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June 2010 • Vol. 28 • Issue 6

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Monday Developments Magazine
The Latest Issues and Trends in International Development
and Humanitarian Assistance

A Conversation with Post-Disaster

USAID’s Rajiv Shah Reconstruction:
Building Back Better
Trade Preference
Programs and
Development

The

MDGs
Ten Years Down,
Five to Go
www.mondaydevelopments.org

Rethinking the
PVO-U.S. Government
Washington, DC 20036
Relationship
1400 16th Street NW, Suite 210
InterAction
GardaWorld contributes to making your world secure
Monday Developments Magazine

THIS ISSUE
21 Mental Health Departments
Research in Emergencies
Are assessments in a humanitarian 4 Reflections from
setting ethical? the President
By Zeinab Hijazi and Inka
June 2010 Vol. 28 • No. 6 5 Washington Update
Weissbecker
6 InfoBytes
23 A Conversation with
12 USAID’s Rajiv Shah
A new series of conversational
31 Best Practices
33 Projects
interviews with influential people
35 Events
affecting the NGO community.
By Nasserie Carew 37 Job Opportunities
26 Rethinking the
PVO-U.S. Government
Relationship
What are the benefits and pitfalls of
federal support?
By Rachel M. McCleary
23

Cover illustration
by Chad Brobst;
MDG icons courtesy
Millennium Promise

Features 19 Trade Preference

Programs Can Work for
12 The MDGs Development
Reframing the global movement Opening markets for the poorest
to end extreme poverty.
By John W. McArthur
countries.
By Kaci Farrell 15
15 The MDGs:
A Time for Assessment
and Action
Making the most of the UN’s
MDG Review Summit in
September.
By Anita Sharma

17 Learning How to
Build Back Better
The importance of incorporating
disaster risk reduction learning
into reconstruction efforts.
By Terry Gibson
21
June 2010 MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS 3
 Reflections from the President
Ten Down, Five to Go:
Taking Stock of Our MDG Efforts
In September of 2000,
world leaders made an
unprecedented commitment
to the global fight against
poverty. To significantly
reduce global poverty by 2015, the creation of the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) estab-
lished clear goals to rally action around the world.
The eight goals are: (1) eradicate extreme poverty
and hunger; (2) achieve universal primary educa-
tion; (3) promote gender equality and empower
women; (4) reduce child mortality; (5) improve
maternal health; (6) combat HIV/AIDS, malaria
and other diseases; (7) ensure environmental
sustainability; and (8) develop a global partner-
ship for development.
Now, two-thirds of the way to the deadline,
governments, development organizations and
communities are evaluating how far we have
come and the challenges that lie ahead.
More than ever, communities working on the
specific components of the MDGs need to join
forces and advocate for effective U.S. engagement
and support. Prior to the Obama administration,
the U.S. government did not fully embrace the
MDGs. Among U.S. citizens there is support for
ending global poverty, but it can be hard for the
general public to fully comprehend the impact of
the MDGs and how such goals relate to the dona-
tions they make to InterAction members.
InterAction is very much focused on our
community’s role in achieving these goals. Our
members are on the ground in every developing
country working tirelessly toward them, and have
been since well before the concept of the MDGs
was even envisioned. In this issue of Monday
Developments, John W. McArthur of the Millen-
nium Promise Foundation gives some impressive
statistics on how much progress has been made
combating AIDS, measles, malaria and hunger.
So, building on everything that has been done
so far, what is our best course of action going
forward?
InterAction is partnering with its members
and the UN Millennium Campaign to broaden
support for the MDGs. We will be forming a task
force, setting up a web resource to serve as an
4 MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS June 2010
information hub for our
members’ MDG work,
and addressing issue-
specific areas through our
working groups. We are
promoting outreach to
create the political space
and public support that
champions these goals.
Several upcoming
MDG-related events are worth noting. In June,
the G8 and G20 will meet and the conversa-
tion will be MDG-driven. Over the past year,
InterAction’s G8/G20 coordination group has
published several policy briefs with “asks” that
stem from the MDGs. During the first week of
June, InterAction’s annual Forum will include
MDG workshops and a panel featuring Salil
Shetty of the UN Millennium Campaign, John
The Millennium
Development Goals may
well be ambitious, but that
should not stop us from
trying to achieve them.
MacArthur of the Millennium Promise Founda-
tion, and former Congressman and Ambassador
Mark Green, now of the Malaria Policy Center.
Later in the month, the United Nations Non-
Governmental Liaison Service will hold civil
society consultations in advance of September’s
UN Review Summit.
The MDGs may well be ambitious, but that
should not stop us from trying to achieve them.
They are the first and only framework that the entire
world has adopted to improve the human condition
of the world’s poor. We need to find a way to engage
the American public in that framework and public
dialogue, allowing us to unite and advocate for their
success on all fronts. MD
Sam Worthington
President and CEO
InterAction
Monday Developments Magazine
Managing Editor/Art Director
Chad Brobst
Advertising/Subscriptions
Katherine Delaney
Copy Editor
Kathy Ward
Executive Editor
Nasserie Carew
News Editor
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Proofreader
Margaret Christoph
Intern
Nancy Backus
Monday Developments Magazine
is published by:
InterAction
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Washington, DC 20036
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ISSN 1043-8157
Monday Developments Magazine is pub-
lished 11 times a year by InterAction,
the largest alliance of U.S.-based interna-
tional development and humanitarian non-
governmental organizations. With more
than 185 members operating in every
developing country, InterAction works to
overcome poverty, exclusion and suffer-
ing by advancing social justice and basic
dignity for all.
InterAction welcomes submissions of
news articles, opinions and announce-
ments. Article submission does not guar-
antee inclusion in Monday Developments.
We reserve the right to reject submis-
sions for any reason. It is at the discretion
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All statements in articles are the sole
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Articles may be reprinted with prior per-
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Samples are $5, including postage.
Additional discounts are available for
bulk orders. Please allow 4-6 weeks for
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 Washington Update
World Water Day
World Water Day on March 22
provided the United States and
the global community with a
unique opportunity to focus
attention on the magnitude
of the water, sanitation and
hygiene (WASH) crisis and
commit to available solutions
to solve it. Diverse groups from
the water, sanitation, hygiene
and health sectors celebrated
World Water Day with an event
at National Geographic.
At the event, Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton
announced a commitment to
water, as WASH is integral to
all other Presidential initiatives
for foreign assistance, such as
global health and food security.
She focused on five streams
of action: building capacity at
the local, regional and national
levels; better coordinating U.S.
and global efforts; mobilizing
financial support; harness-
ing the power of science and
technology; and broadening
the scope of partnerships. Sam
Worthington, CEO of InterAc-
tion, and Grammy-nominated
artist Kenna were among the
other distinguished speakers.
Haiti Debt Relief
Legislation
On April 15, legislation provid-
ing debt relief to Haiti cleared
Congress and was sent to the
White House, where the presi-
dent signed it on April 26. The
legislation was approved by the
House in early March, amended
and approved by the Senate
in late March, and the Senate
amendments were approved by
the House on April 14.
Among other things, the bill
calls for and establishes the
means by which the U.S. should
seek the cancellation of Haiti’s
debt to multilateral develop-
ment and financial institutions.
It also directs the U.S. executive
directors at these institutions
to leverage U.S. influence in
favor of suspending Haiti’s debt
service payments and ensuring
that any assistance provided
by these institutions before
February 1, 2015 is in the form
of grants or other non-debt
assistance. It also urges the
Secretary of the Treasury to
support the creation of a multi-
lateral trust fund for Haiti that
would leverage potential United
States contributions with fund-
ing from other bilateral donors
for critical infrastructure
projects efforts and combating
soil degradation and promote
reforestation.
Budget Resolutions
Procedural note: The primary
budget function of the budget
resolutions is to set an overall
discretionary spending cap
(the “302(a) allocation”) and
other enforceable budget levels
(revenue and debt levels, for
example). But Congress can
also sidestep the need to use
budget resolutions to set these
levels. The alternative is to use
a “deeming” resolution, which
is used when the House and
Senate are unable to agree on
a final budget resolution. It
refers to a piece of legislation
“deemed” to serve in place of an
annual budget resolution that
would fix the appropriations
bills to a particular dollar total.
The advantage of the deem-
ing resolution route is that it
involves less political mess than
a full-fledged budget resolution.
Before the April recess, the
House Budget Committee was
planning on marking up their
budget resolution in mid-
April, while Senate plans were
uncertain. Two weeks later,
the situation reversed: Sen-
ate Budget Chairman Conrad
made clear his plans to mark
up a budget resolution in the
last weeks of April, indicat-
ing that Senate leadership had
If you would like to be added to InterAction’s weekly public policy email update
please contact Margaret Christoph at mchristoph@interaction.org
committed to providing floor
time to consider the resolution
before Memorial Day. Mean-
while, House Budget Chairman
Spratt and House Democratic
leadership were in discussions
about whether to proceed with
a budget resolution at all. In
this year’s especially tough
budget environment, passage
of a budget resolution could
provide political cover for those
who support it, fodder for
Republican attacks, or, more
likely, both simultaneously,
making the weighing of the
pros and cons of proceeding
with a resolution a complicated
business for Democrats in this
election year.
Those discussions in the
House continue at press
time (late April). Beyond the
strategic pros and cons, House
Democratic leadership is inves-
tigating the more fundamental
question of whether they can
rally enough votes for a resolu-
tion to pass it, with the Blue
Dog Democrats (Democrats
who are fiscally conservative)
calling for greater deficit reduc-
tion than the administration
has proposed while progressives
resist steep spending cuts at a
time of economic struggle.
On April 22 in the Senate,
after a half day of opening
statements and a day of consid-
ering amendments, the Senate
Budget Committee reported
out (sent to the full Senate) a
budget resolution for fiscal year
2011 that proposes funding the
Defense, Homeland Security,
and Veterans Affairs accounts,
as well as all non-security
discretionary accounts taken
together, at the level requested
by the President. However, the
resolution proposes under-
funding the International
Affairs account at $4 billion
(7.7 percent) below the admin-
istration’s request.
If the budget resolution is
June 2010 MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS 5
passed, the appropriators (the
members of the Senate who
sit on the committee that puts
together the bills that actually
say what money will be made
available for the government to
spend) must stick to the overall
discretionary funding level in
the budget resolution. How-
ever, the resolution’s division
of that overall number among
discretionary budget accounts
like International Affairs is
only advisory. In other words,
the appropriators can follow,
modify or disregard any or all
parts of the division as set out
in the budget resolution. Press
reports have quoted Senate
Appropriations Chairman
Inouye expressing concern
about the Budget Committee’s
proposed International Affairs
underfunding and reminding
everyone that his committee,
like its House counterpart,
ultimately decides what will be
spent on International Affairs
programs.
With a major overhaul of
financial sector regulation next
on the Senate’s floor agenda,
timing of floor consideration of
the budget is unclear at this
point. International Affairs
account supporters are consider-
ing introducing an amendment
on the floor to boost the account
up to the administration’s
request level. MD
Resources:
• For Secretary Clinton’s
full remarks on World
Water Day at National
Geographic, see http://
www.state.gov/secretary/
rm/2010/03/138737.htm.
• Senate Budget Committee
documents can be found
at http://budget.senate.
gov/democratic/.Visit www.
interaction.org and select the
“Shaping the Agenda” tab to
discover more policy-related
issues.
 InfoBytes
Films not to miss... This film follows the lives of four young
women over an 18-month period and shows
By Sean Patrick Murphy
how each copes with what life has brought
The Glass House (2008) them.
Halati helps the young women find solutions
through therapy, mediation, education, and
insights into Iranian society. The center’s goal
is to help people stand on their own.
Twenty year-old Sussan stutters and has
some memory loss because she was struck in
the head by a man in her life. Samira struggles
with drug addiction while Mitra is developing
a voice of her own in her writing, which helps
her deal with her abusive father. And Nazila,
19, expresses her frustration and rage by
recording rap music, which is forbidden by
Iranian law.
It is impossible to watch their stories and
not be moved. The audience cheers them on
and wishes for them to break out of a system
that suffocates them. And when they go back
to old ways, those watching share a sense of
disappointment.
The camera work is practically invisible so
the audience feels like they are right there, that
the people being filmed aren’t talking to a film
Iranian expatriate Marjaneh Halati has created crew. The film goes a long way to showing a
a center in Tehran called Omid e Mehr, where part of Iranian life many in the West rarely see.
women living on the margins of Iranian society “The Glass House,” will soon be available
can come for training and hope for a better future. to rent.
India’s Aravind Wins Hilton Award
The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation has presented its annual $1.5 million award,
the world’s largest humanitarian prize, to longtime Seva Foundation partner in
India, the Aravind Eye Care System. Aravind is also the recent recipient of the
Bill & Melinda Gates Award for Global Health.
Seva has worked closely
with Aravind for over 30 years,
helping to develop an innovative
healthcare model. Seva’s sup-
port has helped grow Aravind
from a small hospital with less
than 100 beds, to become the
largest eye care provider in the
world, with an impressive 70%
of annual surgeries subsidized or free for the poor. In recent years, hundreds
of U.S. ophthalmic professionals and residents have gone to India for training
opportunities at Aravind, with many advocating that the Aravind model could help
repair our own healthcare system here in the U.S.
The Hilton Award is given annually to an organization that has made extraor-
dinary contributions toward alleviating human suffering. The Award recognizes
Aravind’s unique, high-volume, high-quality model for healthcare serving the poor
and paying alike.
6 MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS June 2010
Gender, Disability and
Development Institute
Once again, InterAction is a co-
sponsor of the Gender, Disability and
Development Institute (GDDI) hosted by
Mobility International USA (MIUSA) in
Eugene, Oregon on August 22–26, 2010.
Because of the strong commitment to
disability inclusion and gender equity
all InterAction members are encouraged
to send a senior-level representative to
attend this important event. The 2010
GDDI will bring together development
professionals and over 50 disabled
women leaders from Africa, Asia and the
Pacific, Eurasia, Latin America and the
Middle East. GDDI goes beyond rhetoric
and workshops to engage individuals
in direct dialogue regarding strategies
for including women with disabilities in
development projects throughout the
world. The deadline to register is June
18th, 2010. Please register early, as space
is limited. For more information visit
MIUSA’s website at http://www.miusa.
org/idd/women/gddi or contact Suz
Dunn at sdunn@miusa.org.
AIDF Conference
July 22-23
The Aid & International Development
Forum (AIDF) is the annual global event
for humanitarian aid and development
solutions. An exhibition with integrated
workshop sessions and side events, AIDF
comprises conference sessions looking
at aid and development effectiveness
and the achievement of the MDGs, as
well as a procurement network examining
how business can best work with NGO,
UN and government entities. It is a
showcase for suppliers and a multilateral
interface for the NGO, UN, government
and commercial sectors to build
partnerships. It is also a unique opportunity
to address challenges to enhance best
practice, cross-sector collaboration and
effectiveness.
See www.aidforumonline.org or contact
event@aidforumonline,
Tel: +44 20 7871 0188 for more information.
Committed to the Aid and Development Industry.
Drive Quality Drive Green Drive Safe Drive Smart
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InfoBytes
Destruction
Rioters Become Part
of the Solution
Just months after the post-election
violence that engulfed Kenya two
years ago, the microfinance institu-
tion Jamii Bora received funds to
rebuild one of the markets that had
been destroyed in the deadly riot-
ing. What makes the story unique
however is that Jamii Bora insisted
on finding the rioters that destroyed
the market and enlisting them in its
reconstruction.
Although this was a seemingly
preposterous proposition, believing
in the impossible comes naturally
to Jamii Bora, whose staff are all
also former members who have left
behind their lives as beggars, pros-
titutes and thieves. What they didn’t
leave behind, however, were their
deep roots in the community.
Photos: Gabriel Kadidi
8 MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS June 2010
Jamii Bora’s staff was able to
find the leader of the gang of 200
that had destroyed the market and
talked with “The General”, as he is
known locally, about helping rebuild.
Eventually The General and his gang
were convinced that becoming part
of the solution would be in their best
interests.
After the construction was com-
pleted, The General and a third of
the gang actually joined Jamii Bora.
The General himself built a legiti-
mate business constructing cases for
parents to buy when sending their
children to simple boarding schools.
The General confessed that he
hadn’t gone to his home village for
13 years because his mother was
so ashamed of him. But after his
transformation he had finally gone
home for a visit and his mother cried
for three days because she was so
happy about how he had turned his
life around.
There are many visions for micro-
finance, including providing for
redemption. The dictionary defines
redemption as restoring one’s honor
and worth, setting one free. Isn’t that
the highest vision for all of develop-
ment?
—Sam Daley-Harris, founder of the
Microcredit Summit Campaign and
RESULTS
Reconstruction
New Members
Join InterAction
InterAction is pleased to welcome four
new member organizations to its NGO
community:
Bethany Christian Services
International, Inc. is committed to
helping people experience God’s love
in accordance with internationally
accepted conventions and standards of
best practices and care. It proactively
supports a continuum of culturally
appropriate community- and family-
based services and works to empower
local government and nongovernmental
organizations to develop appropriate
and sustainable infrastructures that
support the well-being of children.
Bethany Christian Services also
provides the highest level of local and
inter-country adoption services for
children for whom all other options
have been exhausted. It offers a variety
of services to vulnerable children and
their families in Colombia, Guatemala,
Haiti, Albania, Bulgaria, Kosovo,
Lithuania, Romania, Russia, Ukraine,
Ethiopia, Zambia, China/Hong Kong/
Taiwan, Korea and the Philippines.
Areas of expertise include family
support, temporary care, permanency,
training and social services systems
development.
IntraHealth International, Inc.
works to mobilize local talent to create
sustainable and accessible health care.
It primarily concentrates on improving
the performance of health care
workers, strengthening the systems
and policies that support good health
continued on next page
AED_2010_Ad_IA-MonDev_1:Layout 1 4/29/10 1:03 PM Page 1

