In an effort to move in this direction and to bring added rigor to the self-certification process, a standing committee of the board, the PVO Standards Committee and its Working Group on Pursuit of Excellence, are closely monitoring these and other efforts on how to protect and strengthen the standards and their meaning outside of Interaction among the public and donors. Articles on this have begun to appear in Interaction's bi-weekly newsletter, Monday Developments and a chatroom is going to be established at Interaction's website to engage the full membership in this discussion.
For more information about Interaction and its standards, please visit our website at <www.interaction.org>.
Conclusion
A new U.S. president will take the oath of office next month. Although we will have a new administration, I think we would all agree that the importance of U.S.-Japan cooperation―as well as the importance of cooperation between NGOs, business and government―will not change. However, the level of attention and commitment to this effort on the part of the next administration will depend in large measure on US. We must be able to demonstrate that we have gone beyond the discussion phase now and have progressed into implementing tangible partnerships on the ground. It is evidence of these partnerships that the next administration will expect to see, if not demand, if they are to consider this effort to have any value for them.
I hope that we all can work together in our two countries to strengthen our important partnership, and to use our role in the world to recognize and encourage support for the NGOs in our countries, and in developing countries, to help government and the private sector solve the urgent issues that face us all.
Thank you again for this opportunity to visit your beautiful country and to address the Institute for International Policy Studies.
Kenneth Jay Giunta
Acting President and Chief Executive Officer
Interaction
