2007

Annual Report

New
Visions

for Ending
Poverty

The U.S. public shows its
support for advancing human
dignity and peace in the world
through contributions to
InterAction members totaling
around $6 billion annually.
 About
InterAction
I
nterAction is the largest
coalition of U.S.-based international
nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs) focused on the world’s
poor and most vulnerable people.
Collectively, InterAction’s more
than 165 members work in every
developing country.
In poor communities throughout
the developing world, InterAction
members meet people halfway
in expanding opportunities and
supporting gender equality in
education, health care, agriculture,
small business and other areas.
To forestall or recover from the
violence that impacts millions
of innocent civilians, InterAction
exercises leadership in conflict
prevention, the peaceful resolution
of disputes, and peace-building
initiatives in post-conflict situations.
InterAction members also respond
to natural disasters and man-made
conflicts around the world.
The U.S. public shows its support
for advancing human dignity
and peace in the world through
contributions to InterAction
Advancing Our Common Agenda
for Relief and Development
members totaling around $6 billion
annually. InterAction leverages
the impact of this private support
by advocating for the expansion
of U.S. government investments
and by insisting that policies and
programs are responsive to the
realities of the world’s poorest and
most vulnerable populations.
InterAction’s comparative
advantage rests on the uniquely
field and practitioner-based
expertise of its members.
InterAction works with its
members to compile data on the
impact of NGO programs, as a
basis for promoting best practices
and evidence-based public policy
formulation.
InterAction brings the values and
experience of the NGO community
into the broader development
and humanitarian assistance
community through strategic
alliances with key partners around
particular issues and objectives.
These partnerships further leverage
InterAction’s political, intellectual
and financial capital. n
InterAction’s work is
guided by the
following priorities:
Goal 1
Promote a bold agenda to focus U.S.
development and humanitarian
assistance on improving the
conditions of the world’s poor and
most vulnerable.
1. Engage with the U.S.
government to advance poverty
alleviation and humanitarian
relief as major independent U.S.
foreign assistance priorities.
2. Advocate for the creation of a
cabinet-level U.S. department
that addresses development,
humanitarian assistance, and
other related issues.
Goal 2
Demonstrate and enhance NGO
accountability and impact in
development and humanitarian action.
Goal 3
Be the voice and prime representative
of U.S. international NGOs in building
alliances and common agendas with
NGO networks around the world and
with other strategic partners.
For more information visit
www.interaction.org
www.interaction.org 1
 Message from
President
the
and
Board Chair
W
e are pleased to report that 2007 was a
remarkable, history-making year of growth
for InterAction and our community:
• We contributed to greater achievement of the
Millennium Development Goals;
• We created an impressive portfolio of strong
partnerships with national and international allies;
• We boosted widespread support for development
reform and changed the conversation by opening
the possibility of a cabinet-level agency focused
on the world’s poor;
• We increased the visibility of the combined
impact of nongovernmental humanitarian and
development organizations through our ambitious
and extensive communications and advocacy
efforts; and
• We met the challenge of aligning InterAction’s
organizational structure with our ambitious goals.
The changing global landscape provides international
non-profits with many opportunities to move beyond
the debate around effective assistance to the different
approaches for providing development assistance
to the world’s poorest people. Building on the
past year and as we look ahead, our future is full of
opportunities. We are faced with the task of educating
policy-makers about the effectiveness of foreign
aid and the value of using poverty alleviation as the
Samuel Worthington
InterAction
President & CEO
2 www.interaction.org
cornerstone of foreign assistance. We plan to broaden
our influence by implementing an ambitious agenda
and working with established and new partners while
embracing emerging opportunities.
Leveraging our unique role as the nexus of the U.S.-
based community of international nongovernmental
organizations, we have created a robust outreach
plan to engage other sectors beyond our community
involved in global poverty alleviation. InterAction
will build a community of collaboration among non-
profits, corporations, governments, foundations and
others who have made eradicating global poverty
and responding to the myriad of challenges facing
the developing world (from climate change to human
security and well-being) a priority.
This annual report provides a snapshot of our accom-
plishments for the past year, and our plans for this year
and beyond. We are gratified by all we have accom-
plished with your support, and we trust that you will
be as energized as we are by the opportunities moving
forward into 2008. We continue to pursue our vision
with a strong program and financial foundation, a bold
agenda, and a team of talented and committed staff.
The support and engagement of InterAction members,
donors and partners has been invaluable and we look
forward to another exciting year of growth together. n
Charles MacCormack
InterAction - Board Chair
Save the Children – President