It’s easy to think the world’s challenges are too

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I M P R O V I N G H E A LT H , E D U C AT I O N ,
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT FOR
PEOPLE IN MORE THAN 150 COUNTRIES

w w w. a e d . o r g
InfoBytes

continued from previous page

worker performance, and extending
health services into communities.
Within this context, IntraHealth works
in the program areas of HIV/AIDS and
tuberculosis, maternal and child health/
reproductive health, malaria and human
resources for health and systems
strengthening. IntraHealth has programs
in over 30 countries, with project offices
in 18 countries, staff in an additional
four countries, and short-term technical
assistance programs in another thirteen.
Millennium Promise engages in
activities designed to eradicate extreme
poverty, such as: making grants to
support the eradication of poverty;
educating the public about the need
to eradicate poverty; cooperating with
other charitable and governmental
organizations, whether local, national,
or international, including the United
Nations and its related agencies; and
undertaking other activities to further
the accomplishment of these goals.
Its flagship initiative, the Millennium
Villages, operates in 80 villages across
10 countries in sub-Saharan Africa
and takes a comprehensive approach
to addressing extreme poverty. By
combining the best scientific and local
knowledge, Millennium Villages address
all the major problems simultaneously—
hunger, disease, inadequate education,
lack of safe drinking water, and absence
of essential infrastructure—to assist
communities on their way to self-
sustainable development.
The United States International
Council on Disabilities (USICD)
champions the international disability rights
agenda in the U.S. and internationally
by raising awareness of global disability
issues, connecting people with disabilities
and disabled people’s organizations around
the world, and contributing to efforts to
improve the lives and circumstances of
people with disabilities worldwide. USICD
also advocates for the inclusion of disability
perspectives in U.S. government policy,
planning and programs by communicating
effectively with government agencies and
decision-makers involved in international
work, promoting disability awareness
and establishing USICD as a critical
collaborating partner in their ongoing
operations.

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MDG Assessment

T
he international community
needs to reframe the fight against
extreme poverty. This is not because
things have been going badly, but because
they have been going well. To achieve the
next wave of breakthroughs over the coming
decade, substantive coalitions of advocates,
business leaders, policy-makers and general
publics will need to forge strategies based on
a new spirit of partnership, one that captures
the emerging lessons of recent successes.
The last decade has seen many remarkable
results. As of early 2000, more than 1.6 billion
people were living on less than a dollar a day.
Approximately 1.5 million Africans were dying
of AIDS every year, and there
AIDS treatment in sub-Saharan Africa alone.
Measles deaths have been cut by nearly 80
percent globally. More than 200 million long-
lasting, insecticide-treated bednets have been
distributed, and American Idol champions the
fight against malaria in living rooms across
the United States. Malawi doubled its national
food production and enjoyed rapid economic
growth during the worst global recession in
generations. Bilateral debt relief freed up edu-
cation funding for tens of millions of children,
and was followed by multilateral debt relief
The

MDGs
was no international effort
to help deliver antiretroviral
medicines. Three quarters of
a million people were dying
of measles annually. Despite
the efforts of the profes-
sional malaria community,
the disease remained side-
lined during global policy
discussions. Debt relief was a young political
agreement with an uncertain future of imple- Reframing the
global movement
mentation. The Education for All movement
was still to be put on a “fast track.” U.S. foreign

to end extreme
assistance was recovering from its all-time
Illustration: Chad Brobst; MDG icons courtesy of Millennium Promise
nadir in 1997.
Within less than a decade, the share of the
world living in extreme poverty declined by at
least five percentage points, with at least 200
poverty.
million fewer people living on under a dollar By John W. McArthur, CEO,
a day. Roughly 3 million people are now on Millennium Promise

12 MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS June 2010

to end the debt trap. U.S. foreign
aid, while still highly constrained,
has more than doubled in aggre-
gate and more than tripled to sub-
Saharan Africa.
Much of the progress is due to
the momentum generated by the
Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs), the world’s targets for
tackling extreme poverty by 2015.
Amidst persistent global system
gaps, the MDGs have brought
unprecedented coherence to inter-
national efforts, paired with a nec-
essary focus on local ownership
and results. Importantly, the MDGs
have helped to remove false com-
petition between critical priorities
like health, education, water, hunger
and environmental management.
They have also prompted a prac-
tical focus on tackling challenges
at scale. They have helped publics
and politicians map out the need for
basic resources. And they have fos-
tered a needed emphasis on inte-
grated development approaches
from the global level to the com-
munity level.
The MDGs also help to highlight
the uneven nature of global prog-
ress across priorities. While child
health programs and pandemic
disease control have seen major
advances, issues like water, agri-
culture and economic infrastructure

June 2010 MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS 13

MDG Assessment
have seen much more limited progress in low-
income countries, especially in sub-Saharan
Africa. The MDGs place a spotlight on sys-
tematic shortfalls in meeting challenges such
as maternal mortality, a paramount challenge
even if the most recent data provide good
news for many regions.
The leading global partnership successes of
the past decade share several general attributes:
• policy advocacy focused on implementa-
tion of known technologies;
• national implementation strategies,
crafted by developing countries them-
selves and submitted to global funding
bodies with multi-stakeholder gover-
nance;
• independent technical review and sup-
port for those national strategies;
• a clear emphasis on performance metrics;
• adequate public finance; and
• successful public engagement that sus-
tains scaled policy momentum.
This last factor is particularly crucial to note
in 2010, a benchmark year for the rich country
14 MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS June 2010
commitments. In 2005, G8 leaders made some
of the most high-profile public commitments
of all time, including a pledge to double aid
to sub-Saharan Africa by 2010. Unfortunately,
the overall pledges have fallen roughly $20
billion short on delivery—a system failure
for the G8. Nonetheless, the UK’s recent path
shows how quickly a country’s approach can
evolve. At the time of the landmark 2002 UN
Conference on Financing for Development in
Monterey, Mexico, no UK political party had
firmly committed the country to achieving the
longstanding target of devoting 0.7 percent
of national income to official development
In this photo, a community health worker
(CHW) from the Sauri, Kenya Millennium Village
prepares a map during a training session.
Over 100 volunteer CHWs operate at the
frontline of healthcare provision in Sauri and
their responsibilities are steadily growing.
Bridging the gap between community
members and the village’s health facilities,
these foot soldiers are helping to create
healthy and productive communities that are
the foundation of achieving the MDGs.
assistance. Today the major parties are equally
resolved to achieve the target before 2015.
The next hurdle
The international community has its next
major, formal opportunity to set a new course
at the UN MDG summit this September. Last
fall, President Barack Obama inspired the
world with his call for the summit to adopt
an action plan to achieve the MDGs and,
more broadly, to end extreme poverty within
a generation. The last time world leaders came
together for such a gathering was the 2005
continued on page 30
Photo: Millennium Promise

