InterAction American Council for Voluntary International Action

InterAction American Council for Voluntary International Action (Washington, DC) is the largest coalition of U.S.-based development and humanitarian NGOs. One of InterAction’s key roles is to mobilize its 179 member organizations to reach consensus on a collective advocacy agenda. With previous Hewlett support, InterAction created a CEO-level task force to negotiate common positions on the parameters of fundamental aid reform, and to consider ways of overcoming the practice of sectoral advocacy groups advocating for budget earmarks in Washington. After a year of working with this Task Force, InterAction believes that there are two key issues that still need to be resolved. With support from the Hewlett Foundation, InterAction will use its unique comparative advantage as a convener and consensus-driver among the NGO community to reach broader consensus on: 1) The possibility of a community-wide Grand Bargain, which implies a compromise between Congress, the Executive Branch, and civil society to achieve a more effective foreign assistance system that is needs-based and country-driven. 2) A working, civil society definition of country ownership for use in implementing the U.S. Government's new development policy. With continued Hewlett support, InterAction staff will draft initial position papers on these topics, facilitate a series of high-level meetings to refine their content, and then disseminate final documents to the broader policy community.