[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 112 (Thursday, July 17, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1183]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              INTERACTION

                                 ______
                                 

                              HON. TED POE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 17, 2014

  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, Amarech Mana is a 28-year old mother 
living in a small Ethiopian village, hundreds of miles from the 
capital. She does her best to care for her sick child who is crying out 
in pain. She knows he needs water to survive, but she worries that the 
very water she uses to quench his thirst is filled with the very bugs 
that made him sick in the first place. This story is an all too common 
one when 884 million people around the world do not have access to 
clean water.
   Coordinating and uniting the action of over 180 organizations, 
InterAction is helping poor people like Amarech around the world. 
InterAction is working to encourage transparency on foreign aid 
projects. InterAction's NGO Map collects project-level information to 
disseminate to donors, businesses, government, and the public. It is 
also working to push for new laws that require tougher evaluations of 
foreign aid projects. If we are not evaluating projects than we do not 
know what is sustainable or even making a difference over the short 
term.
   InterAction's mission is to uphold human rights and ensure human 
dignity for the poor. It knows that the best way to accomplish this 
mission is to focus on sustainability. For example, InterAction not 
only helps dig wells to give poor people clean water but then teaches 
individuals how to fix the well when it breaks. This gives them the 
skills and opportunity to improve their own standard of living, long 
after InterAction and its partners are gone.
   Water, sanitation, and hygiene are just some of the issues that 
InterAction addresses to improve the quality of life in the world's 
poorest communities.
   At the end of the day, InterAction doesn't just improve the social 
and economic circumstances of the poor. It gives hope. Amarech Mana 
once feared for her son's life. Now she can hold him and enjoy the 
clean water supply provided by Concern Worldwide, a partner in the 
InterAction nonprofit community. The water supply serves 1,000 
households in the area.
   Children no longer have to trek for hours to get water before going 
to school. And they don't have to miss countless days of school due to 
dehydration or dysentery. InterAction is a testament to the positive 
change U.S.-based NGO partnerships are making throughout the world. I 
look forward to working with InterAction to ensure our foreign aid is 
transparent and rigorously evaluated so our taxpayer dollars can make a 
meaningful and lasting difference.
   And that's just the way it is.

                          ____________________