The MDGs:
A Time for
Assessment
and Action
W
h e n th ey sign e d th e
Millennium Declaration in 2000,
world leaders made an historic
promise to work together to improve the lives
of the world’s poorest people. With its clear
goals and deadlines, the Millennium Devel-
opment Goals created the first-ever global
compact in which rich and developing coun-
tries acknowledge shared responsibility to end
extreme poverty and its root causes.Ten years
after their creation and five years before the
2015 target date for their achievement, the
MDGs have become a powerful platform for
focusing efforts to end extreme poverty. The
lives of millions of people in some of the poor-
Photo: Arnica Bryant
est countries have improved significantly. The
number of people in low and middle-income
countries receiving antiretroviral therapy for
HIV increased ten-fold in five years. Primary
education enrollment reached 88 percent in
2007, and since 1990, child mortality has been
halved in many regions.
A key factor has been strong political com-
mitment by leaders around the world at both
the national and global levels. Public support
and belief that the MDGs can be achieved lies
behind this commitment and the successes
to date. In a recent opinion poll by the UN
Foundation and the Better World Campaign,
an overwhelming majority (87 percent) of
Americans said they believe the U.S. should
be involved in a worldwide effort to address
global poverty as part of the MDGs.
But progress has been uneven—both across
countries and across the MDGs. Inequality
between and within countries has grown, and
although some of the poorest countries have
seen remarkable advancements, others are
June 2010 MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS 15
MDG Review summit
Making the most
of the UN’s MDG
Review Summit in
September.
By Anita Sharma, North America
Director, United Nations
Millennium Campaign
lagging behind. Indigenous people, minority
groups, lower castes, persons with disabil-
ity and socially excluded groups in general
continue to be left behind. Efforts requir-
ing systemic change or involving improving
the status of women are performing poorly.
Moreover, the unfortunate convergence of
the economic, food and climate crises adds
additional challenges and uncertainties.
2010: Year of assessment
This year offers a unique opportunity to
catalyze public discussion and policy devel-
opment on the MDGs, particularly leading
up to the 2010 MDG Review Summit (the
“Summit”). The Summit, scheduled for Sep-
tember 20-22 as part of the 65th UN General
Assembly, is possibly the most important
event on the global policy calendar this year.
It will probably not produce major new com-
mitments or resources, but it will be an oppor-
tunity to assess progress and focus on accel-
erating achievement of the MDGs. Because
of a myriad of challenges (including, among
others, the economic and food crises and cli-
mate change), conducting business as usual
will not help achieve the MDGs.
The Summit also offers a critical opportunity
to galvanize efforts and partnerships for the
push to meet the 2015 target. The Summit is
expected to include a comprehensive review
of successes, opportunities, lessons learned,
MDG Review summit
obstacles and gaps in order to develop concrete
strategies for action. It is due to close with agree-
ment on an “outcome document” that would
ideally identify a plan that will help both rich
and developing nations to achieve the MDGs.
As part of this year of review and in advance
of the Summit, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-
moon issued Keeping the Promise, a progress
report on achieving the MDGs. He specifi-
cally called for the adoption of a global action
agenda for accelerating progress that he said
“should be specific, practical, and results-ori-
ented, with concrete steps and timelines. And
it must set out who does what, so that we can
monitor our efforts and promote accountabil-
ity for individuals and institutions alike.” The
goal is to have such a global “Breakthrough
Plan” agreed to at the Summit.
Participating countries can also use the
Summit to address critical issues such as:
using an integrated approach to achieve the
MDGs; emphasizing effective accountability
and monitoring processes to streamline global
commitments related to the MDGs, while
16 MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS June 2010
monitoring and enforcing new mechanisms;
and ensuring that, going forward, the focus
includes the interdependence of basic rights,
gender equality and climate change.
For the first time ever, preparations for the
Summit will also include a series of informal
interactive civil society, non-governmental
and private sector hearings on June 14-15.
The current UN General Assembly President
Dr. Ali Abdussalam Treki has convened a task
force bringing together UN focal points and
civil society and private sector representa-
tives to help ensure effective preparations for
the June hearings and the active participation
of stakeholders in those sessions. To assist
in this process, the UN Millennium Cam-
paign has partnered together with the UN
Non-Governmental Liaison Service to create
an interactive MDG 2010 website enabling
civil society participation and information
gathering. In addition to the official prepara-
tory process, a number of related events and
reports such as the MDG Gap Report and the
2010 Millennium Development Goals Report
will also feed into government deliberations
leading to the Summit.
Creating an effective action agenda
and ensuring broad participation
Countries participating in the Summit
have informally agreed to develop and deliver
individual country plans that outline both a
national and global approach for achieving
the MDGs. These plans will be discussed at
the Summit and will help formulate, together
with civil society input, a Summit outcome
document often referred to as the “MDG
Breakthrough Plan” that will address what
needs to be done at a global level.
Together with partner organizations, the
UN Millennium Campaign is encouraging
governments around the world to develop
these plans that will be presented, discussed
and—to the extent possible—adopted as part
of the overarching MDG Breakthrough Plan.
The first six months of 2010 are the time for
these country plans to begin to take shape at
the national level. The individual country plans
should incorporate a strong focus on address-
ing MDG accountability—both at the global
level between rich and developing countries,
and at the national and local levels. The coun-
try plans should also include concrete propos-
als for overcoming local-level implementation
bottlenecks, and allow for citizen monitoring
of both national and local government deliv-
ery of services. In addition, gender and eth-
nic inequalities (including indigenous people,
caste and disability) should also be addressed,
with the outcome including a pro-poor plan.
During his historic September 2009 speech
before the UN General Assembly, President
Obama stated that the MDGs were “America’s
Goals” and that the U.S. would come to the
Summit “with a global plan to make them a
reality.” Congress and the Obama administra-
tion have since supported several groundbreak-
ing initiatives to improve the effectiveness and
coordination of American assistance to the
developing world. These include: the Global
Health Initiative; the Global Agriculture and
Food Security Program; the Presidential Study
Directive on Global Development; the Quadren-
nial Diplomacy and Development Review; and
the Administration’s budget request for its 2011
fiscal year. The success of these initiatives will
directly affect the ability of the U.S. to play an
even stronger role in innovative efforts to achieve
the MDGs. The UN Millennium Campaign and
continued on page 30
 Building better

Learning The importance of

incorporating disaster risk

How to Build
reduction learning into
reconstruction efforts.

Back Better
By Terry Gibson, Project Manager,
Global Network of Civil Society
Organisations for Disaster Reduction

J
aime Mok has been working
with colleagues on reconstruction activi-
ties in Haiti, drawing on his experience
coordinating reconstruction work following
the earthquake that struck the central coast
of Peru in August 2007. For Jaime, there is
a strong connection between disaster risk
reduction and reconstruction. To make his
point, Jaime cites the example of ancient
adobe huts around Pisco, the epicenter of
the Peruvian earthquake. “Some of these are
still standing amidst the ruins of more recent
structures which were toppled by the force of
the earthquake. The small-scale mud brick
huts are intrinsically more robust than mod-
ern adobe structures with long walls, limited
lateral reinforcement and large window and
door areas. My point is that people forget.
They forget the lessons of previous disasters.
They forget how to build back better.”
Working in Haiti, Jaime has found concrete
bricks that crumbled in his hands because the
concrete mix was heavily diluted to cut costs.
He has seen flimsy steel reinforcement in col-
lapsed buildings that contributed to the scale
of destruction—ironically the same quality of
Photo: Jaime Mok
(GNDR) and InterAction’s Disaster Risk
Reduction Group is part of the network’s
steering group. In both Peru and Haiti Jaime’s
focus is on reconstruction and on building
back better. Why do he and other members of
the GNDR feel that focusing on disaster risk
reduction—what happens before earthquakes
or another natural disasters strike—is so rel-
evant to disaster response and reconstruction?
Didier Young in Madagascar, another net-
work member, puts it like this: “No one likes
to spend money on insurance, so it’s hard to
get funding for disaster risk reduction meas-
ures. In Madagascar, for example, our coun-
try is swept by regular cyclones. So when the
cyclone strikes and the funding for disaster
response and reconstruction comes in, we need
to rebuild flattened schools. We’ve learned to
build them not only so they will withstand the
next cyclone, but also so that they can func-
tion as cyclone shelters for people. That’s one
way of building back better—of learning from
the past to improve prospects for the future.”
Didier’s point is that sometimes you can
only get support for risk reduction measures
after disaster strikes; but it is crucial to put
that disaster risk reduction hasn’t been taken
into account. There has been no manage-
ment of land use and much of the building
work is informal, with no standards of safe
and healthy building. “That was the situation
before the earthquake, but the real challenge
is what happens next. The danger is that what
starts as transitional becomes permanent.
Rather than building back better, the short-
term response becomes the final solution.
In Peru people are still living in temporary
shelters and camping out two years after the
earthquake; and despite all the international
funding for reconstruction, only 10 percent of
the affected and destroyed houses have been
rebuilt. If that’s the case in Peru, how much
greater is the problem here in Haiti?”
If a lack of knowledge about how to build
back better is the problem, what are the solu-
tions? In Jaime’s view, one answer is in the
GNDR’s Views from the Frontline survey. At
first sight the connection may not seem obvi-
ous. The 2009 survey gathered assessments on
the progress of the UN’s Hyogo Framework
for Action on disaster risk reduction—a ten-
year program now at its mid-point. The largest

materials being used in new buildings. that knowledge of effective risk reduction to participatory survey of its type ever carried
Jaime works with the Peruvian NGO Paz work in reconstruction activities. out, the team covered 48 countries, gathering
y Esperanza and is also an active member of Jaime agrees. He says that in his team’s work views from over 7,000 frontline respondents
the Global Network for Disaster Reduction in Port-au-Prince and in Jacmel, it is clear including community members, local govern-

June 2010 MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS 17

Building Better

ment officers and civil society organizations. The survey showed that
progress is slow and policy frameworks are not translating effectively
into implementation on the frontlines. Jaime’s point is that the survey
doesn’t just draw attention to the need to effectively implement the
Hyogo Framework. It also points to the huge impact this work has on
education and awareness. It is creating new bonds and partnerships. As
people work more closely together they are greatly improving under-
standing of effective and sustainable reconstruction.
As Jaime explains, “People forget about disaster risk reduction if
there isn’t permanent reinforcement of this topic in daily community
life decisions. We have seen in Peru how people forget the ancestral
way of building safely with adobe. Another example is the way early
warning systems are not maintained after the NGOs that promoted
them leave the area. We’ve also seen this with the disappearance of the
emergency tool kits and resources that were provided in communities
in the wake of the earthquake in Peru.”
He notes that when they implemented the survey in Peru it brought
the topic to life, and created new connections and discussions between
government, organizations and communities—communicating and
coordinating at the local level. This has been really important and valu-
able in terms of preparedness (rehearsals and early warning for example).
But it also reawakened understanding of effective reconstruction.
Jaime gives examples from Peru of why this is so important. The gov-
ernment is starting to implement a rural housing program that makes
all the participants pay attention to the factors that make for safe and
healthy housing. Everyone has to understand and pay attention to risk
assessments for the land where the houses are built, and to the construc-
tion codes to make sure that houses are robust and safe. This was a direct
result of the experience that came from organizations working together
in the field after the earthquake. It shows how local government and
organizations play a key role in empowering the community to learn
about the importance of disaster risk reduction. However, a year after
the earthquake, under pressure from the construction sector, the govern-
ment also approved a regulation to simplify construction licensing. It
wiped away most of the controls and monitoring for building projects.
The Views from the Frontline survey is one way of getting feedback
from different frontline stakeholders. And it highlights both the positive
developments and the continuing problems of ensuring that we really do
build back better. As Jaime explains, “Creating partnerships and dialogue
between stakeholders at the local level can help us call governments
and authorities to account where the wrong decisions are being made.”
Marcus Oxley, chair of the GNDR, agrees. “Disaster response and
recovery offers a unique opportunity to learn from the failings of the
past. It gives us the opportunity to apply this learning in our efforts to
build back safer, more resilient communities that are less vulnerable
to future hazards. Unfortunately experience also tells us that in many
situations we are not incorporating considerations of future disaster
risk into our response and recovery actions. In so doing we fail the
very communities we try to help, including individuals and groups
continued on page 30

Duke Center for International Development (DCID)

Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University
Education and Training for International Development Professionals

• Master of International Development Policy

• Executive Education
• International Advising
• Integrative Leadership Programs for Senior Managers
•

For further information contact:

Duke Center for International Development
Duke University, Box 90237
Durham, NC 27708-0237 USA
(ph) 919-613-9277, (fax) 919-684-2861,
Email: midpinfo@duke.edu, www.sanford.duke.edu/dcid

18 MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS June 2010

 Trade preferences

Trade Preference Programs

Can Work for Development
Opening markets for the poorest countries
can create benefits for richer ones too.
By Kaci Farrell, Policy and Outreach Assistant,
Center for Global Development

M
any traditional development programs restrictive, erratic rules and require frequent renewal.
focus on the delivery or implementation of a tangible prod- In April, the Center for Global Development’s Global Trade Prefer-
uct or service. These objectives may include sending young ence Reform Working Group, led by senior fellow Kim Elliott, released a
girls to school or delivering vaccinations to vulnerable populations. report that calls on the United States and other developed and advanced
In contrast, trade policies often conjure images of crowded shipping developing countries to improve their trade preference programs for
yards, convoluted maps and infinite statistics. Trade opportunities, least developed countries. The report, Open Markets for the Poorest
however, have a unique capacity to significantly improve the lives of Countries: Trade Preferences That Work, recommends extending full
people living in the developing world. Specifically, trade preference market access to all least developed countries; relaxing or repealing
programs are critical, yet underutilized development tools. They can program rules that raise costs and impede market access; and ensur-
create jobs, reduce poverty and stimulate prosperity in the world’s ing program stability.
poorest countries, while promoting stability and shared benefits around “We are seeking to frame trade as a development issue,” said Elliot
the globe. The eighth Millennium Development Goal calls on rich during the report launch event. “Extending comprehensive, usable
countries to provide duty-free, quota-free market access to countries and predictable market access to all least developed countries could
classified by the United Nations as least developed. provide a critical boost to the world’s poorest people, with only trivial
Despite this positive potential and some recent progress, existing effects in preference-giving countries.”
preference programs for least developed countries still fall short of Some American producers, particularly those in agricultural sectors,
their intended goals (Table 1). Many programs exclude or unduly tax have expressed concern over the potential impact of extending duty-
commodities that poor countries can produce competitively such as free, quota-free market access to least developed countries. The report
agricultural products and clothing. Other programs operate under concludes, however, that implementing full market access would have
a negligible effect on domestic production and overall export levels
because products from least developed countries account for less than
Table 1: Trade Preference Programs for Least Developed 1 percent of U.S. non-oil imports (Table 2).
Countries Have Room for Improvement William Lane, director of government affairs at Caterpillar, Inc.,
described trade preferences as an opportunity for American manufac-
Flexibility of
Country Product Program turers. “If people living in developing countries truly start benefitting
Rules of Product
(Program) Coverage Length from the global economy, demand for American products will grow
Origin
dramatically,” Lane said in April.
Canada 99.5% High 10 years While expanding market access for least developed countries would
have minimal impact on rich country producers, new export oppor-
European
100% Low Permanent tunities could spur jobs and economic growth in beneficiary nations.
Union (EBA)
The situation in Haiti presents a unique opportunity to use trade
U.S. (AGOA) 98% High 11 years preferences as a desperately-needed development tool. Since the dev-
astating earthquake, various scholars and pundits have noted the need
U.S. (GSP for Usually 1–2
83% Moderate to shift from humanitarian relief to recovery and reconstruction,
LDCs) years
with a focus on rapid job creation—something that improved trade
Japan 98% Low 10 years preferences can help deliver. Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bel-
lerive reiterated the need for “massive job creation” during the United
South Korea 75% Low Uncertain
Nations international donor conference.
EBA = Everything But Arms; AGOA = African Growth and Opportunity Act; GSP Improving trade preference programs will require a global con-
for LDCs = Generalized System of Preferences for least developed countries stituency.