 Establishing Broad
Ownership
and
Support for
Development Reform
I
n October 2007, InterAction
released a report assessing the
U.S. government’s contributions
to the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs). The report, The
United States and the MDGs: U.S.
Contributions to Reducing Global
Poverty, found that U.S. foreign
assistance is not focused on
reducing poverty and continues
to operate outside the global
community’s poverty reduction
agenda as embodied by the MDGs.
InterAction, with the help of its
members, has already distributed
more than 2,000 copies of the
report to members of Congress, the
administration and the public.
Policy
InterAction finalized its grant funding
from the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation in late 2006; and much of
the Public Policy Unit’s work in 2007
was focused on the foreign assistance
reform process generally and on
InterAction’s own Foreign Assistance
Reform Monitoring (FARM) research
project specifically. PPU staff
members made research trips to
Bosnia, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Serbia,
4 www.interaction.org
Tanzania and Zambia in the fall, and
have integrated lessons learned
from their travels into InterAction’s
advocacy. Also of note on the
foreign assistance reform front, Sam
Worthington, InterAction President InterAction led a delegation
and CEO, testified before a Senate of staff from our member
Foreign Relations Subcommittee organizations to meet with the
on the subject in June 2007, and Office of Management and Budget
PPU staff briefed committee staff about the upcoming budget year
prior to the hearing. Following and long-term budget trends
the hearing, the PPU prepared a in foreign assistance. Working
written response to a question for closely with our members, we also
the record from a member of the created an account-by-account
committee. InterAction’s response,
which focused on USAID’s operating
expense constraints, was well
received in Congress and in USAID
missions around the world and was
part of InterAction’s successful efforts
to increase the agency’s operating
budget for the U.S. government’s
2008 fiscal year (FY). InterAction
also began work in late 2007 to
draft a white paper that lays out the
structure and rationale for a new
cabinet-level agency for international
development.
As we prepared for the release
of the U.S. FY2009 budget,
 need estimate for FY2009, to include all the accounts
we track. This document served as the basis for our
FY2009 advocacy budget with the administration
and congressional budget committees. We then
coordinated individual meetings with staff of most
of the members of the budget committees in the
House and Senate, as well as with House and Senate
leadership offices, to present the document and urge
robust funding for the overall International Affairs
account in the FY2009 budget resolution. We also
worked with our membership and strategic partners
like the U.S. Global Leadership Campaign (USGLC) to
get a record number of congressional signatures (125
Representatives and 61 Senators) on a letter to the
President supporting an increase in the International
Affairs account budget request. n

Demonstrating
and Enhancing
NGO Accountability

and
Impact
Membership
To help our member organizations meet the highest
standards of governance and practice, regular
self-certification has always been a requirement
for InterAction membership. In 2006, the board of
directors approved Self-Certification Plus (SCP),
a biennial mandatory process through which all
members must assess their organization’s compliance
with the InterAction PVO Standards.

A central goal of SCP is to catalyze member

organizations’ institutional growth and learning.
Through the SCP process members explore their
organization’s compliance with each. Failure to
complete the SCP process and verify compliance
with the PVO standards results in suspension from
InterAction membership until the process is completed.

