing problems.

Steinberg's remarks are titled, "Delivering Effectivev Development Assistance in a Changing Global Landscape."

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.

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.

InterAction President and CEO Sam Worthington is quoted.

Recent developments in the aid strategy of the United States — such as reversing a previous reduction in technical experts, and promoting more country-driven, outcome-oriented systems — have been endorsed by the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic

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.

With the onset of the earthquake in Haiti in last year, the use of technology in information sharing has been widely discussed within the international development and humanitarian community, and rightfully so. Three seemingly simple questions often come up. People want to know “Who is doing what? Where?

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.

InterAction Statement: House Republican appropriators today continued their assault on U.S. international efforts to reduce poverty, address climate change, and respond to famine and other disasters. This comes a week after the House Foreign Affairs Committee also sought to gut core development accounts.

Calling it "debilitating to my efforts to carry out a considered foreign policy and diplomacy," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is warning members of the House of Representatives that she "will recommend personally" that President Barack Obama veto a bill pending in the House that would severely restrict State Department operation

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.

Sam Worthington radio interview: Millions of Somalis are mired in a deep humanitarian crisis that is now driving thousands of refugees over the border to Kenya daily.

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.

RESULTS/RESULTS Educational Fund is in its fourth decade as a grassroots advocacy group committed to creating the political will to end hunger and the worst aspects of poverty. Planning advocacy strategies that have clear, powerful outcomes – and tracking organizational outcomes when you’re working in coalition with others – can be tricky.

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.

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.

Today's edition of the Weekly Update includes news on the debt limit deadline and the Senate Budget Committee’s long-awaited draft FY2012 budget resolution. It also includes the regular menu of upcoming hearings, hearing summaries (including the contentious Senate Foreign Relations hearing on U.S. involvement in Libya), and articles of interest.

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.

InterAction watched with interest this week President Obama’s speech on troop levels in Afghanistan. With much of the attention centered on the aspects of the security transition, the face of long-term development in Afghanistan remains to be seen. In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday Secretary of State Hillary Clinton noted that the U.S.

This week, The House this week passed its FY2012 Agriculture appropriations bill, containing deep cuts to international food aid grant funding—even as volatility in global food prices persists.

This week, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was busy with several nominations hearings, including one for former U.S. ambassador to both Pakistan and Iraq, Ryan Crocker, who this time is up for the position in Afghanistan. Furthermore, Dr. Ariel Pablos Mendez testified on Tuesday to be the next USAID Assistant Administrator for Global Health.

This week, the House of Representatives (the Senate was in recess) held a couple of hearings of interest to development and humanitarian community. On Wednesday, the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia heard testimony from administration officials regarding the upcoming U.S.

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.

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.

ONE's 2011 DATA Report is about how donor funding up to 2010 has not matched the amount agreed to by G8 nations at the 2005 Summit in Gleneagles.

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.

Arthur Keys, President and CEO of IRD stated today: "I was concerned when reading a Washington Post article by its Afghanistan reporter Rajiv Chandrasekaran which inaccurately portrayed the situation on the ground in Afghanistan with c

Although Congress is in recess this week, there were several pertinent hearings from last week whose summaries we did not include in the April 15 edition of the Weekly Update. Among these are an April 11 Commission on Wartime Contracting hearing regarding NGOs and Provincial Reconstruction Teams operating in Afghanistan.

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. 

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

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.

Collaboration is often key to advocacy success, and coalitions are one of the most common forms of collaboration. Understand coalitions and networks from an evaluative perspective, and learn about how to assess coalition member capacity, coalition capacity, and coalition achievements. 

Updated information is available on InterAction member projects and education sector activities in Haiti as of March 2011.

Blog on Reuters AlertNet by InterAction president and CEO, Samuel A. Worthington, on why giving either restricted or unrestricted funds during a disaster helps. The article is in response to a Reuters blog advocating unrestricted giving only.

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.

New information, as of March 17, 2011, updating the sector and program lists for InterAction members working in Haiti.

As published in the Wall Street Journal on March 17, 2011: InterAction, an umbrella group for U.S. relief agencies active abroad, advises donors to give to agencies with partner organizations in Japan that would be best placed to spend funds wisely. It says there is minimal need at this stage either for donated goods or throngs of foreign volunteers.

Cash allows relief organizations to get exactly what they need quickly without having to worry about transportation, staff time, and warehouse space. 

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.

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.

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

As the Senate begins debate on the budget for the remainder of fiscal 2011, senators will have to decide what this country’s international priorities are. This article recommends that the U.S. make foreign aid a priority.

InterAction, the largest alliance of U.S. international nongovernmental organizations called on Libya to allow humanitarian access into the tumultuous land.

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

In past years, the State Department and foreign operations appropriation bill has passed with strong bipartisan support, often by an overwhelming margin. Members of both parties have understood how important diplomacy and development are—not only to U.S.