June 2010 MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS 19

Trade preferences

Table 2: Expanding Duty-Free, “I do think it will take a push,” said Gawain by decreasing trade flows and commodity
Quota-Free Access to Least Kripke, director of policy and research at prices. While bilateral and regional trade
Developed Countries Will Not Harm Oxfam America. “The push is required from negotiations may accelerate in the absence of
Rich-Country Producers advocacy groups to build a counterweight a Doha Round agreement, they rarely include
that is based on development and poverty the least developed countries. Furthermore,
Estimated % concerns, and also from the private sector high unemployment in rich countries may
Country and Sector Change in showing that there is a very broad interest in lead to protectionist trade measures, and tight
Production our economy for the growth and development budgets may reduce their willingness to pro-
Canada   of other economies, especially the poorest.” vide development aid. These factors increase
While extending duty-free, quota-free the risk that the poorest countries will be
Animal products, meat -0.01 access to least developed countries is a criti- further marginalized in the global economy.
Milk -0.03 cal first step, policy-makers and operational There are unique opportunities this year
NGOs will have important roles to play in to make progress on the promise to promote
Japan helping poor countries take full advantage trade as a tool for development—at the G-20
Fish -0.01 of trade preference programs. Barriers such summits and the UN Millennium Develop-
as costly regulatory requirements in rich ment Goal review summit. Leaders at these
Rice 0.00 countries or supply-side challenges in poor events should embrace trade preference
countries, including inadequate infrastruc- reform as a development measure to reduce
Sugar -0.35
ture and inefficient customs, can inhibit poverty and promote growth and stability in
United States exporters in poor countries from utilizing the world’s poorest countries to the benefit
trade opportunities. of all. MD
Sugar 0.01 Today’s economic and political environ-
Textiles -0.45 ment heightens the urgency of improving To learn more about trade preferences or to
preference programs. The global financial read the Center for Global Development report,
Clothing -0.13 crises of 2008–09 hammered poor countries visit www.cgdev.org.

20 MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS June 2010


Mental
Health
Research
in Emergencies
Are assessments
in a humanitarian
setting ethical?
By Zeinab Hijazi, Regional
Psychosocial Coordinator, and
Inka Weissbecker, Monitoring and
Evaluation Officer (Mental Health),
International Medical Corps
W
“ hy do you need more
information from us? When will
concrete benefits result from our
time?” an Iraqi woman sighed in frustration.
She was living in Amman, Jordan as a refugee
and had been asked several times in the last
few months about the mental health problems
of Iraqi refugee families by organizations who
had come knocking on her door.
This is just one example of the burnout
among individuals who are visited by mul-
tiple research and evaluation teams; teams that
do not coordinate with each other and may
leave without bringing tangible benefits to the
Photo: Anja Greiner Adam - Fotolia.com
affected population.“I cannot provide for my
family. I will agree to anything to get some
food on the table,” an Iraqi man exclaimed
in desperation while giving informed consent
to answer a few research questions about the
local Iraqi situation. His comments provide
another example of the complex cultural and
sociopolitical context that can compromise
basic principles of conducting ethical research,
such as providing “true informed consent.”
In situations like this, potential participants
may expect potential benefits and feel pressure
from their families or communities to consent.
People may also feel that putting their names
on a document might put them at risk.There
are also other potential ethical challenges. The
experience of a home-based study that sought
to assess individual levels of mental and psy-
chosocial symptoms in a refugee community
is illustrative. In such a study, chances are good
that researchers encounter people suffering
from severe to moderate mental health disor-
ders. In this particular case, as part of a basic
safety assessment to determine whether the
beneficiary was at risk to self or others, the
interviewer asked, “In the last two weeks, how
often did you think of ending your life?” The
response from the 15-year-old girl taking part
in the study was a teary confession of hav-
ing attempted to end her own life a number
June 2010 MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS 21
Ethical dilemmas
of times. It is unethical to ask such a ques-
tion without having a systematic approach
of referral for participants who may present
with severe, or common, untreated disorders,
or who are a danger to themselves or others.
These examples illustrate potential ethical
challenges when conducting mental health
research in humanitarian settings. Indeed,
such research can have a variety of unin-
tended negative consequences. For example,
interviewing vulnerable groups (e.g. survi-
vors of rape) can put them at risk for further
stigmatization and discrimination by their
communities and expose them to security
risks. Conducting mental health assessments
and subsequently labeling specific individuals
and groups as “traumatized” or suffering from
specific mental disorders can foster feelings
of victimization and disempowerment. More-
over, measures to assess mental health prob-
lems have often been developed in Western
settings and may yield misleading informa-
Ethical dilemmas

tion. Those instruments define problems and
symptoms that may be inappropriately narrow,
may not fit with culture-specific expressions
of distress, and may preclude participation
of the affected population in describing their
own challenges and needs. Traditional institu-
tional review boards of academic institutions
(the bodies charged with assessing proposed
research methods) often are not prepared to
weigh the complex ethical issues involved in
humanitarian contexts.
Does this mean we should abandon the idea
of conducting mental health research among
populations affected by conflict and crises?
A recent report from the 2009 Harvard
Humanitarian Action Summit argues to the
contrary. While research in such settings raises
ethical challenges, it can be argued that not col-
lecting such data can be considered unethical
as well. The evidence base on mental health
and psychosocial interventions in diverse cul-
tural settings is still scarce and there is a strong
need for developing best practices. For exam-
ple, some psychological interventions, such
as single-session debriefing after potentially
traumatic events, have been found to be harm-
ful. Therefore, collecting qualitative and quan-
titative data on the effects of mental health and
psychosocial interventions is arguably essential
for developing best practices and guidelines,
and to ensure accountability in this field.
But can such data collection be considered
research? And should such assessments be
subject to the same ethical requirements that
academic researchers have to follow? “This
is not research. This is a needs assessment,” a
field officer said defensively in response to his
supervisor’s concern that some ethical consid-
erations were not taken into account during a
key informant interview. This example leads
to questions such as: “Where is the border
between reporting, assessment and research?”
and “Do we avoid ethical dilemmas by call-
ing research something else?” Research is
designed to produce new knowledge—be it
to structure or identify new problems, develop
solutions to a problem or to test the feasibil-
ity of a solution using empirical evidence.
In this respect, we believe that the ethical
requirements for conducting mental health
and psychosocial research apply to any form
of information gathering that involves the
participation of affected populations.
Given the importance of research and
evaluation on one hand and the potential
pitfalls and complexities of humanitarian
environments on the other, it is important to
develop guidance for organizations working
in this field. The Working Group on Mental
Health and Psychosocial Support in Crisis and
Conflict, which was convened as part of the
Harvard Humanitarian Action Summit, has
described ethical challenges faced by mental
health researchers and offered guidance and
recommendations that build on the Inter-
Agency Standing Committee Guidelines on
Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in
Humanitarian Settings. The group, which
includes International Medical Corps and
other international NGOs as well as acade-
micians from various geographic regions, has
formulated recommendations spanning the
themes of purpose and benefits of research,
issues of validity, neutrality, risk, subject selec-
continued on page 34

Plant knowledge. 
Grow justice. 
GRADUATE PROGRAMS IN  
SUSTAINABLE INTERNATIONAL  
DEVELOPMENT 
 MA in Sustainable International Development 
 MS in International Health Policy and Management 
 PHD in Global Health and Development 

