Partner Vetting System (PVS) Overview
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Date:
December 12, 2011
The Partner Vetting System (PVS) would require USAID grant applicants to submit detailed personal information on “key individuals” to be shared with the intelligence agencies. Despite widespread criticism that PVS would create unnecessary and potentially dangerous barriers for humanitarian groups working in global hot spots, officials from the State Department and USAID presented its pilot program at a briefing held on Sept. 8, 2011.
CSN's PVS Issue Brief provides background information on PVS (UPDATED Feb 2012)
Headlines & Opinion
- House Subcommittee Recommends Extending Time for PVS Pilot, Requiring NGO Input
- Aid Workers, Nonprofits Tell State Dept. Why PVS is Wrong Approach
- State Dept. Responds to Comments on Partner Vetting System
- Nonprofits Tell State Dept., USAID Proposed Vetting System Harmful
- How Misguided Counterterrorism Strategies Lead to Misguided Programs
- USAID Announces Pilot Partner Vetting System in Five Countries
- Time to Let the Experts Define Due Diligence, Vetting for Charitable Programs
- Presidential Advisory Council Recommends Against Implementing USAID’s PVS
- Why We Signed Comments Opposing USAID's Partner Vetting System
- Senate Committee Says USAID Must Reconsider Proposed Vetting System
- NGOs Raise Concerns about USAID's Proposed Vetting Policy for Contractors
- Rising Attacks on Aid Workers Linked to Perception of Close Ties to Governments
- Panel of Experts Explain How the Work of Charities Counters Terror
Resources
- CSN’s PVS Issue Brief: Flawed Assumptions about Effective Vetting of Humanitarian Activity (updated)
- Feb. 8, 2012 telebriefing featuring Bob Lloyd, a consultant at Inside NGO, and Kay Guinane. Transcript available here
- Comparison Chart: USAID's PVS for Contractors Provides Benefits Not Afforded to NGOs
- State's Jan 18, 2012 Federal Register notice available here
- State’s Oct. 20, 2011 Federal Register notice available here
- USAID's Dec. 7, 2011 Federal Register notice available here
- State and USAID’s proposed pilot program plan and Information Sheet available here
Reports Critical of PVS
- Center for American Progress: How U.S. Terrorism Restrictions Make It Harder to Save Lives
- Overseas Development Institute: Humanitarian Action Harmed by Anti-Terror Laws
- Fourth Freedom Forum and the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies: Friend not Foe: Opening Spaces for Civil Society Engagement to Prevent Violent Extremism
- House of Representatives Report 111-187: House Report Calls for Examining Details of USAID's Problematic Vetting System
- Overseas Development Institute: Providing Aid in Insecure Environments
