InterAction's president and CEO, Samuel Worthington, was featured this week in DipNote, the State Department’s blog. He speaks to the outcomes of the Fourth High-Level Meeting on Aid Effectiveness, which took place in Busan, South Korea, last week.
Worthington notes, “What made the summit in Busan unique was that it was to my knowledge the first ministerial-level forum in which civil society was seen as a real player in formulating development policy.”
InterAction welcomes a new agreement aimed at improving the effectiveness of aid, but says the new rules must be binding for those who endorsed it at a high-level summit in South Korea this week.
The Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation agreed in Busan, South Korea, is intended to increase the accountability and compliance of donor and recipient governments as well as civil society groups and the private sector in the delivery of aid.
Today marks 30 years for the global fight against AIDS. This year’s theme, “Getting to Zero,” marks a new global campaign to create the beginning of the end of AIDS. By using tools already available, goals are to eliminate transmission of the virus, prevent AIDS-related deaths, and to prevent AIDS-related discrimination.
InterAction members and partners are commemorating the day with a host of AIDS-related events and websites:
Sixty people have been diagnosed with cholera and one person has died in a confirmed outbreak of the disease at the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya.
The Guardian reports that the “disease is believed to have been started by Somali refugees who had been infected on their way to the camps.” Recent heavy rains exacerbated poor sanitation in the camps, allowing the disease to spread.
In response to the outbreak, the UNHCR increased levels of chlorine in water supplies and has begun passing out soap with the latest food distribution.
Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, today accepted World Food Program USA’s George McGovern Leadership Award for his foundation’s efforts to help small farmers in the developing world overcome hunger and poverty. Gates said the famine in the Horn of Africa, rising food prices, and a growing population make it more important than ever to help poor farm families grow and sell more food.
More than 239 people have been confirmed dead, 1,150 injured and hundreds more are missing after a massive 7.2 earthquake that struck the cities of Van and Erics in Turkey.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said he feared for the fate of villages that rescue teams had yet to reach. "Because the buildings are made of mud brick, they are more vulnerable to quakes. I must say that almost all buildings in such villages are destroyed," AlertNet reported.
Nearly 570,000 people have been affected by flooding and landslides and another 105 people have died as a result of rain that has poured down over Central America this week.
Damaged roads and bridges are impeding the delivery of immediate assistance to more isolated areas. The World Food Programme is delivering urgently needed food rations to accessible communities, but concerns remain long-term food security as crops have been washed away.
InterAction’s newest publication, Choose to Invest in Foreign Assistance—Fall 2011, provides essential information on core U.S. government humanitarian and development assistance programs. America is experiencing tough times, but the funding of programs that target global poverty and respond to humanitarian crises is a solid, long-term investment—not only for compassionate reasons but because these accounts within the international affairs budget are a down payment for the stability, security and environmental sustainability of future generations.
As reported by several news outlets, Libyan rebels in control of the majority of Tripoli have arrested three of Gaddafi’s sons and have surrounded his government headquarters. Though fighting continues with loyalists still controlling pockets of the city, Gaddafi’s reign appears to be drawing to a close.
According to the Washington Post, leaders in Britain, Germany , France and Italy called for Gaddafi to step down. In a taped statement about the situation President Obama said, “The Gaddafi regime is coming to an end and the future of Libya is in the hands of its people.”