Brandeis University
Boston 

http://heller.brandeis.edu 

22 MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS June 2010


A Conversation
with...
Rajiv Shah
USAID Administrator
Visit www.interaction.org/conversations
to view a video excerpt of this interview
Monday Developments’ executive
Editor Nasserie Carew recently sat down
with USAID Administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah to
discuss issues of interest to the InterAction
community. The following is a transcript of
their conversation.
NC: We would like to use this interview
to give our members here and abroad a
snapshot of who you are and what you
bring to USAID. Can you tell us your
priorities for USAID in this first year?
Photo: USAID
RS: Well first let me say that obviously I
follow and am a big fan of InterAction and
your capacity to offer broad leadership
on behalf of the entire NGO community is
tremendous. When I think about USAID
and what our goals are, I really do believe
that the next 12 or 18 months are a unique
opportunity to elevate development.
We live in a more interconnected world
than we ever have before. The fact that
more than half of all American families
gave in some way to Haiti (many through
InterAction partners) demonstrates that
people are aware of what’s going on in the
world around them. They are not willing any
longer to tolerate the injustice of extreme
poverty and suffering when they know
there are cost effective, straightforward
solutions that can be applied that generate
results at a good level of expenditure;
results that really matter for people who
suffer deeply. And so in that environment,
we want to elevate development. And
President Obama is firmly committed to
that. Secretary of State Clinton is firmly
committed to it. I am committed to it. More
importantly, Congress is committed and
the American public is committed.
I would like to put in place a set of
operational reforms and strategic priorities
for USAID so we can help usher in the new
era. And on an operational side, we would
like to significantly expand our staffing
and capacity, especially in our mid-
career, technical staff so that we can run
programs and execute them with a greater
degree of sophistication. We can be better
partners for countries and governments
and NGOs. And we can be intellectual
thought leaders on the issues that matter.
We are reforming how we are doing our
procurements so that a greater portion
them, of our resourcing, can run through
the NGO community and through local
June 2010 MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS 23
Conversations Series
partners in the countries that we work, so
that we can build the capacity in countries
to sustain the work that we invest in.
We are also going to work to become
much more transparent. We need to
be more transparent in how we spend
dollars. We need to be more transparent
about the results we achieve and the
programs [we conduct]. We need to do
a better job of learning in that context
and we are putting into place a series
of reforms to do that. Those are all the
things we are hoping to get done, just
this calendar year. I am very excited
about our future.
NC: Following on the things you hope
to get done this year, during your con-
firmation you mentioned your commit-
ment to gender integration. Quite a few
of our members are interested in how
you plan to integrate that into some of
the priorities.
RS: There are many ways we will do that.
This agency has had a strong commitment
to gender inclusion and focusing on
women and girls. Based on the data,
it’s clear to everyone now that when we
invest our resources in women and girls,
we do a much better job of improving
household level outcomes in terms of
food security, family health, access
to education for kids and sustainable
development for entire communities.
So it’s really about doing our work in a
results-oriented way. Let me give a few
examples. In our food security effort,
we will put in place a series of rules and
guidelines so that as we spend more
money to help turn around the rising
tide of hunger, we will specifically focus
on women farmers, who make up 60-
70 percent of farm labor in Africa. We
will focus nutrition programs on girls
and on children and newborns. We are
restructuring our health programs as
part of our global health initiative to have
more of a focus on maternal health and
indicators related to reducing maternal
mortality—like having skilled attendants
at every birth, which is a low cost way
of saving lives and reducing suffering
related to dangerous childbirths. So
there are a number of very concrete
things that we will do in all our initiatives
Conversations Series
and programs to include a real focus on
gender and on women and girls. And
we’ll do that to generate better, more
sustainable outcomes.
NC: Great. You come to this job with a
tremendous amount of experience in
many of the issue areas in which Inter-
Action members work, including, obvi-
ously, food security. What can you share
with us about the skills you bring to the
job that would help address the myriad
of challenges USAID faces, including
issues such as rebuilding of personnel
and rebuilding some of the programs
and the effectiveness of programs?
RS: It is kind of you to say that. I have had
a great opportunity over the past decade
to work with a broad range of InterAction
members in many different fields: health,
food security, microfinance, access to
financial services, and water, sanitation
and hygiene.
I guess across the board why I respect
InterAction so much is that I want to be
results-oriented in how we do our work. I
want us to learn from the best practices
wherever they are being implemented. If
it turns out that you are more effective in
getting chlorinated water to people by
selling chlorine tabs at water distribution
centers, let’s do that. We did that in the
Haiti response and we helped raise the
available level of safe drinking water
in Port-au-Prince to higher than it was
before the earthquake because of the
way we distributed chlorine tabs. If the
data says that if you sell fertilizer just
after the harvest as opposed to just
before the planting season, you have
higher uptake and more utilization for the
purpose of driving outcomes in terms of
better family incomes, let’s do that. Let’s
change the way we sell fertilizer.
InterAction partners around the world
are so deeply involved in very specific
solutions to these types of problems;
and we need to be the kind of agency
that scans broadly, learns what is
working and incorporates that into
our body of work around the world.
I don’t know if there is anything unique
I bring to that. But I bring an absolute
insistence that we do a much better job
of listening to and learning from others,
24 MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS June 2010
“I recognize that over
the past 10 or 15 years,
the percentage of the
resources that flow
through NGO partners
for implementation has
gone down. One of my
goals is to turn that
around.”
and that we do that in a proactive, data-
based way.
Over time I hope we can do it by using
new technologies. For example, if we can
get SMS text messages or photographs
sent to us by women sending their kids
to school that show us the school and
say, “Hey, teachers are showing up and
our kids are learning a lot,” or that say,
“Teachers are not showing up and the roof
is caving in and you need to do something
differently,” that’s a great thing. That kind
of thing will help us be smarter and more
responsive and effective. I am very excited
to have the opportunity to bring that spirit
of listening and focusing on learning from
whoever is out there to do the absolute
best job of serving people.
NC: Perfect. We look forward to work-
ing with you on that. On various occa-
sions, you and Secretary Clinton have
both mentioned that partnership is
key. I know you have worked a lot with
InterAction members and InterAction
CEO Sam Worthington on this, par-
ticularly concerning Haiti. Is the close
partnership that has happened around
the Haiti crisis creating a new kind of
partnership? Is there a new model of
partnership emerging that you think you
may want to look at in terms of NGOs
and the U.S. government and probably
corporations, for instance?
RS: Absolutely. But let me say that in order
for us to be really good partners, we have
to do things differently. I recognize that
we can’t be good partners with NGOs
if we have a contracting system that
excludes large numbers of local NGOs
and even our international NGO partners
from various activities. That is why we
are pursuing what will be a difficult but
important procurement reform effort to
make our work more accessible to the
NGO community more broadly.
I think there are lessons learned from
Haiti. Immediately after the earthquake,
Sam and I spoke. We put in place a
small but important investment to help
InterAction support the coordination of
NGO partners and how we interacted
with them. I think that really helped us
learn about what was happening on
the ground, especially in those early
weeks when so much help was coming
in but coordination was difficult. We
have to invest in the capacity to partner
well. Whether that means changing our
procurement or making small grants to
improve coordination in our work, we
have to be willing to try those things
because they make a big difference.
NC: In terms of streamlining this part-
nership model, how do you see your
relationship with InterAction in particu-
lar and NGOs in general (both interna-
tional NGOs and local NGOs)?
RS: I think it is a tremendously important
partnership. I have visited InterAction
partners that do a phenomenally effective
job of building local NGO capacity in
countries where they work, whether it is
Uganda or India or elsewhere around the
world. And I am proud of the fact that we
have a strong and special relationship
with InterAction and that through that
relationship we get a lot of feedback
about our work. I think that is important
for us to get better all the time.
I recognize that over the past 10 or 15
years, the percentage of the resources
that flow through NGO partners for
implementation has gone down. One of
my goals is to turn that around because
I think we need to work more effectively
with the NGO community in a way that is
very results-oriented, very accountable,
holding people to high standards and also
learning from what NGOs are naturally
good at. That often includes building a
strong sense of community ownership
for projects and programs, taking on
tough issues such as building civil
 Conversations Series

society, the capacity to hold governments
accountable for serving the needs of
their people, and building the kind of
relationships that really do stand the
test of time. So I am very excited to be
working with InterAction and with NGOs
here in the U.S. and around the world.
NC: As you know, the Obama admin-
istration is very supportive of develop-
ment and we are all happy about that. In
light of the administration’s commitment
to also elevate development to the level
of diplomacy and defense, where do you
see USAID’s role in areas like Afghani-
stan or Pakistan, or perhaps Iraq?
RS: Well it is a tremendous role. When you
look at Afghanistan or Iraq in particular—
in environments where there is an active
military campaign—there also remains a
development function. After the military
sweeps through and clears a particular
region, people start looking around and
saying, “We need to build schools” or “We
need to build feeder roads, so farmers
can get back into production or access
markets, or kids can get an education
and have an opportunity to lead a healthy
and productive life.” Those communities
are deserving of significant investments
and doing so is aligned with our national
security priorities. So many InterAction
partners have done a wonderful job in
Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan. And we
will continue to prioritize those operating
environments.
NC: Thank you for your time. One last
question. Could you give a message for
our NGO counterparts abroad and here
who don’t have access to you in the
same way that those around the belt-
way do. What is that message you want
to leave to the international develop-
ment community, NGOs in particular in
terms of going forward in your working
relationship with them?
RS: This administration believes very
deeply in the spirit of partnership with
NGOs, with civil society and with a range
of partners and actors that need to come
together to promote development all
around the world. So we look forward
to working with you. We look forward to
investing in your projects and programs.
And we look forward to getting your
constructive criticism. And sometimes if it
is not that constructive, if it is just criticism,
send it anyway. We need that kind of
feedback to get better at what we do.
We see this as an important set of
partnerships that will help us make sure
that people around the world and people
in communities (sometimes very remote
places and without a lot of resources) have
the opportunity to lead healthy, productive
lives and contribute to a much more
interconnected world. So, thank you and
I appreciate the chance to speak with you.
NC: Thank you. MD

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June 2010 MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS 25

Government Relations

Rethinking the
PVO-U.S. Government Relationship
What are the benefits and
pitfalls of federal support?
By Rachel M. McCleary, Senior Research Fellow,
Taubman Center, Harvard Kennedy School of
Government, and Research Associate, Hoover
Institution, Stanford University.

F
or e ign aid is an i m portant part of U.S.
foreign policy. One naturally thinks about aid in terms of the
U.S. government—including USAID—contracting firms and the
military. But another face of foreign aid, and by extension foreign policy,
involves the array of international relief and development programs
carried out by private, not-for-profit organizations. These groups are
often described as non-governmental organizations, but I prefer the
more accurate term, private voluntary organization (PVO).
The dynamics of the PVO community and its interactions with the
U.S. government have changed significantly since World War II. And
a reassesment of how these two communities interact is much needed.
Over the course of four years, data was assembled for a 66-year period
(1939-2005) that includes the income and expenditures of 1,638 PVOs
registered with the federal government. Clearly, a significant aspect
of PVO-government interaction is economic. By this I mean grants,
contracts, subsidies (food, excess government property) and shipping
the government provides to the agencies. The data set is new and the
most comprehensive on U.S.-based PVOs. Of particular interest is the
interplay between public revenue (from the U.S. government, other
governments and international organizations) and private revenue, that
is, funds PVOs raise from private citizens. Do funds a PVO receives
from governments and international organizations serve as a magnet
for private dollars? Or, once a PVO receives federal revenue, is it likely
to continue to do so? And, in increasing amounts? If so, does accepting
federal dollars compromise the PVO’s mission?
An historical snapshot of U.S. PVOs
As Figure 1 shows, the total number of PVOs rose early in World
War II, from 240 in 1939 to 424 in 1941, then hit a low of 60 in 1948 as
the federal government moved to control costs. Growth in PVOs was
especially rapid from 1986 to 1994, with registered agencies increasing
from 178 to 506. This growth reflected mostly expansions of private
IRD distributes USAID donated plastic earthquake victims in Leogane, Haiti.
1994. Since then, the number of religious PVOs, especially evangelical
ones, has grown faster than the number of secular agencies. In 2005,
religious PVOs were 33 percent of the total registered with the federal
government. Of that number, 49 percent were evangelical, 13 percent
faith-founded (based on religious tenets), 8 percent Roman Catholic,
7 percent mainline Protestant, 6 percent ecumenical, 5 percent Jewish,
2 percent Muslim, and 1 percent Orthodox, with 8 percent in other
religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism and New Age.
Table 1 shows top-ten lists in terms of revenue for PVOs for selected
years from 1950 to 2005. The rise of evangelical parachurch agencies
such as Feed the Children, MAP International and Samaritan’s Purse
is of particular significance. As of 2005, three parachurch evangelical
agencies are in the revenue top ten, whereas in 1990 there were none.
Note, however, that this shift reflects mostly changes in private dona-
tions, not federal support.
The bottom line is that religious-based PVOs are playing a larger
role that they did even 20 years ago and evangelical organizations
have expanded particularly fast. The evangelical advantage is in the
competition for private funds; and that advantage lies in that their fund-
Photo: Nathaniel S Morris

support, not federal money.
Some large PVOs are secular (e.g, CARE and the AmeriCares Foun-
dation), while others, such as World Vision and Food for the Poor, have
clear religious identities. Religious PVOs accounted for 18 percent of all
PVOs in 1939, peaked at 52 percent in 1962, then fell to 26 percent by
raising is not constrained by denominational boundaries. Traditional
evangelical PVOs, such as Mennonite Central Committee and World
Relief, are similar to traditional religious PVOs (mainline Protestant,
Roman Catholic, and Jewish) in their denominational specialization. In
contrast, recently formed evangelical PVOs tend to be parachurches, a

26 MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS June 2010

 Government Relations

horizontal structure cutting across denominational loyalties allowing Figure 1. Number of PVOs, 1939–2005*
for fund-raising from a broad base. This lets evangelical groups raise
private funds from Christians regardless of their affiliation.
As a group, religious PVOs financially do better than secular agencies.
In 2005, religious PVOs were one-third of the total number registered
with USAID but represented nearly one-half of total revenue. In other
words, the size in terms of revenue of the typical religious PVO is larger
than that of the typical secular PVO. And, religious PVOs as a group
are garnering more private funds than secular agencies. This should
give policy-makers pause, as clearly the religious agencies are better at
addressing the demands of their constituents than secular agencies.

The changing balance between

federal funding and private sources
Total real revenue for PVOs has increased over time, rising from
$316 million in 1940 (in 2005 dollars) to $15.9 billion in 2005. The
fraction of this revenue going to religious agencies has fluctuated
more: from 18 percent in 1940 to 79 percent in 1952 to 39 percent in *Source: McCleary Global Compassion: Private Voluntary Organizations and U.S. Foreign
Policy since 1939 (Oxford University Press, 2009). Note: Data missing for 1975–77, 1979, 1982.
1995 and 46 percent in 2005. Since religious PVOs in 2005 were only
33 percent in terms of numbers, the size in terms of revenue of the
typical religious PVO was larger than that of a typical secular agency. they are administered. But the percentage of PVO revenues accounted
Federal funding has been and remains an important source of PVO for by federal funding has fallen sharply over the last 20 years, while
revenue, but for an increasingly smaller number of agencies. It also the percentage garnered from private sources has grown (with money
represents a form of direct governmental control over PVO programs from international organizations and other governments comprising
in that the government determines the programs it will fund and how minor amounts). From 1996 to 2005, the federal share of PVO revenue

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June 2010 MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS 27

 Government Relations

averaged 35 percent for secular and only 14 percent for religious agen-
cies (Catholic Relief Services is an exception; federal revenues typically
account for well over 50 percent of its funding). The federal share is par-
ticularly small for evangelical PVOs, the fastest growing group in recent
decades. Some schools of thought have viewed PVO overseas programs
as a manifestation of official U.S. government foreign policy. However,
as these funding trends demonstrate, that view no longer addresses
much of what PVOs do as most of their activity is now independent of
federal funding, with about half carried out by religious organizations.
Large PVOs have traditionally dominated the competition for federal
revenues. In 2001, USAID introduced a program to work with small
and nascent PVOs, using federal funding to develop their capacity-
building; this was part of the rationale for the Faith-based and Com-
munity Initiatives of President Bush. That said, federal grants and
contracts still flow predominantly to larger PVOs, commercial and
military enterprises with the professional staff to handle the substantial
processes involved in these awards. Smaller agencies, which lack such
staffing, are still largely left out. For example, from 1953 to 2005, 41
percent of registered agencies reported receiving no federal funding.
This may have significant funding implications. While private
sources account for an ever-growing percentage of total PVO revenues,
my research has found that the more federal funds a PVO receives,

Table 1. Top ten lists for PVO total real revenue (millions of 2005 dollars)
Private Voluntary Organization Type Total revenue Federal percent
2005
AmeriCares Foundation Secular 849 0.0
World Vision Faith-founded 795 18.4
Food for the Poor Faith-founded 760 5.7
2005

