Serge Duss has joined International Medical Corps as Director for Public Policy and Advocacy in Washington DC. IMC is a major health- focused humanitarian and development NGO working in 22 fragile states experiencing various levels of war and civil unrest.

Serge was formerly Senior Advisor for Global Affairs and Director of Public Policy and Advocacy at World Vision US, where he served both overseas and in Washington DC for 17 years. He will continue as a Visiting Fellow at the Washington Institute for Public Policy and Service in DC, a think tank he helped co-found in 2008. The Washington Institute’s mission is to advance faith and justice for the common good through the lens of orthodox Christian belief and practice.

Serge was the president of AERDO from 1996-1999.

His contact information is:
sduss[at]imcworldwide.org
off tel: 202.828.5155

The Following is taken from the newsletter of the International Religious Freedom Alliance, outlining a first test of the Obama Administration for equal treatment standards for religious organizations:

“When President Obama announced his faith-based initiative on February 5, he left in place the “level playing field” rules that the Bush administration adopted (the “equal treatment” regulations) and that Congress enacted during the Clinton administration (Charitable Choice). These rules were a response to the Supreme Court’s move from a “no-aid to religion” standard to a neutrality or equal opportunity interpretation the Constitution’s church-state rules.

“However, by stressing the need to ensure respect for constitutional standards when the federal government collaborates with faith-based groups, President (and presidential candidate) Obama implied that the existing rules need to be significantly changed. Indeed, he specifically authorized Joshua DuBois, director of the new White House faith-based office, to seek the Attorney General’s view on such matters, and instituted a case-by-case review process for the complicated but vital issue of religious hiring by faith-based groups that receive federal funds.

“The administration has now given a strong and specific statement of the rules it believes should govern federal funding that goes to faith-based organizations. On May 11th the Department of Health and Human Services announced grants for the new Strengthening Communities Fund (SCF)-the new version of the Bush Compassion Capital Fund, this one created by the stimulus bill (American Recovery and Revitalization Act).

“SCF has two parts: (1) one set of grants will go to experienced groups to provide capacity-building help and small grants to grassroots groups to help them better serve their communities in the economic recovery process; (2) the other set of grants will go to state, city, county, and tribal faith-based offices to help them provide capacity-building assistance to community groups and to improve their own ability to better serve such groups.

“The standards for faith-based involvement? The grants, mini-grants, and services cannot be biased either for or against faith-based applicants. Faith-based participants need not remove religious symbols, create a secular board of directors, strip religious references from their mission statement, nor banish voluntary religious activities that are privately funded. There is no new ban on religious hiring. The federal funds have to be used to support secular services, not worship or scripture teaching. People and groups must be served without regard to their religion.

“The program standards are announced under the title, “Secular Social Service Programs,” but the regulations that apply are the HHS Equal Treatment regulations adopted in 2004.

“So far, so good.”

According to a USDA news release,  “Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack continued naming top staff today by appointing Max Finberg to serve as Director of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. [snip]
“Finberg most recently served as the director of the Alliance to End Hunger, which works to engage diverse institutions to build the public will to end hunger.”

Read the entire release here.

From USAID’s Frontlines:

“President Barack Obama signed a $410 billion budget bill March 11 to run the federal government until the end of September, including $808 million
for USAID’s operational expenses in fiscal year 2009—an increase of $143 million over last year.

“These funds will enable USAID to hire 300 new Foreign Service Officers as the Agency moves to double its FSO staff to more than 2,000 by 2012.”

Read the entire article here.

From Reuters:

“There has also been a dramatic increase in kidnappings over the past three years. The latest in Sudan took place on Saturday when unknown armed men snatched two female aid workers, a French and a Canadian, from their compound in southern Darfur.

“Altogether, 260 humanitarian workers were attacked in 155 serious incidents in 2008 — compared with 27 incidents in 1998, according to figures compiled by the Center on International Cooperation (CIC) in New York and the Overseas Development Institute in London.”

Read the entire article here.

Chris Crane, (who will be hosting our CEO Retreat next month) has announced his retirement from Opportunity International. I know that many join me in wishing Chris all the best in this next chapter.

From the Opportunity Intl press release:

“Opportunity International today announced the retirement of Christopher A. Crane as president and CEO and provided details of its plan for leadership succession. While an executive search for a new CEO is underway, Kadita “A.T.” Tshibaka, member of the Opportunity International Board of Directors and former international banking executive, has been appointed president and CEO. “

Read the full press release here.