www.interaction.org 5
Member organizations that have
successfully completed their
2006 SCP compliance have found
the exercise very useful, giving
their agencies an opportunity to
evaluate their internal policies
and procedures. The exercise also
created a track record of their
efforts to improve organizational
accountability and effectiveness.
The results of the 2006 and 2008
processes will be used to develop
a training program to assist
members in complying with the
InterAction PVO Standards and
to develop member capacity
for increased accountability.
InterAction will continue providing
technical assistance and plans
to pilot a peer review process to
examine opportunities to provide
an independent assessment with
minimal financial investment.
Five well-established member
agencies with child sponsorship
programs have also participated in a
6 www.interaction.org
certification process called the Child
Sponsorship Certification project.
These organizations continue to
push the accountability agenda,
putting themselves through
increased scrutiny and external
assessment by auditors who directly
monitor their field activity. Their
observations will be shared with
the broader InterAction community,
while their experiences continue to
guide the development of a uniform
method for tracking the benefits
received by sponsored children and
their families.
Strategic Impact
Monitoring and evaluation
standards: InterAction’s Evaluation
and Program Effectiveness Working
Group responded to the demand
for greater NGO accountability to
program participants, partners
and donors. In 2007, members
wrote evaluation standards that are
now part of the Self-Certification
Plus process and InterAction’s
Recommended Standards and
Guidelines, which provide evidence
to stakeholders of our community’s
commitment to excellence.
Humanitarian Policy
and Practice
InterAction played an active role
in the development of several
important new sets of guidelines for
humanitarian policy and practice.
Mental health guidelines:
InterAction hosted the Washington,
D.C. launch of the Inter-Agency
Standing Committee’s Guidelines
on Mental Health and Psycho-Social
Support in Emergency Settings.
The guidelines offer essential
advice on how to facilitate an
integrated approach to address
the most urgent mental health
and psychosocial issues in
emergency situations. They were
developed through an open and
consultative process, incorporating
a broad range of key actors in a
diverse range of humanitarian
aid settings, and reflect the
understanding that humanitarian
interventions need to address
the full range of beneficiary
needs. Christian Children’s Fund
represented InterAction during the
development of the guidelines.
NGO-military relations: In the
area of NGO-military relations,
InterAction played the leading
role in the development of the
Guidelines for Relations Between U.S.
Armed Forces and Non-Governmental
Humanitarian Organizations
in Hostile or Potentially Hostile
Environments. These guidelines
were formally endorsed by the U S.
Department of Defense (DOD) and
InterAction at a meeting at the U.S.
Institute of Peace on July 24, 2007,
which followed approval of the text
by InterAction’s Board of Directors
the previous month. The guidelines
were negotiated over a two-year
period by InterAction’s Civil-Military
Task Force and representatives
of DOD, with the good offices of
USIP. The Pentagon also intends to
observe them in its dealings with
the broader humanitarian assistance
community. These guidelines
are seen as a model for similar
agreements between civil society
and armed forces outside the U.S.
military in specific contexts. n
Building an
International
Alliance to
Advance InterAction’s
Goals
I
n 2007 InterAction made
significant progress in its efforts
to build international alliances to
advance our community’s goals.
Humanitarian Policy
and Practice
InterAction’s Humanitarian Policy
and Practice team has initiated
work on staff well-being in
the field, starting in the highly
stressful environments of Darfur
and Eastern Chad. InterAction
contracted the Headington
Institute to do an assessment of the
well-being of staff from member coordinator made several trips to
organizations deployed in the Sudan to help facilitate piloting of
region. The assessment produced the agreement there.
a number of recommendations
currently being folded into a Supported by a USAID grant
concept paper InterAction will use received as part of its Humanitarian
in soliciting the funds needed to Pandemic Preparedness Initiative
implement the recommendations. (H2P), InterAction has resumed
mapping and identifying gaps in
Through ongoing collaboration the programmatic capacities of
with colleagues in the UN and international NGOs and their partners
members in the field, InterAction that could be useful in implementing
has continued efforts to implement a response in the event of a
the Saving Lives Together Accord widespread influenza pandemic.
that it helped negotiate with Relatedly, InterAction is organizing
the United Nations. Its security three international conferences for
www.interaction.org 7