GAVI Fund Secular 747 8.6

Catholic Relief Services Catholic 699 47.4
CARE Secular 624 35.4
Feed the Children Evangelical 543 4.5
Save the Children Secular 392 31.4
MAP International Evangelical 344 0.0
Samaritan’s Purse Evangelical 314 2.4
1990
United Israel Appeal Jewish 610 8.6
CARE Secular 439 51.5
Catholic Relief Services Catholic 329 72.6
1990

Institute of International Education Secular 210 33.1

Christian Children’s Fund Secular 147 0.0
Rotary Foundation Secular 142 1.4
American-Jewish Joint Distribution Committee Jewish 138 27.1
Lutheran World Relief Protestant 138 87.0
World Vision Faith-founded 121 27.0
Save the Children Secular 109 48.9
1970
United Israel Appeal Jewish 760 0.1
Catholic Relief Services Catholic 652 64.6
CARE Secular 500 82.8
1970

Church World Service Ecumenical 167 34.3

American-Jewish Joint Distribution Committee Jewish 120 4.5
Hadassah Jewish 97.6 1.7
Christian Children’s Fund Secular 82.8 0.8
Lutheran World Relief Protestant 65.1 39.3
Foster Parents Plan Secular 57.4 0.2
MAP International Evangelical 54.5 0.6
1950
American-Jewish Joint Distribution Committee Jewish 247 2.5
Catholic Relief Services Catholic 194 32.7
Hadassah Jewish 155 61.9
1950

CARE Secular 54.1 11.3

Church World Service Ecumenical 53.4 0.0
Lutheran World Relief Protestant 42.6 33.8
Mennonite Central Committee Evangelical 9.6 6.2
Organization for Rehabilitation and Training Jewish 9.1 0.0
International Rescue and Relief Committee Secular 8.8 53.4
Near East Foundation Secular 8.2 2.4

28 MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS June 2010

 Government Relations

Internationally focused
master’s degree programs
the more likely that PVO is to receive private funds. I estimate that for designed to advance
every additional dollar of federal money a PVO receives this year, it your career.
will receive 30 cents more next year in private funds. That is, federal
funding seems to represent a certifying device or magnet for private
giving. Given this, it is understandable that many PVOs value the
continued availability of federal funding.

Re-aligning PVO-government relations

But what effect does all this have on PVOs decision-making? And what
does it suggest about PVO-federal government relations going forward?
Looking at PVO-U.S. government relations during World War II and
the wars in Korea, Vietnam and Iraq, I found that PVOs with minimal
or no federal funds seek to remain independent of the government and Put Your passion
military. Agencies such as the American Friends Service Committee Into Practice
and Oxfam as a policy do not accept federal funds. As a consequence,
they remain more focused on the demands of their constituencies. On
the other hand, PVOs that rely heavily on federal government funds,
such as Catholic Relief Services and CARE, tend to cooperate with the
U.S. government and military during wartime. This data supports the
idea that PVOs that rely more heavily on federal funding tend to follow
the U.S. government’s foreign policy direction or at least not criticize Learn more at www.sit.edu
it. As a consequence, they tend to deviate from their original mission admissions@sit.edu
and become lax in retaining contact with their constituencies. PVOs Toll-free (US) 800-336-1616 or 802-258-3510
that remain financially independent serve as pressure groups, urging
the government to alter its foreign policy focus.
The data clearly shows that PVOs increasingly operate on private
funding, giving them freedom to choose where to work, when and how.
And by remaining independent of federal oversight, agencies benefit-
ing from private funding can better compete in the field of relief and
development. The future role of the federal government may be one of
“policy advisor” rather than major PVO funder. USAID, if it is to play a
significant role in international development, might reshape itself into a 2010 Annual Meeting for Members
“think tank” of experts who can assist PVOs in their work and serve as Washington, DC  
“broker” matching federal dollars with private funds on specific projects.
Today, given these shifts, PVOs are positioned to rethink their Finance, Grants & Contracts—July 12‐13 
approach to international development and their relationship with the Cross Operations—July 14 
U.S. government. A reassessment of PVO-state relations similar to the Human Resources—July 15‐16 
New Directions Legislation of 1973 would realign the partnership along
mutual goals. More importantly, it would reaffirm the essential role of
PVOs in foreign aid. Large agencies provide efficiency of scale and their Learn  from  experts,  share  your  experience  with 
work is invaluable, particularly in addressing macro-issues. Yet, at the peers,  connect  with  colleagues  from  InsideNGO’s 
same time, fostering smaller agencies through private-public funding member base of more than 250 organizations.  
would introduce innovation and flexibility in the delivery of certain types
of projects. Religious agencies historically and currently are significant The full agenda will include over 60 sessions aimed 
players and lessons can be learned from their fund-raising techniques. at addressing the core challenges faced by interna‐
PVO contribution to U.S. foreign affairs is a fundamental aspect of tional development and relief operations staff. 
our democracy. It is time to realign PVO-state relations, not by having
more federal dollars flowing to PVOs but by defining the dynamics
of this strategic partnership. MD “Good mix of people with different perspectives and experiences 
coming together to discuss relevant and important issues that impact 
Ms. McCleary is also the author of the award-winning book Global the effectiveness of our work.” 
Compassion: Private Voluntary Organizations and U.S. Foreign Policy “It was so informative…. I walked away from each session with 
since 1939 (Oxford University Press). something that I can use or that I can learn from.” 

Agree or disagree with what you’ve just read?

Send a Letter to the Editor to publications@interaction.org To learn more, go to—www.InsideNGO.org 

June 2010 MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS 29

Building Better
continued from page 18
who are supporting these efforts with their own
resources or taxpayers funding.”
For Jaime, his experience in Haiti has rein-
forced the lessons of the Peruvian earthquake.
“The disaster risk reduction [DRR] perspec-
tive has to be part of every NGO policy. The
different stakeholders on DRR need to deepen
their communication and coordination.”
Jaime believes one of the greatest outcomes
of the Views from the Frontline survey has been
that it has helped involve and connect the gov-
ernment, organizations and communities at the
local level in DRR. These new partnerships are
leading to increased local capacity and increased
local demand for building safety and resilience.
All of that is a vital element in building back
better when disaster strikes, as well as in dra-
matically reducing the impact of disasters. MD
MDG Review Summit
continued from page 16
InterAction will be working with partners to
help the administration follow through on its
plans. Additionally, they will help identify key
moments that can be leveraged to influence this
process and to message around the MDGs.
Getting involved
Around the world, civil society groups are
advocating to their governments for strong
actions at the September Summit. To learn
more, please visit the MDG 2010 website where
you can learn and share information about the
Summit and get involved. Public mobilization
efforts are also being planned, including Stand
Up, Take Action, the yearly worldwide mobi-
lization in support of the MDGs, strategically
planned for the weekend of September 17–19,
prior to the Summit.
One hundred eighty-nine world leaders
made an historic promise in 2000 when they
agreed to work together to improve the lives
of the world’s poorest people. Through work
on the Summit and the preparations for it, civil
society, non-governmental organizations and
the private sector can make a difference; we
can strengthen our collective ability to meet
these crucial development goals. When world
leaders gather in September, our goal to sup-
port efforts to ensure that the voices of their
citizens will follow them, telling them loudly
and clearly: “We will no longer stay seated or
silent in the face of poverty and the broken
promises to end it!” MD
30 MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS June 2010
MDG Assessment
continued from page 14
UN World Summit, only a few weeks after
the then-U.S. Ambassador to the UN tried
to delete the Millennium Development Goals
from international agreements. The differ-
ence in the diplomatic climate could hardly
be greater.
But governments are only one piece of the
MDG puzzle. For the MDGs to succeed in
any deep and practical way as a global move-
ment, they must be accessible and actionable
for people of all backgrounds. Civil society
leaders are crucial in mobilizing advocacy
around specific deliverables. Business is essen-
tial for its technology and prominent public
voices. Private philanthropy plays a pivotal
role in supporting innovation and directing
attention towards areas that remain otherwise
overlooked.
Social entrepreneurs are also crucial for
their savvy in leveraging new technologies
and creating online movements for action
spanning all parts of the world. Organiza-
tions like Charity:water and Kiva.org have
been marvelously successful in motivating
publics to understand that their personal con-
tributions can make an enormous difference.
They are tapping into one of the other global
transformations of the past decade: the con-
nectivity revolution that allows data to flow
and communities to connect across all corners
of the planet.
The MDG summit is an opportunity to
frame an operational agenda around key
action areas that can deliver the MDGs as
results and mobilize crucial partnerships well
beyond government actors. These action areas
can help professional communities organize
themselves around work plans and critical
needs. Leadership groups can take at least
indirect personal responsibility for coordi-
nation, fundraising, public engagement and
general problem-solving across constituencies.
Specifically, an MDG action agenda can be
framed around eight key areas:
• Economic growth strategies—focused on
rural development, urban development and
national infrastructure, including for energy
and transport (this relates to MDG 1-a);
• Agriculture and nutrition—recogniz-
ing that food production and quality are
essential for tackling hunger and agricul-
tural productivity is crucial for economic
growth in smallholder farming econo-
mies (MDG 1–b);
• Education—recognizing that the global
education objective now needs to be
raised from primary to secondary com-
pletion (MDGs 2 and 3);
• Gender equality—appreciating that all
action areas need to include specific
strategies for tackling challenges faced
uniquely by girls and women, including
political representation and the ongo-
ing epidemic of violence against women
(MDG 3);
• Basic health—recognizing that the MDGs
for child mortality, maternal health and
infectious diseases merit integration into
a consolidated implementation mecha-
nisms for primary health and health sys-
tems (MDGs 4, 5 and 6);
• Water and sanitation—recognizing that
the international system lacks proper
institutional mechanisms for tackling
these targets (MDG 7-a);
• Ecosystems management—acknowledg-
ing that the 2010 MDG target for bio-
diversity has been missed, and that this
area merits a concrete action plan guided
by ecological expertise (MDG 7-b); and
• Information and communications tech-
nologies (ICT)—recognizing that this
and trade are the major remaining gaps
of MDG 8 and that ICT are overwhelm-
ingly an area for ongoing private sector
leadership (MDG 8).
A fresh take on MDG action
Governments have much less of a monop-
oly on the MDG action agenda than even five
years ago. Policy decisions and public finance
remain crucial, but the world cannot wait on
governments alone. Within the next decade,
system innovation, public mobilization and
public accountability will mostly come from
other constituencies and governments will
follow the leaders.
There is no reason why a business entrepre-
neur in Silicon Valley or a community entre-
preneur in Ontario cannot contribute to the
global MDG agenda in a measure equal to that
of an institutional leader in Washington, DC
or Ottawa. Leaders from business, academia
and civil society will need to work together to
galvanize success over the five years to the
MDG deadline. In so doing, they can guide a
decade-long set of breakthroughs that will
endure well beyond 2015, bolstering the global
poverty elimination agenda that carries for-
ward the achievements of the MDGs. MD
 Have you gathered lessons learned
from your work in the field that

Best Practices
could benefit others? Send your
summary of less than 1000 words to
cbrobst@interaction.org and share
your expertise with the entire NGO
community.

Best Practices and

women with women-friendly
technology and training in areas
including community leadership,

Innovations Initiative
livestock management, village
funds management, and
income generation) women

First Round Winners became more self-reliant and

empowered, and saw their status
in the community improve.
positively to economic
InterAction is pleased to announce the winners of the incentives and that facilitating
first round of our Best Practices and Innovations (BPI) Initia- market linkages helps spur
tive, which focused on agriculture and rural livelihoods. The BPI interest, increases farmers’
Initiative was launched in September 2009 with the support of participation and can improve
the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to technology adoption.
promote information sharing on effective program approaches
and improve practice standards. All submissions were reviewed
by a selection committee of experts and evaluated according
to six criteria: evidence of effectiveness/success, efficiency/
cost-effectiveness, equitable outcomes for women and men, Helen Keller International
sustainability and replicability/adaptability. Short descriptions Best Practice Award for
of the award winners, recently recognized at an event at Inter- Livestock Production
Action, are below. More information on these interventions and
the BPI Initiative can be found on InterAction’s website at www. Heifer International In Bangladesh, Helen Keller
interaction.org/best-practices-innovations. Best Practice Award for International’s Improved
Livestock Production and Poultry Program promotes
Gender Integration local poultry-rearing with
improved management and
targeted smallholder farmer Heifer International’s Women feeding practices, including
households with a demand- Farmers Building Community creep feeding (to increase
driven approach to enhance the Resilience through Harnessing egg production), appropriate
use of market information for Crops and Livestock project housing and proper vaccination.
farm-level strategic decision- built economic resilience and While improved poultry-
making and thereby increase self-reliance in a Zambian rearing practices have been
incomes. Expanded knowledge community by increasing crop developed and implemented
of markets, value chains yields and improving family by other organizations, HKI’s
and business opportunities nutrition through gifts of livestock program is the first to integrate
enabled farmers to select highly and training in their care. It nutrition education and asset
ADRA International demanded crops, enhance encouraged environmentally protection training as essential
Best Practice Award for Access farming practices, and improve friendly farming, including the components of poultry-rearing
to Markets product quality in response use of natural fertilizers and and to target the landless ultra-
to market specifications. By prevention of overgrazing. A poor as community-based
Under its USAID-funded emphasizing the market and central objective of the project vaccinators. Results from
project, “Food Security: A facilitating market linkages, was to overcome gender-based program areas show increased
Market-Oriented Approach, sales value experienced a discrimination and gender egg production, household
Supported by Integrated 50-fold increase from 2002 to stereotyping in terms of access income and egg consumption
Development for Bolivia,” 2008, despite the occurrence to resources and ownership of among children under five
ADRA (Adventist Development of El Niño. This suggests that livestock. As a result of project years of age and women of
and Relief Agency) International smallholder farmers respond activities (such as providing reproductive age.