From the Faith-Based office at USAID:

“USAID has been working over the past three decades to expand opportunities for hundreds of millions of people who rely on microenterprises in the informal sector for their livelihoods. USAID has invested in hundreds of private microenterprise development organizations around the world– organizations that are reshaping financial and business service markets to better serve the poor.

“Extending improved and expanded services enables entrepreneurs to gain access to a variety of sources of capital, information, inputs, technologies and markets. By linking to these resources, poor entrepreneurs will be better able to seize opportunities they have not had in the past, and to create better lives for themselves and their families.”

Date: 4/21/09
Time: 11:00 AM-12:00 PM EST
International Dial-in #: (816) 650-7866
Domestic Dial-in #: (866) 306-0035
Conference ID: 94918439

Top Ten Reasons You Know You’re Working at an Aid Organization Headquarters – According to David Letterman

You know you’re working at an aid organization headquarters if…

1. You just had a pre-meeting to discuss your strategy planning session for the new initiative to reduce poverty by increasing access to safe water/credit/food/health care through fair and equitable distribution to those with the right to said good or service through engagement with duty bearers in the government and other stakeholders and civil society organizations.

2. You just repeatedly slammed your head into your keyboard after spending the last 20 minutes trying to get your Skype conference call between Port au Prince, West Bank/Gaza, Delhi, Nairobi and New York to work only to fail miserably.

3. You realize that you can no longer squeeze into your cubicle past that cool hand-woven cloth from Mali, the wooden mask from Congo, the elephant figurine from Thailand and the rug from Afghanistan.

4. You just completed an annual report to your donor explaining that you’re very sorry that you only managed to accomplish 2 of your 14 objectives due to sudden onset of war, drought or an invasion of futuristic nano-robots.

5. You just finished explaining to the donor that you are likely to need a two-year extension and an extra $200,000 to hire an independent consulting company to come up with a plan to fight off the nano-robots, carry out said plan and then finish up the original activities.

6. You realize that you just used cheers, karibu, Insh’Allah or namaste in casual conversation despite the fact that you are neither English, Kenyan, Arab or Indian.

7. You realize that your favorite and most frequented cafe is located in Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam.

8. You just finished depressing a volunteer caller from the Red Cross for the 12th time this year who reluctantly agreed that you are not eligible to donate blood because you just got back from <fill in malarial region here>.

9. You’re pumped with antibiotics more frequently than a cow in a concentrated feeding operation.

10. You tell yourself it’s not failure if you turn it into a lessons-learned document.

This May, World Hope International will host a unique anti-trafficking forum. Never Silent: The Abolitionist will provide relevant information on all aspects of the anti-trafficking movement: addressing demand, prosecution, aftercare, caring for caregivers, and what the average person can do to address modern day slavery. Bringing together specialists in the field with those ready to answer the call to care, WHI hopes to raise awareness of its work in Cambodia managing the only immediate aftercare center in the country.

Kevin Bales, president of Free the Slaves, who will give the keynote address. Other speakers include: Kristin Wiebe, Wendy Freed, Krista Haden (IJM) and Dr. Jo Anne Lyon.

Please go to www.worldhope.org for more information and to register for the event.

The Center for Faith?Based and Community Initiatives cordially invites you to join us for a conference call with Mauricio Vera, the Acting Director of the CFBCI, and representatives of USAID’s American Schools and Hospitals Abroad Program (ASHA).

The objectives of the ASHA program are to strengthen self?sustaining schools, libraries and medical centers that best demonstrate American ideas and practices abroad. ASHA grants are awarded to assist in capital improvements such as building or renovation of facilities and procurement of scientific, medical and educational equipment. Since the inception of the program, ASHA has assisted 237 institutions in over 70 countries, thus positively impacting the regions where these institutions are located.

ASHA staff will discuss the specifics of the program and discuss possibilities for partnering with USAID through the ASHA program. We encourage you to review the information on the ASHA website at http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/cross-cutting_programs/asha/index.html
There will be an opportunity for Q&A with the USAID staff on the call.

WHEN: Friday, April 10, 2009
TIME: 2:30 PM EST – 3:30 PM EST
International Participant Dial?in #: (816) 650?7866
Domestic Participant Dial?In #: (866) 306?0035
Conference ID #: 92461729