NGOs and assisting NGOs in business
continuity planning.
InterAction has continued its work
strengthening member capacity
to prevent sexual exploitation and
abuse by staging a series of related
workshops and trainings presented
by the Building Safer Organizations
project. With UN funding, InterAction
is also developing an e-learning
module to integrate gender equality
into humanitarian operations.
InterAction also continues to
support member response to
disasters, responding to new crises
such as the floods in Bangladesh
and the post-election violence
in Kenya, while coping with
protracted humanitarian crises
such as Darfur and Somalia, which
still lack sufficient political will to
confront the root causes.
Finally, InterAction has been
active in protecting humanitarian
space by pushing back against
militarization of foreign aid by the
U.S. government and challenging
USAID proposals to require
NGOs to adopt vetting practices
8 www.interaction.org
that would compromise their
independence and expose their
staff to unnecessary danger.
Strategic Impact
The Paris Declaration on Aid
Effectiveness: Throughout
2007, InterAction worked to draw
attention to the Paris Declaration
on Aid Effectiveness (PD) and
the potential implications for
NGO operations. InterAction sent
teams to Brussels and Nairobi
to participate in civil society-
led discussions and mobilized
members into a working group
to monitor the Organization
for Economic Co-operation and
Development/Development
Assistance Committee (OECD/
DAC)-led process, including:
(1) joining civil society efforts
around the PD at the global
level; (2) reaching out to the U.S.
government; and (3) contributing
to an independent initiative
launched by a global grouping
of civil society organizations to
address the effectiveness of their
aid programs. InterAction is closely
coordinating these efforts with
its counterparts across Africa,
Asia, Europe and Latin America.
In July, InterAction hosted a
media roundtable in Ghana
with InterAction members, NGO
partners and Ghanaian broadcast
and print media. The roundtable
was part of a series of events
aimed at increasing international
development reporting in
international and national news.
The G7 NGO Platform Alliance:
Building on a tradition of joint
statements on the G8 Summit by
the national platforms of NGOs
in the G8 countries, InterAction
launched the creation of the
G7 NGO Platform Alliance. The
Alliance will seek to design and
implement a collective advocacy
agenda around the upcoming G8
Summit and tightly coordinate
national advocacy strategies across
all G8 countries. The Alliance
provides a platform for civil society
organizations in the G8 countries
to monitor the individual and
collective commitments of G8
country governments to global
issues of shared interest. The
Alliance held two meetings in
2007, the first in Berlin during the
2007 G8 Summit and the second
in Tokyo to prepare for the 2008
G8 Summit. The Alliance strives to
provide a civil society alternative to
the government-only G8 Summit
and uses the platform to convene
peer organizations from non-
G8 countries to frame collective
responses to global challenges,
to the media and a broader
international audience.
Africa Liaison Program
Initiative: InterAction’s Africa
Liaison Program Initiative (ALPI)
closed in June 2007. For almost
10 years, ALPI helped highlight
the challenges and opportunities
facing NGO partnerships in
delivering development and
humanitarian assistance.
Lessons drawn from ALPI are
informing new efforts under
InterAction’s Goal on NGO
accountability and impact to
identify and promote innovative
partnership practices that improve
the impact of development
programs. Innovative practices
already explored include demand-
driven capacity strengthening,
creating space for the
organizational growth of local NGO
partners, and promoting equitable
and effective partnerships. n
InterAction
Growth
Strategic Impact Team
The new Strategic Impact Team
works with InterAction members
and other Teams within InterAction
to address critical issues related to
global development. This includes
documenting NGO contributions to
development globally, documenting
innovative practices, and developing
a range of partnerships with NGO
platforms in developing and
developed countries on initiatives of
mutual concern.
Climate change: In early fall 2007,
InterAction held, in conjunction
with the Climate Change and
Development Coalition, a well
attended, three-part panel series
on the intersections of climate
change and development and
humanitarian work. The series
focused on the basics of climate
change and its impacts on relief
and development work, as well
as the state of play in national-
level legislation and international
climate negotiations. As a result of
strong member interest coming
out of this panel series, InterAction
is forming a working group on
climate change and planning
additional follow-up activities.
Health in relief and development:
The Health in Relief and
Development Working Group,
which brings together policy,
program, relief and development
practitioners, defined its areas
of interest and targets for the
group’s activities moving into
2008. The working group will work
throughout the year within subject-
specific sub-groups, coming
together quarterly to share their
progress and coordinate their work
with the larger group.
Aid effectiveness: InterAction
is forming a working group on
aid effectiveness to support
InterAction’s representation of
U.S. NGOs at the global level and
to coordinate actions that will
inform and impact on related U.S.
government decision-making.
Evaluation and program
effectiveness: As the need for
strong monitoring and evaluation
(M&E) increases, the Evaluation
and Program Effectiveness
Working Group continues to
www.interaction.org 9

support NGOs’ M&E practices for
increased aid effectiveness and
accountability. Looking to 2008,
the working group will create
guidelines to increase compliance
with InterAction’s new M&E PVO
standards, provide trainings
and compile practical resources
that enhance our capacity to
demonstrate effectiveness.
Gender and development: The
Women, Faith, and Development
Alliance (WFDA) is a powerful
new force dedicated to increasing
political will and action to engender
global efforts to reduce poverty.
The WFDA is a priority for the
Commission on the Advancement
of Women. InterAction co-
organized Breakthrough – The
Women, Faith, and Development
Summit to End Global Poverty in
April 2008. At the summit, WFDA
members and supporters secured
tangible progress by pledging new
commitments on programs and
initiatives to empower women and
girls. The Gender and Aid Reform
Working Group also continues to
serve as an important resource to
ensure a gender perspective in the
ongoing foreign aid reform process.
10 www.interaction.org
alternatives. Our goal is to work
with InterAction members, our
global counterparts and others
outside the NGO community
to conduct research on critical
policy issues that is grounded in
field realities and NGO expertise
and that enables the voices of
impoverished communities to be
heard in on-going policy debates.
The Center’s on-going research
will focus on U.S. foreign assistance
and on NGO financing. Each year
we will produce in-depth analyses
of U.S. foreign assistance and
assess trends in public and private
funding of international NGOs, in
NGO Policy and Research addition to conducting research on
In late 2007, InterAction created a a wide range of key humanitarian
new NGO Policy Research Center and development issues. n
to advance our broad policy
goals by conducting research on
topics of immediate or imminent
policy relevance and using the
findings to craft credible policy
Member Services
Advocacy and Representation
InterAction strives to coordinate the efforts of member organizations
to influence policy and budget priorities in order to maximize the
effectiveness of advocacy and outreach to Congress and the administration
on humanitarian and development issues. InterAction helps open doors
and provides access to top-level government officials and policy-makers.
Members of InterAction are provided with timely information and analyses of
legislative, policy and budgetary issues as they impact the humanitarian and
development community.
Increased Exposure
InterAction is a hub for information on overseas humanitarian and
development programs and related policy work in Washington, DC. Averaging
over two million hits per month, InterAction’s website features the work of our
member agencies, enabling our communications specialists to multiply and
complement member efforts with media strategies, press referrals, message
training and new media outreach. Allowing for members to post press
releases and key announcements, the InterAction website has recorded over
700,000 hits per week during international disasters.
Financials
American Council for Voluntary International Action
Statement of financial position as of December 31, 2007 and 2006