June 2010 MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS 31

 Best Practices
Mercy Corps
Best Practice Award for Access
to Markets and Value-chain
Development
In Nepal, Kyrgyzstan, Central
African Republic, Somalia
and Zimbabwe, Mercy Corps’
Breaking New Ground
via Partnerships between
Smallholder Farmers,
Agribusinesses and Financial
Institutions uses a combined
approach of improving high
impact agricultural value chains
and expanding access to
agricultural financial services
to increase farmer productivity
and incomes of over 80,000
beneficiaries in deep rural
areas and transitional country
contexts. The approach
successfully integrates extensive
market research, farmer and
agri-business development,
and commercial development
of financial services, such
as village savings and loan
associations, revolving funds,
multilateral financial institutions
or banks. Cumulative results
show an increase in sales of
The global event for humanitarian aid, disaster 30 percent and an increase in
relief and development effectiveness profit margin of 35 percent for
Walter E. Washington Convention Center smallholder farmers.
Register FREE online www.aidforumonline.org
Exhibition with integrated workshop
4
sessions and side events;
Multilateral interface for NGO, UN,
4
government and commercial sector
to build partnerships;
Unique showcase for suppliers;
4 World Vision Australia
Network for procurement, logistics,
4 Best Practice Award for Natural
project management and supplying Resources Management and
professionals;
Opportunity to address challenges to enhance best practice,
4 Agro-Forestry
cross-sector collaboration and effectiveness.
In partnership with
In various countries
Tel: +44 (0) 207 871 0188 across Africa, World Vision
Email: event@aidforumonline.org is promoting the practice of
Find out more about AIDF at the InterAction Forum, stand 34. Farmer Managed Natural
Regeneration (FMNR), in
which farmers manage the
32 MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS June 2010
InterAction Forum_AIDF_28.04.2010.indd 1 28/04/2010 13:38:43
regrowth from still-living stumps
and root systems of trees that
have been cut down to reverse
desertification and biodiversity
loss, increase incomes, improve
food security and reduce
poverty. This approach engages
communities in reforestation that
is not dependent on repeated
outside intervention and is
simple enough to spread quickly
from farmer to farmer. It involves
training, information sharing,
consensus building, iterative
troubleshooting and liaison
with local agencies. FMNR
is a best practice in that it is
pro-poor, community-centered
and produces sustainable
environmental and economic
results from the very first year.
World Vision Honduras
Best Practice Award for Nutrition
and Productivity
The goal of World Vision’s
Food Security and Risk
Reduction Program for
Western Honduras (2004-
2009), funded by USAID, was to
reduce household food
insecurity by improving health
and nutrition and increasing
food access. Approximately
157,000 Hondurans throughout
128 communities were served.
This was achieved through two
integrated components: (1)
Road to Health (CASA), focused
on improving the nutritional
status of women and children,
as well as increasing access to
health services access and
water and sanitation; and (2)
More Food and Agro-ecological
Businesses (MANA), focused on
agricultural production, markets
access and natural resources
management, as well as civil
society municipal strengthening
and citizenry participation. MD
Kicker
Projects
Tsunami Reconstruction
Initiative
Organization
International Youth Foundation
Location
Tsunami-affected areas of
India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and
Thailand
Funders
Nokia, Sylvan/Laureate
Foundation, Unocal
The Project
In response to the December 2004 Asian
tsunami, the International Youth Foundation
(IYF) and Nokia took steps to support
long-term recovery efforts with a special
focus on addressing the needs of youth.
The result was the Tsunami Reconstruction
Initiative (TRI), a three-year program
designed to help young people rebuild their
lives through providing access to training,
jobs, apprenticeships and/or loans.
Carried out in tsunami-affected areas of
India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand,
TRI also benefited from the support of the
Sylvan/Laureate Foundation and Unocal.
Why the specific focus on youth
livelihood development? Needs
assessments conducted in the aftermath
of the tsunami underscored the urgency
of supporting youth, given that many
young people suffered interruptions in their
educations and a severe loss of livelihood
opportunities. In-country programs were
carried out by local youth-serving NGOs,
with IYF providing capacity-building
support in the areas of micro/small-
enterprise development, execution of loan
Subscribe to Monday Developments
Call 202-552-6548 or
email publications@interaction.org
funds, life skills training and evaluation.
From 2006-2009, TRI reached over 12,400
young people. With the training, loans
and technical assistance they received,
youth created a range of micro- and small-
enterprises—from processing cashews to
bottling juices, from producing handicrafts
to promoting tourism. The economic ripple
effect is now being felt through the creation
of jobs and business sector growth.
Special emphasis was placed on empow-
ering young women and promoting youth
entrepreneurship in communities where
youth had difficulty accessing loan funds and
lacked relevant knowledge and skills.
Among the initiative’s key lessons are the
importance of educating local communities
about young people’s potential as
entrepreneurs, identifying livelihood
opportunities with the greatest chances for
success, and offering flexible, adaptable
supports for youth entrepreneurs.
In India, the Community Collective
Society for Integrated Development
(CCFID), the local implementing partner,
recognized early on that providing credit
alone would not be enough. To complement
loan funds, CCFID offered a range of
livelihood support services—offering
assistance with product development and
business planning, linking producers to
markets, and pursuing diverse business
models design to increase the profitability
and scale of youth-run enterprises. With
such support, women’s Self Help Group
members in the coastal community of Killai
now manage a successful crab “fattening”
business. In addition to increased incomes,
the women now have insurance against
losses incurred in future natural disasters.
IYF is exploring how the successes
and lessons learned from the Tsunami
Reconstruction Initiative can be applied to
address the employment needs of youth
following similar disasters, including the
January 2010 earthquake in Haiti.
For further information, please visit www.
iyfnet.org.
June 2010 MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS 33
Does your organization implement
unique projects or programs? Share
them with the Monday Developments
community. Send your project’s
name, implementing organization,
location and funder(s) along with a
brief description of 400 words or less
to cbrobst@interaction.org
Parivartan
Organization
International Center for
Research on Women, Family
Violence Prevention Fund,
Mumbai Sports Association,
Apnalaya, Breakthrough
Location
Mumbai, India
Funders
Nike Foundation
The Project
Men and boys have a critical role to
play in empowering women and achieving
gender equality. The International Center for
Research on Women (ICRW) Asia Regional
Office is adapting a program developed
by the Family Violence Prevention Fund
(FVPF) called “Coaching Boys into Men” for
use with cricket players, their coaches and
peers.
The program, called “Parivartan” which
means change for the better, includes work
with schools and the community, and aims
to reduce gender-based violence through
sports and cricket coaching. This three-year
program is starting out in Mumbai, the major
hub of cricket in India.
ICRW, in partnership with FVPF, the
Mumbai School Sports Association, the
NGO Apnalaya and Breakthrough (an
international human rights organization),
works with 25 cricket coaches and
16 mentors who are attending regular
workshops. The aim is to teach 1,000
aspiring cricketers to help stop violence and
harassment of women and girls.
Coaches, mentors and their athletes
participate in various activities in Parivartan.
Coaches learn how to identify “teachable
moments” on the field where they can point
out inappropriate language and behavior
and explain how to change them. ICRW will
Projects
measure the impact of the program on the
men and boys, as well as the women and
girls in their lives. As Ravi Verma, ICRW’s
regional director explained, “In India, as in
many other countries, gender inequity and
abuse against females is socially accepted.
We believe that when young men have
access to role models of peaceful, gender-
equitable men in their lives, they are more
likely to embrace these characteristics.”
Verma will be at an ICRW Insight to Action
seminar on June 15th to talk about the
Parivartan program.
Ramadan Action Guide:
Advocacy Resource on Hunger
and Poverty
Organizations
Alliance to End Hunger, Islamic
Relief USA, Council on American-
Islamic Relations, Islamic Society
of North America, Muslim Public
Affairs Council and ONE.
Location
Nationwide
The Project
The Ramadan Action Guide, written by a
network of organizations led by the Alliance
to End Hunger, Islamic Relief USA and
ONE, provides specific suggestions for how
Muslims can build awareness, compassion
and advocacy about hunger and poverty
during the season of Ramadan and beyond.
Since the project’s inception in 2007,
four guides have been produced and over
500,000 copies have been distributed through
various organizations. Originally funded by
a grant from Bread for the World Institute,
the partnering organizations have continued
the project into its fourth year in response to
the popularity of previous publications and
demand from the community.
The project evolved from a roundtable
discussion hosted by the Alliance to End
Hunger in 2007 in which Muslim and Jewish
religious and non-profit leaders met to
discuss how their respective communities
could engage in hunger advocacy.
Muslim participants expressed a desire
for a hunger advocacy resource for the
Islamic community, leading the Alliance to
End Hunger to collaborate with Islamic Relief
34 MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS June 2010
USA and ONE to develop the Ramadan
Action Guide.
Building on the understanding that
Ramadan is a time to serve those who are
less fortunate, the 2010 guide is rooted in
the emphasis of the hungry and poor in
supplication during Ramadan taraweeh
prayers. Taraweeh prayers are special
evening prayers during which long portions
of the Qur’an are recited.
The 2010 guide provides ideas for
fundraisers, food drives, advocacy efforts and
direct feeding programs. Advocacy efforts
outlined include: writing letters and e-mails to
members of Congress; meeting with federal,
state, or local elected officials; reaching out
and being a positive image; coordinating
food pantry and shelter efforts; organizing
campus action; and participating at Islamic
Relief’s Day of Dignity, where communities
around the country come together to provide
services to homeless individuals and families.
With approximately 1 billion hungry people
in the world and nearly 1 in 5 American
children living in households that struggle to
put food on the table, the Ramadan Action
Guide raises awareness of the breadth and
scope of the growing hunger problem that
grips our nation and world.
The 2010 Ramadan Action Guide will be
available for distribution at the 47th Annual
Islamic Society of North America Convention
on July 2-5, 2010. Electronic copies will be
available for download at the websites of the
Alliance to End Hunger and the ONE
Campaign. MD
Project claims are made by the featured
organizations and are not confirmed or
endorsed by InterAction.
Monday Developments
Magazine provides
in-depth news and
commentary on global
Monday Developments Magazine
trends that affect relief,
refugee and development work. It features the
latest information on the work of InterAction
members around the world and keeps readers
up-to-date on legislative action in Congress
that could impact U.S. foreign assistance
to poor countries. Monday Developments
Magazine also describes new resources for
relief and development workers, professional
growth opportunities, upcoming events and
employment listings.
www.interaction.org/monday-developments
Ethical Dilemmas
continued from page 22
tion and participation, confidentiality, con-
sent and dissemination of results. The group
believes there should be “no survey without
service” and “no service without survey”—
underscoring the commitment to benefit-
ting the affected population and the need for
research and evaluation of interventions.
There has been some exemplary emerging
research in this field that takes into account
such considerations and engages affected
communities in partnerships to discuss their
priorities and to foster local agency. The work-
ing group from the Harvard summit views its
report as a living document and continues to
seek input from individuals and groups from
various geographical regions, especially those
from low-income countries. The goal is to
facilitate high quality research, evaluation,
and assessments that take into account ethical
considerations, involve the affected popula-
tions and contribute to tangible benefits and
best practices. MD
Questions and comments can be sent to the
authors at zhijazi@imcworldwide.org and
iweissbecker@imcworldwide.org.
Further Reading
• Allden K., Jones L., Weissbecker I.,
Wessells M., Bolton P., Betancourt T.S.,
Hijazi Z., Galappatti A., Yamout R., Patel
P., Sumathipala A. (2009). Mental Health
and Psychosocial Support in Crisis and
Conflict: Report of the Mental Health
Working Group—Harvard Humanitarian
Action Summit 2009. Prehospital
Disaster Medicine, 24(4), s217–s227.
• Bolton, P., Bass, J., Betancourt, T.,
Speelman, L., Onyango, G., Clougherty,
K. F., et al. (2007). Interventions for
Depression Symptoms Among Adolescent
Survivors of War and Displacement
in Northern Uganda: A Randomized
Controlled Trial. JAMA, 298(5), 519-527.
• Inter-Agency Standing Committee
(2007). IASC Guidelines on Mental
Health and Psychosocial Support in
Emergency Settings. Available online at
multiple locations including www.unhcr.
org/refworld/docid/46c0312d2.html
• Wessels, M.G. (2009). Do No Harm:
Toward Contextually Appropriate
Psychosocial Support in Emergency
Settings. American Psychologist, Nov.
2009, 842-851.
Kicker

