ABSTRACT
As private endeavors in foreign relief and development programs have proliferated since World War II, the US government's interest in the Private voluntary organizations (PVOs) has also grown—and vice versa. Provisions in the foreign Agency for International Development (AID) bill oriented to PVOs have, in recent legislative sessions, been treated kindly by members of Congress and their staffers even as they slashed other sections of the annual AID budget. Once they have become a part of the overall foreign aid system, many PVOs use their close proximity to government to try to influence it from within. The PVOs and other advocates for development assistance reform have access to several instruments for exerting influence on federal policymaking. In 1979 a compromise measure was worked out that put the bulk of US development assistance activities under the supervision of a semi-independent body, the International Development Cooperation Agency.