ASSETS

CURRENT ASSETS FY 2007 FY 2006

Cash 350,355 811,964
Investments 1,928,961 2,396,974
Accounts receivable 50,688 57,895
U S. Government grants receivable - 57,496
Prepaid expenses 63,011 30,716

Total current assets 2,393,015 3,355,045

FURNITURE AND EQUIPMENT

Furniture and equipment, net of accumulated
depreciation and amortization of $114,749 and
$80,883 for 2007 and 2006, respectively 236,828 128,985

OTHER ASSETS
Security deposits 69,834 69,834

TOTAL ASSETS $2,699,677 $3,553,864

LIABILITIES AND NET ASSETS

CURRENT LIABILITIES FY 2007 FY 2006

Accounts payable 72,739 81,440
Accrued employee benefits 396,644 413,438
Refundable advance 673 43,913

Total current liabilities 470,056 538,791

NET ASSETS
Unrestricted 1,841,626 1,864,636
Temporarily restricted 387,995 1,150,437

Total net assets 2,229,621 3,015,073

TOTAL LIABILITIES AND NET ASSETS $2,699,677 $3,553,864

www.interaction.org 11
Financials
American Council for Voluntary International Action
Statement of activities and changes in net assets for the years ended in December 31, 2007 and 2006

FY 2007 FY 2006
Temporarily Temporarily
REVENUE Unrestricted
Restricted
Total Unrestricted
Restricted
Total

Grants from U.S. government 1,759,015 - 1,759,015 1,690,066 - 1,690,066

Foundation awards - 822,053 822,053 - 1,544,785 1,544,785
Member contributions 164,747 - 164,747 102,695 - 102,695
Membership dues 1,847,701 - 1,847,701 1,555,880 - 1,555,880
Publications 202,731 - 202,731 228,654 - 228,654
Forum, meetings and workshops 185,849 - 185,849 185,415 - 185,415
Interest and investment income 67,214 - 67,214 76,148 - 76,148
Other income 47,759 - 47,759 23,702 - 23,702
Net assets released from restrictions 1,584,495 (1,584,495) - 819,906 (819,906) -
Total revenue 5,859,511 (762,442) 5,097,069 4,682,466 724,879 5,407,345

FY 2007 FY 2006
Temporarily Temporarily
EXPENSES Unrestricted
Restricted
Total Unrestricted
Restricted
Total

Program services:
Member services 1,506,245 - 1,506,245 1,261,598 - 1,261,598
Federal and non-federal awards 3,343,510 - 3,343,510 2,499,972 - 2,499,972
Legislative activities 136,090 - 136,090 167,066 - 167,066
Total program services 4,985,845 - 4,985,845 3,928,636 - 3,928,636
Supporting services:
General and administrative 937,426 - 937,426 860,917 - 860,917
Fundraising 69,127 - 69,127 127,200 - 127,200
Total supporting services 1,006,553 - 1,006,553 988,117 - 988,117
Total expenses 5,992,398 - 5,992,398 4,916,753 - 4,916,753
Changes in net assets before other item (132,887) (762,442) (895,329) (234,287) 724,879 490,592

FY 2007 FY 2006
Temporarily Temporarily
OTHER ITEMS Unrestricted
Restricted
Total Unrestricted
Restricted
Total

Unrealized gain on investments 109,877 - 109,877 140,023 - 140,023

Changes in net assets (23,010) (762,442) (785,452) (94,264) 724,879 630,615
Net assets at beginning of year 1,864,636 1,150,437 3,015,073 1,958,900 425,558 2,384,458

