Testimony of Samuel A.

Worthington President and CEO InterAction Chairman Granger, Ranking Member Lowey, and members of the Subcommittee: I am here today representing the nearly 200 U.S.-based nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that form InterActions membership. Thank you for the opportunity to testify, and thank you for your work to guide this subcommittee in this extraordinarily challenging budget environment. I am here to advocate for the poverty-focused development and humanitarian programs that are funded through the State, Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill, in the hope that you will give them the attention they deserve as you make your funding choices. The U.S. government can play a vital role in helping the worlds poorest and most vulnerable, so that they can build better lives for themselves and create a more stable and prosperous world while contributing to the worlds collective security. An infusion of funds is needed now more than ever to respond to the mounting humanitarian calamity in Syria, where one-fifth of the population requires humanitarian assistance and 2 million people have been displaced by the war. At the same time, more than 700,000 people have fled to neighboring countries, and they are in desperate need of aid. Unfortunately, the response to Syria puts a strain on already overstretched U.S. efforts in Mali, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan and South Sudan. Moreover, current funding levels also mean that the U.S. government would be hard-pressed to respond to any unexpected crises, like the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. It is imperative that Congress funds humanitarian accounts so that we are not put in the impossible position of choosing to save lives in one country but not another.

It is therefore essential, during these difficult budget times, that the U.S. government strengthen its cooperation with private actors who bring their own money to the table. NGOs alone contribute over $14 billion each year to international development and humanitarian projects,i and the U.S. government must seize the opportunity to work with them to create a bigger bang for the taxpayer buck. One example of this is the billion-dollar food security pledge that InterAction members announced at the last UN General Assembly. It demonstrated that, while government funding is crucial, the U.S. government can also play a unique role in uniting NGOs, other private actors, and the international community to solve problems together. No one else has that kind of convening power and now more than ever it is crucial that the U.S. government continue to do so. I would like to close with just one story of the success weve seen through collaboration between the U.S. government and international NGOs. In a village in Mali, the Millennium Challenge Corporation and ACDI/VOCA have partnered to help train 10,000 semi-nomadic herders how to farm rice using modern irrigation techniques; those farmers are now earning an average of $1,000 per hectare in a country where the average annual income is just $700. And even during the severe droughts that have hit Mali, the farmers trained by this program produced a surplus. This is just one example of the work being done with foreign aid dollars to create the circumstances that allow people to lift themselves out of poverty and provide food for their families. I believe this story, like so many others, shows how the U.S. government, working alongside global NGOs, can help the worlds poorest build better lives for themselves and contribute to a healthier, more humane, stable and prosperous world. 2

Thank you once again for your efforts to reduce extreme poverty and suffering around the world.
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