Events
It’s free and easy to publicize
your upcoming events in Monday
Developments Magazine. Send your
event’s name, date, location and
contact information to publications@
interaction.org

May Open Call for Proposals Toronto, Ontario Ecology & Sustainable
Washington, DC www.g20.org Living
3 – 14 May Contact: Soledad Guerra at San Ramon, Alajuela,
Commission on (202) 623-1213 July Costa Rica
Sustainable Development www.iadb.org/cultural www.earthedintl.org/
New York, NY 10 July Summer.htm
www.un.org/esa/dsd/csd/ 2 – 4 June Sweet Mother
csd_csd18.shtml InterAction International Celebration September
Annual Member Forum of Motherhood
6 May Washington, DC Adelaide, South Australia TBD
Indirect Costs: Full Contact: bwallace@ www.sweetmother Third UN Private Sector
Recovery & Advanced interaction.org international.org/ Forum: MDGs
Concepts New York, NY
Washington, DC 7 – 9 June 12-13 July Contact: Melissa Powell,
www.insidengo.org/ Women Deliver Annual Meeting: powell1@un.org
workshops.htm Conference Finance, Grants and
International Meeting Contracts 22-24 September
18 – 19 May on Maternal and Washington, DC Millenium Development
Navigating International Reproductive Health www.insidengo.org/ Goals Review Summit
Human Resources in the Washington, DC workshops.htm New York, NY
Nonprofit World www.womendeliver.org www.un.org/
Washington, DC 14 July millenniumgoals/calendar.
www.insidengo.org/ 23 June Annual Meeting: shtml
workshops.htm 8th Annual Local Cross-Operations
Networks Forum Washington, DC October
20 May New York, USA www.insidengo.org/
Federal Grant & Contract Contact: haertle@un.org workshops.htm 9-11 October
Requirements for HR
2010 Annual Meetings of
Professionals 24 – 25 June 15 – 16 July the International Monetary
Washington, DC UN Compact Global Annual Meeting: Fund and the World Bank
www.insidengo.org/ Leaders Summit Human Resources Group
workshops.htm New York, NY Washington, DC Washington, DC
www.unglobalcompact. www.insidengo.org/ www.imf.org/external/am/
22 May org/newsandevents/2010_ workshops.htm index.htm
International Day Leaders_Summit/index.html
for Biodiversity 18 – 23 July 17 October
www.biodiversity-day.info 25 – 27 June XVIII International International Day for the
36th Annual G8 Summit AIDS Conference Eradication of Poverty
June Huntsville, Ontario Vienna, Austria Worldwide
www.canada-g8-summit. www.aids2010.org/ www.un.org/esa/socdev/
Through 1 June com/ social/intldays/IntlDay/index.
Cultural Center 25 July html
Contemporary 26 – 27 June Earth Education
Jamaican Art Exhibition: Annual G20 Summit International Deep

June 2010 MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS 35

 Where do YOU find the latest issues and
trends in international development and
humanitarian assistance?

Monday Developments Magazine provides in-depth news and commentary on global trends that affect relief,
refugee and development work. Monday Developments also describes new resources for humanitarian workers,
professional growth opportunities, upcoming events and employment listings.

Subscribe now at
Monday Developments Magazine
www.mondaydevelopments.org
Jobs
Are you looking to hire experienced
development and humanitarian
professionals? The candidates
you’re looking for read Monday
Developments! Send your classified
position announcements or display
advertisements to Katie Delaney at
publications@interaction.org

Program Director, Youth
Assessments Africa
Baltimore, MD
The International Youth Foundation (IYF)
is a global non-profit organization, work-
ing in over 70 countries and territories to
improve the conditions and prospects for
young people where they live, work and play.
The Program Director will lead and conduct
several multi-sectoral youth assessments in
Africa and support pilot initiatives that grow
from these assessments. He/she will provide
overall direction for the project, lead the de-
velopment of assessment instruments, pro-
vide training for all team members in their
use, and will manage all data collection and
analysis activities. He/she will oversee the
development and implementation of pilot ac-
tivities that may result from the findings of the
assessments and will be responsible for es-
tablishing and maintaining effective working
relationships with key stakeholders (donors,
governments, and civil society actors) and lo-
cal and international consultants to insure that
the project is professionally managed and
its approach is rigorous and relevant to the
needs of the donor. Please visit http://www.
iyfnet.org/ (go to “Join us” and “Jobs @ IYF”)
to view the complete job description, qualifi-
cations, and instructions to apply.
Country Director
Goma, Democratic Republic of
Congo
The Eastern Congo Initiative (ECI) is re-
cruiting a Country Director to be based in
Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo. Work-
ing closely with ECI’s U.S.-based Managing
Director, the Country Director will manage
ECI’s grant-making work in the DRC and con-
tribute to its advocacy agenda. The Country
Director will help to identify, vet, and evalu-
ate potential and actual ECI grantees and will
represent ECI to government officials, NGOs,
media, and other senior officials in the DRC
and internationally. For more information see
www.easterncongo.org. See full position de-
scription at: http://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/
Job/377608-261/c
careers.interaction.org

Business Development Manager, NetsforLife®

This position is based in Accra, Ghana and supports the NetsforLife® implementing
Episcopal Relief and partners aligning their programs with National Malaria Control Programs (NMCP)
Development is the interna- and other key players in order to maximize opportunities to grow quality programs
tional relief and development through in-country resource mobilization and strategic partnering. Coordinates
agency of the Episcopal with in-country partners and regional staff on upcoming local opportunities; leading
Church of the United States proposal teams; developing relationships with local leaders and partners; strength-
and an independent 501(c) ening relationships with donors and NMCP and coordinating high-level donor trips.
(3) organization. The agen- View a complete job description online at http://www.er-d.org/EmploymentOpportu-
cy takes its mandate from nities/.
Jesus’ words found in Mat-
thew 25. Its programs work
Qualifications
towards achieving the Millen-
BA required. MBA, MPH, MPA, International Policy or equivalent preferred. Mini-
nium Development Goals.
mum of 3-5 years work experience in fund raising, government service, lobbying
Together with the worldwide
or other government relations, and securing grants in the not-for-profit sector.
Church and ecumenical
Experience with statistics and financial information. Fluency in English is a must,
partners, Episcopal Relief &
and proficiency in French and Portuguese is preferred. Development experience,
Development strengthens
especially in Africa, is also desirable. Requirement: Ability and willingness to travel
communities today to meet
up to 60% of the time to risky and remote locations.
tomorrow’s challenges. We
rebuild after disasters and
To Apply submit a cover letter with salary requirements and a resume to erdjobs@
empower people by offering
er-d.org and indicate NetsforLife® Business Development Manager in the subject
lasting solutions that fight
line. Only qualified applicants will be contacted.
poverty, hunger and disease,
including HIV/AIDS and
Equal Opportunity Employment
malaria.
M/F/D/V

June 2010 MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS 37

 LOOKING FOR A NEW JOB
  in International Development or Humanitarian Relief?

 
 
Employment Opportunities
Africa Regional Director Kampala, Uganda
Africa Health Advisor Kampala, Uganda
Asia Regional Director Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Finance and Administration Monrovia, Liberia
Manager Liberia
InterAction’s online job board instantly
connects you to the latest humanitarian relief
Liberia Country Director Monrovia, Liberia and international development jobs as they
become available.
Senior Technical Advisor Portland, Oregon
Health Search by job sector, level, region and
country—or post your resume and let the
hiring managers come to you!
If you would like to learn more about Medical
Teams International or to apply for these Visit: careers.interaction.org
positions visit us at www.medicalteams.org.  

Country Directors*
The Peace Corps is looking for senior-level executives and
managers with exceptional leadership and motivational
skills, international experience (including living overseas),
administrative and financial management expertise, and
strong cross-cultural experience to serve as country directors.
International development experience is desired.
We seek candidates that are reflective of the diversity of
Peace Corps and our Volunteers.
Country directors must be United States citizens and must not
have been associated with intelligence activities. Candidates
should have work experience managing a program or business
of comparable size to a Peace Corps country program (i.e.,
approximately 15 to 50 staff, 50 to 250 Volunteers, and an
operating budget ranging from $900,000 to $4 million), as
well as experience mentoring staff and volunteers. Since
approximately 90 percent of Peace Corps staff at each post
are host country nationals, cross-cultural communication skills
are critical.
The salary range for these positions is $87,848 - $140,940.
These positions are time limited, as are the positions of
all Peace Corps U.S. direct hire employees. Employees are
appointed for a 30-month tour and may be granted a second
tour for a maximum of five years (60 months) with the agency.
NOW HIRING:
Program & Training Officers*
The Peace Corps is looking for senior-level managers with exceptional
skills to manage staff and design and manage international
development programs in a variety of fields such as health, education,
small business development and agriculture/environment that
positively impact communities overseas. International and cross-
cultural experience are required.
PTOs manage, advise and develop teams of professional program
and training staff to support Peace Corps Volunteers at post. Our
PTOs oversee the processes of planning, analysis, implementation
and monitoring of programs and training activities, support staff and
Volunteers to meet the expectations of project partners and conduct
staff development. These officers guide coordination between working
units to ensure effective strategic planning, cost-effective budgeting,
and appropriate recommendations.
We seek candidates that are reflective of the diversity of Peace Corps
and our Volunteers.
All PTOs must be United States citizens and must not have been
associated with intelligence activities. Candidates should have work
experience managing an international development program or
business, and mentoring staff and volunteers. Since approximately 90
percent of Peace Corps staff at each post are host country nationals,
strong cross-cultural communication skills are critical.
The salary range for these positions is $57,678 - $129,008. All Peace
Corps U.S. direct hire positions are time limited. Employees are
appointed for a 30-month tour and may be granted a second tour for a
maximum of five years (60 months) with the agency.
Administrative Officers*
The Peace Corps is looking for senior-level managers with
extensive administration and finance experience, international
and cross-cultural experience (including living overseas),
and exceptional management and leadership skills to serve
overseas as administrative officers.
The Administrative Officer ensures the effective management
of country operations in support of a population of staff
and Volunteers entirely dependent on the critical services
(administrative unit supervision, financial analysis, policy
execution and implementation) the AO provides.
We seek candidates that are reflective of the diversity of
Peace Corps and our Volunteers.
All Administrative Officers must be United States citizens and
must not have been associated with intelligence activities.
Candidates should have work experience managing a program
or business, and mentoring staff and volunteers. Since
approximately 90 percent of Peace Corps staff at each post
are host country nationals, cross-cultural communication skills
are critical.
The salary range for these positions is $46,736 - $104,534.
All Peace Corps U.S. direct hire positions are time limited.
Employees are appointed for a 30-month tour and may
be granted a second tour for a maximum of five years (60
months) with the agency.

The Peace Corps is one of the most successful and respected development agencies in the world. More than 195,000 Volunteers have served in 139 countries
since the inception of the Peace Corps in 1961. Thousands more from every background are eager to serve as teachers, business advisors, information technology
consultants, health and HIV/AIDS educators, and agricultural extension Volunteers.
Peace Corps accepts applications for these positions throughout the year. You may apply on-line through the website, http://pcoverseasjobs.avuedigital.us/. You
must complete the on-line application to be considered for a position; resumes are supplemental.
If you have any questions, please contact the Office of Overseas Recruitment, Selection and Support at 202-692-2411 or e-mail AOandPTOjobs@peacecorps.gov for
AO and PTO positions and CDSelection@peacecorps.gov for Country Director positions.
*While many of these positions do not require fluency in a language, some do. We anticipate a specific need for fluent French, Portuguese and Spanish speakers.
Job Openings Chief, Program
Development
Arlington,VA

Deputy, Chief
Financial Officer
Arlington,VA

Deputy Director,
Health
Arlington,VA

Chief of
Operations,
Infrastructure
Kabul,
Afghanistan

Deputy Chief
of Operations,
Infrastructure
Kabul,
Afghanistan

1621 North Kent Street For more

Fourth Floor information,
Arlington,VA 22209 contact Christine
P: 703.248.0161 Dalpino at
F: 703.248.0194 703.248.0161
www.ird.org or visit
www.ird.org and
click on “careers.”
 Wherever Your Mission Takes You - We Will Be There...
ContaCt our PVo SPeCialiStS:
Robert W. Albrecht, CPA / ralbrecht@grfcpa.com
Andreas A. Alexandrou, CPA / aalexandrou@grfcpa.com

Specialists with specific emphasis on auditing, evaluation, and internal control assessment
of field offices around the world

• A-133 compliance auditing • Internal control evaluation

• Pension plan auditing • Expatriate tax preparation
• Grant compliance procedures • Investment policy analysis
• Employee tax planning • Subrecipient activity review

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Bethesda, MD 20814
Phone: 301-951-9090 • Fax: 301-951-3570 • Website: www.grfcpa.com

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