NET ASSETS AT END OF YEAR $1,841,626 $387,995 $2,229,621 $1,864,636 $1,150,437 $3,015,073

12 www.interaction.org
Publications
U.S. Contributions to
Reducing Global Poverty
On October 17, 2007, the
International Day for the
Eradication of Poverty, InterAction
released U.S. Contributions to
Reducing Global Poverty: An
Assessment of the U.S. and the
Millennium Development Goals
[MDGs]. InterAction worked with
three member organizations (Bread Goal 1: Eradicating Extreme
for the World, Oxfam America and
Poverty and Hunger
the World Wildlife Fund) to produce
The proportion of the population in
the only comprehensive analysis developing countries living on less than
of U.S. government support for $1 a day fell from 29 percent in 1990 to
attaining the MDGs. 18 percent in 2004—due in large part
to spectacular economic growth in
Monday Developments China and India. In some of the world’s
InterAction’s flagship publication, poorest countries in sub-Saharan Africa,
Monday Developments provides Latin America and the Caribbean,
in-depth news and commentary and Central Asia, extreme poverty is
on global trends that affect relief beginning to level off or to fall. Still,
and development work. some countries in all regions remain
off-track to attain this goal.
Tsunami Accountability Report 2006
InterAction Member
Activity Reports
Member Activity Reports provide Goal 5: Improving
information on InterAction’s Maternal Health
member organizations in selected In 2005, more than 500,000 maternal
countries. 2007 reports focused deaths occurred, the vast majority of
on the nations of Afghanistan, them in developing countries. Coun-
P oduced by H ary Hos ord
dECEMBER 2006

Colombia, Haiti, Somalia, Sri tries in all regions of the world have
W th he Human tar an Po cy & Pract ce Un t InterAct on

increased the percentage of births

And w th he support of a cooperat ve agreement w h USAID/OFDA

Lanka and Zimbabwe.

attended by skilled health staff but
for sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia,
Member Profiles
the percentages remain low.
2007-2008
(Available in Fall 2008)
Member Profiles provides a
detailed portrait of over 165
U.S.-based nongovernmental
Photo Credits
InterAction thanks the following
organizations working in
for the use of their photographs:
international development,
Brett Eloff, Neemah Esmaeilpour,
disaster relief, humanitarian Marina Espriu, Colby Gottert,
assistance and aid. The directory Janet Heisey, Chris Herlinger,
comes with a companion CD- Martha Hourican, Joanna Linden,
ROM that is fully searchable Gerald Martone, Jessica Mull,
Jennifer Peterson, Jon Warren
and gives users the ability to and Bill Weaver
download information.
 Progress Toward
the MDGs
In September of 2000,189 countries at the United Nations (UN) Millennium Summit adopted the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of eight goals, eighteen targets, and forty-eight
indicators, targeted for achievement by 2015. Sitting just past the halfway mark to 2015, 2008
provides a good opportunity to take stock of the progress made and challenges that remain.

Goal 2: Achieving Universal Goal 3: Promoting Goal 4: Reducing

Primary Education
Globally, the primary completion rate
has increased from 63 percent in 1990
to an estimated 83 percent in 2005.
The pace of annual improvement has
accelerated significantly since 2000
in the three regions furthest from
the goal—North Africa, South Asia,
and Sub-Saharan Africa. Currently,
Sub-Saharan Africa is off-track for both
boys and girls and South Asia is off-
track for boys.
Gender Equality and
Empowering Women
Significant progress has been made
since 1990 in reducing gender disparity
in primary and secondary education;
but a handful of countries in most
regions remain off-track. Moreover,
gender gaps in wages and labor force
participation rates remain significant
and are not yet narrowing.
Child Mortality
Progress on the child mortality MDG
lags behind all other goals. While the
majority of countries have reduced
child mortality since 1990, progress
has been insufficient to reach the MDG
target. Sub-Saharan Africa and South
Asia are clearly off-track to meet this
goal. Also, there are other countries
that are off-track—even in regions that
are broadly likely to attain the goal.

Goal 6: Combating Goal 7: Ensuring Goal 8: Developing a

HIV/AIDS, Malaria and
Other Diseases
Estimates are that 99 percent of
people who die from AIDS, tubercu-
losis, and malaria live in developing
countries. HIV/AIDS remains one of
the greatest challenges to global
health; and yet, progress is clearly
being made. Sub-Saharan Africa, the
region with the highest prevalence
rate, is also the region that has made
the most progress in reducing the pro-
portion of the population living with
HIV. In regions that began with much
lower prevalence rates, however, prev-
alence rates for high-risk populations
are unfortunately increasing. From
1990 to 2005, the global incidence
and prevalence rates for tuberculosis
have declined or have remained level.
Environmental
Sustainability
Although access to potable water and
basic sanitation are key indicators of
human development, over 1 billion
people still lack access to safe drinking
water and 2.6 billion lack access to
basic sanitation. Regional progress
toward halving the number of people
living without these necessities has
been mixed. Latin America and the
Caribbean and East Asia and the
Pacific are broadly on track. South Asia
is on track to meet the water access
target, but not sanitation. The Middle
East and North Africa, Sub-Saharan
Africa, and Europe and Central Asia
are off-track on both.
Global Partnership for
Development
Although official development
assistance from the twenty-two major
donor countries increased steadily
from 2000 to 2005, their contributions
declined in 2006. This decrease was
predictable, given that record growth
in ODA in 2005 was largely attributable
to substantial debt relief—primarily
going to Iraq and Nigeria. Excluding
additional debt relief, ODA fell by 1.8
percent in 2006 in inflation-adjusted
dollars. In 2006, five donors (Sweden,
Luxembourg, Norway, the Netherlands,
and Denmark) reached or exceeded
the United Nations target of 0.7
percent of GNI. The United States
remained the largest donor, but
only Greece (0.17) gave a smaller
percentage of GNI than the U S. (0.18)