Why it is worth investing in defense, diplomacy and development.

House of Representatives’ "Continuing Resolution (CR) Extension" bill for the rest of fiscal year 2011ignores the recommendations of military and business leaders and prioritizes relatively miniscule short-term budget savings over long-term security, prosperity and fiscal health.

President Obama’s proposed 2012 budget calls for a modest increase—1 percent—in spending on foreign affairs and development.

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

Offers line-by-line details on how InterAction is crunching the 2012 International Affairs Budget numbers. 

Note: Last updated June 27, 2011.

Americans think they give far more aid than they actually do, and are clamorring to cut it. But aid isn't just about compassion, it serves our security and economic interests too.

Weekly Public Policy Update for Feb. 11, 2011. Covers the upcoming federal budget discussions next week and several hearings on Capitol Hill that took place Feb. 7-11, 2011.

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.

Article from the Huffington Post one year after the January 12, 2010 earthquake in Haiti. InterAction's president and CEO, Samuel A. Worthington, was interviewed.

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.

Blog on AlertNet on the media's criticism of the humanitarian response in Haiti, and why it's simultaneously incomplete, appropriate and constructive.

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

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.

The $20,744,144 Food For The Poor raised for Haiti emergency earthquake relief had been spent entirely on those efforts by the end of October. The funds were used for purchasing food and other critical items that were not donated, as well as for shipping containers of relief to the country.  

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.

InterAction member Oxfam's report in January 2011 on what is needed for good governance in Haiti after the January 12, 2010, earthquake.

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

A document released by InterAction member Oxfam in January 2010, after the earthquake that devastated Haiti, with their recommendations on reconstruction.

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

An op-ed in the Miami Herald by UNICEF's Anthony Lake on the progress made in Haiti so far despite the challenges 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.

The World Conference on Disaster Reduction was held from 18 to 22 January 2005 in Kobe, Hyogo, Japan, and adopted the present Framework for Action 2005-2015: Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters (here after referred to as the “Framework for Action”).

The Sphere Project is a programme of the Steering Committee for Humanitarian Response (SCHR) and InterAction with VOICE and ICVA. The project was launched in 1997 to develop a set of universal minimum standards in core areas of humanitarian assistance.

Report from InterAction member World Concern on Haiti one year after the January 12, 2010, earthquake.

Article published in the Wichita Eagle in Kansas on money donated to Haiti after the January 12, 2010, earthquake. InterAction's president and CEO, Samuel A. Worthington, was interviewed.

One year progress report from InterAction member the International Rescue Committee (IRC) after the January 12, 2010, earthquake in Haiti.

InterAction member EDC's one year progress report after the January 12, 2010, earthquake in Haiti.

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. 

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.

The people of Southern Sudan are a little more than one month away from casting their votes in a referendum on whether to remain part of Sudan or become an independent state. The referendum is the most significant milestone in a six-year interim period that began with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005.

•Largely unnoticed outside the region, the Sudanese states of Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile have begun the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA)–mandated process of popular consultation, which permits Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile to either adopt the CPA as the final settlement between the two states and the Government of Sudan (GoS) or renegotiate the CPA to remedy any shortcoming

Sudan’s north-south civil war was the longest conflict in African history and claimed more than two million lives. In 2005, the United States played a critical role in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) ending that conflict and setting forth a roadmap for sustainable peace. Despite many lapses and some tragic violence, the agreement has held.

On 24 September 2010, the United Nations Secretary-General convened a high-level meeting on Sudan to mobilize international support for the Sudanese parties’ full and timely implementation of the final phase of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), including the referenda on the self-determination of the people of Southern Sudan and on the status of Abyei, and for the peace processes f

•Many of the post-referendum scenarios in Sudan envisioned by the U.S. Institute of Peace and Clingendael Institute one year ago remain plausible today, less than six months prior to the referendum.

Sudan is at a crossroads and the next 12 months could determine the future of Africa’s largest nation.

The Sudanese Network for Democratic Elections (SuNDE) is a coalition of over 75 civil society organizations in all the 10 States of Southern Sudan whose objective is to promote and protect citizens’ participation in electoral and democratic processes.
 

Ambassador Richard Williamson discusses the importance of the Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act in testimony before the U.S. House of Representives Subcommittee on International Monteary Policy and Trade on November 30, 2010. 
 

Humanitarian supplies are being prepositioned at key locations in Sudan ahead of an expected referendum in the event of a possible mass movement of southern Sudanese from the north to the south, Valerie Amos, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, said today.

For the past several years, significant U.S. attention has been focused on the crisis in Sudan's Darfur region, in which roughly three hundred thousand have died and nearly three million have been displaced.

In January 2011, after nearly six decades of armed conflict and tenuous peace, Sudan will hold a referendum to determine whether the south will remain united with Sudan or secede to become an independent nation. At the same time, Abyei is to hold a referendum to decide whether to join the South or remain in the North.