Sources: The World Bank, 2008 Global Monitoring Report, OECD DAC Final ODA Flows in 2006
Who We Are
Executive Office Team Board of Directors
Samuel A. Worthington, President & CEO
Cynthia Osorio-Florez, Executive Assistant to Sam Worthington
Allen Abtahi, Director of Information Technology & CTO
Mazdak Momen, IT & CTO Associate
Luisa F. Cordoba, Development Resource Associate
Strategic Impact Team
Suzanne Kindervatter, Vice-President, Strategic Impact
Thu Cao, Coordinator, Commission on the Advancement of Women
Sylvain Browa, Senior Manager, Partnership & Development Impact
Kimberly Darter, Sr. Program Associate, Partnership & Development Impact
Hilary Nalven, Senior Program Associate, Strategic Impact
Humanitarian Policy & Practice Team (HPP)
James K. Bishop, Vice President, HPP
Linda Poteat, Director, Disaster Response
Elizabeth Bellardo, Program Manager
Raymond G. Lynch, Senior Manager for Protection & Refugee Affairs
Julie F. Montgomery, Senior Coordinator & Technical Specialist for Gender
Heather Powell, Senior Program Associate, Protection & Refugee Affairs
Leah Berry, Program Associate, HPP
John Schafer, Senior Security Coordinator
Joshua M. Kearns, Associate Security Coordinator
Jillian Robbins, Program Associate
Public Policy & Outreach Team
Lindsay Coates, Vice President, External Relations
Todd Shelton, Senior Director, Public Policy & External Relations
John Ruthrauff, Senior Manager, Member Advocacy
Ken Forsberg, Legislative Manager
Evan Elliott, Advocacy Coordinator
Lynn Yoshikawa, Legislative Associate
Nasserie Carew, Director of Public Relations
Tawana Jacobs, Senior Public Relations Manager
Tony Fleming, New Media Manager
Chad Brobst, Senior Publications Manager/Graphic Designer
Nia Davis, Communications Consultant
Michael Haslett, Senior Communications Associate
Margaret Christoph, Senior Administrative Associate, External Affairs
Membership & Standards Team
Barbara J. Wallace, Vice President, Membership
Taina Alexander, Program Manager, Membership
Andrea Bediako, Senior Program Associate, Membership
Sivaram Ramachandran, Program Associate, Membership
NGO Policy Research & Analysis Team
Cherri D. Waters, Managing Director
Laia Grino, Senior Research Associate
Finance & Administration Team
Peter Engebretson, Vice President, Finance and Administration
Devinder Jaitly, Accounting Manager
Karthi Luneburg, Office Manager
Mariam Ehsanyar, Accountant & HR Senior Associate
Leonovic L. Mira, Bookkeeper/Administrative Associate
Lyra Spang, Receptionist
Chair
Charles MacCormack, Save the Children
Vice Chair
Ritu Sharma Fox, Women Thrive Worldwide
Treasurer
Amy Coen, Population Action International
Nancy A. Aossey, International Medical Corps
Ken Bacon, Refugees International
David Beckmann, Bread for the World
Carol Bellamy, World Learning
Sekyu Chang, Korean American Sharing Movement
Julius E. Coles, Africare
Helene D. Gayle, CARE USA
Anne Lynam Goddard, Christian Children’s Fund
Lee H. Hamilton, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
Neal Keny-Guyer, Mercy Corps
Elizabeth J. Latham, United States Committee for the United Nations
Development Program
Lelei LeLaulu, Counterpart International
Jo Luck, Heifer International
John L. McCullough, Church World Service
Stephen F. Moseley, Academy for Educational Development
Daniel E. Pellegrom, Pathfinder International
Linda Pfeiffer, INMED Partnerships for Children
Robert W. Radtke, Episcopal Relief and Development
Yolonda C. Richardson, Centre for Development and Population Activities
George Rupp, International Rescue Committee
Zainab Salbi, Women for Women International
Ron Sconyers, Physicians for Peace
Kathy Spahn, Helen Keller International
Richard Stearns, World Vision
Tsehaye Teferra, Ethiopian Community Development Council
Samuel Worthington (Ex-Officio)
Special Thanks To Our Donors
Generosity and support from the following organizations have
allowed InterAction to carry out its mission and assist in improving
the lives of people around the world:
• American Jewish World Service (AJWS)
• The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
• The David and Lucile Packard Foundation
• The Ford Foundation
• United Nations, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA)
• U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Population, Refugees
and Migration
• USAID, Bureau for Africa
• USAID, Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA)
• USAID, Bureau for Global Health
• World Bank
• International Monetary Fund
www.interaction.org 13
 InterAction Members
Academy for Educational Development Global Health Council Pan American Development Foundation

Action Against Hunger USA Global Links PATH
ActionAid International USA Global Operations and Development Pathfinder International
Adventist Development and Relief Global Resource Services PCI-Media Impact
Agency International (ADRA) GOAL USA Physicians for Human Rights
African Medical & Research Foundation Goodwill Industries International Physicians for Peace
African Methodist Episcopal Service and Habitat for Humanity International Plan USA
Development Agency (AME-SADA) Hands on Worldwide Population Action International
Africare Heart to Heart International Population Communication
Aga Khan Foundation USA Heartland Alliance Presbyterian Disaster Assistance and
Aid to Artisans Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society Hunger Program
Air Serv International Heifer International Project HOPE
American Friends Service Committee Helen Keller International ProLiteracy Worldwide
American Jewish Joint Distribution Hesperian Foundation Quixote Center/Quest for Peace
Committee Holt International Children’s Services Refugees International
American Jewish World Service Humane Society International (HIS) Relief International
American Near East Refugee Aid The Hunger Project RESULTS
American Red Cross International Services Information Management and Mine Action Salvation Army World Service Office
American Refugee Committee Programs (IMMAP) Save the Children
AmeriCares INMED Partnerships for Children Seva Foundation
America’s Development Foundation (ADF) Institute for Sustainable Communities SHARE Foundation
Amigos de las Américas Institute of Cultural Affairs Society for International Development (SID)
Ananda Marga Universal Relief Team International Aid, Inc. Solar Cookers International
Association of Private Voluntary Organization International Catholic Migration Stop Hunger Now
Financial Managers Commission (ICMC) Support Group to Democracy
Baptist World Alliance International Center for Research Trickle Up Program
B’nai B’rith International on Women (ICRW) Unitarian Universalist Service Committee
Bread for the World International Crisis Group (ICG) United Methodist Committee on Relief
Bread for the World Institute International Institute of Rural United Way International
Brother’s Brother Foundation Reconstruction USA for UNHCR
CARE International Medical Corps U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants
Catholic Medical Mission Board International Orthodox Christian U.S. Committee for UNDP
Catholic Relief Services Charities (IOCC) U.S. Fund for UNICEF
Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE) International Reading Association VAB (Volunteers Association of Bangladesh)
Center for International Health and International Relief & Development Winrock International
Cooperation (CIHC) International Relief Teams Women for Women International
Centre for Development and Population International Rescue Committee (IRC) Women’s Environment and Development
Activities (CEDPA) International Social Service — United States of Organization
Children International America Branch, Inc Women Thrive Worldwide
Christian Blind Mission (CBM) International Youth Foundation World Cocoa Foundation
Christian Children’s Fund (CCF) Interplast World Concern
Christian Reformed World Relief Jesuit Refugee Services USA World Education
Committee (CRWRC) Korean American Sharing Movement World Emergency Relief
Church World Service Latter-day Saint Charities World Hope International
Citizens Development Corps Life for Relief and Development World Learning

Citizens Network for Foreign Affairs Lutheran World Relief World Neighbors
Communications Consortium Media Center Management Sciences for Health (MSH) World Rehabilitation Fund
Concern America MAP International World Relief
CONCERN Worldwide U.S., Inc. Medical Care Development World Resources Institute (WRI)
Congressional Hunger Center Medical Teams International World Society for the Protection of Animals
Counterpart International Mental Disability Rights International World Wildlife Fund

Direct Relief International Mercy Corps World Vision

Doctors of the World Mercy USA for Aid and Development
Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization Minnesota International Health
(ECHO) Volunteers
Episcopal Relief & Development Mobility International USA

Ethiopian Community Development Council National Association of Social Workers
Floresta National Peace Corps Association
The Florida Association of Volunteer Action in National Wildlife Federation
the Caribbean and the Americas (FAVACA) Near East Foundation 1400 16th Street, NW, Suite 210
Food For The Hungry ONE Campaign Washington, DC 20036 USA
Freedom From Hunger Operation USA Tel 1.202.667.8227

Friends of Liberia Opportunity International Fax 1.202.667.8236

Friends of the World Food Program Oxfam America ia@interaction.org
Gifts In Kind International Pact www.interaction.org