The clock is ticking fast towards what might be the most important date in modern Sudanese history – two
referenda in Sudan that are likely to result in the breakup of Africa’s largest state. With six months remaining
until 9 January 2011, the scheduled date of the referenda, the run-up to, and outcome of, the vote must be

InterAction responds to the Obama administration’s recent Afghanistan and Pakistan strategy review by welcoming the long-term commitment to the development needs of the two countries but also highlighting several concerns with the overall assistance strategies in the countries.  

The Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC)’s strategic plan for the remainder of its mandate. Report issued December 2010.

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

The capacity to respond to the urgent needs of vulnerable people in emergencies around the world is a central pillar of the U.S. government's foreign assistance portfolio. It should exemplify the impartial outpouring of humanitarian response in the wake of unthinkable tragedy.

John Ruthrauff, InterAction’s International Advocacy Director, is quoted in this article about the World Bank’s International Development Association agreeing to boost funding for low-income countries.

“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.

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

InterAction members continue to respond to the cholera outbreak in Haiti. The international humanitarian community and Haiti’s government are acting quickly and coordinating efforts to respond to the outbreak and prevent further spread of the disease.

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.

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.

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.

More than nine months after the devastating January 12 earthquake in Haiti that claimed an estimated 230,000 lives, the survivors are still feeling the impact of a disaster that has left many of them susceptible to increased physical insecurity and violations of their fundamental rights.

By Elise Labott, CNN Senior State Department Producer

The death this month of British aid worker Linda Norgrove in Afghanistan and the subsequent discussion about aid worker safety have fueled a row between the United States and nongovernmental organizations about how to deliver aid and do development work in conflict zones like Afghanistan and Pakistan.

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

InterAction is very pleased that President Obama has followed through on his promise to elevate global development to be as important a U.S. foreign policy component as defense and diplomacy.

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

InterAction President and CEO Samuel A. Worthington testifies before the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs' Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere on Thursday, July 29, 2010.

Six months after a disastrous earthquake struck Haiti, CRWRC remains hard at work responding to the many needs that this disaster caused.

4:53pm: A 7.0 earthquake hits Haiti. 17 minutes later International Medical Corps is preparing our Emergency Response Team. Within 5 hours, medical volunteers are deploying. 22 hours after the earthquake, we are saving lives on the ground in Port-au-Prince, working side-by-side with our Haitian medical counterparts.

Since January 12, WHI has launched an emergency response program that mobilizes its extraordinary capacity in the most severely affected areas focusing on health, psychosocial care, sensitization, potable water, sanitation, food, income-generating activities and workforce employment.

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:

The June 2010 issue of Monday Developments Magazine

6 months later, Haitians are still struggling to rebuild their nation after a devastating earthquake hit the country in January.

This report is compiled following a request by the Principals of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC)2 at a meeting on 6 May 2010. The report is written 6 months after the 12 January earthquake in Haiti and is concerned primarily with

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.

This is a step-by-step guide to assist InterAction members in developing and implementing policies to prevent and respond to sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) of beneficiaries and vulnerable members of the community in countries where members work.

In the aftermath of the January earthquake, the massive displacement of over a million people and the profound disruption of every aspect of daily life have greatly exacerbated the protection risks for women and girls in Haiti.

The Muskoka Accountability Report reflects the efforts of the G8 (Cananda, France, United States, United Kingdom, Russia, Germany, Japan, and Italy) to achieve a number of development-related commitments. It reports on G8 performance, assesses the reults of G8 action, and identifies lessons for future reporting.

Letter signed by 33 InterAction members to the Speaker of the House, House and Senate Majority Leaders and Ranking members urging them to give immediate priority to the FY10 supplemental funding measure.

Almost a year since more than three million people fled fighting in Pakistan’s Swat valley and surrounding areas, the crisis is far from over. Over a million people are displaced, more are being forced into displacement every day, and two million are struggling to rebuild their lives after returning to their homes to find their villages destroyed.

 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.  

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in Haiti during the past thirty years have addressed a broad list of critical needs, including healthcare, education, sanitation, micro-loans and agricultural assistance at the community, city or local and regional levels.

The January/February 2010 issue of Monday Developments Magazine.

This International Women's Day, celebrate the movement that's changing the world one woman at a time with songs and stories inspired by the best-selling book HALF THE SKY.

Notwithstanding a number of strengths in U.S. development and foreign assistance policy, a number of systemic inconsistencies, inefficiencies, and disconnects have also developed as the USG’s humanitarian architecture has evolved over the years. This paper highlights priority areas where reform is needed.

Discussion paper on rewriting the U.S. Foreign Assistance Act (FAA) for the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

See also: InterAction's Response to HFAC Discussion Paper #1

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