Italy Donor Profile KEY QUESTIONS the big six Who are the main actors in Italian development cooperation? The MAECI leads on strategy; Italy’s new develop- from other ministries, including Finance and Environ- ment agency, AICS, implements ment. The Joint Development Cooperation Commit- tee (Comitato Congiunto) decides on operational is- The Italian Prime Minister engages in development when sues, including on funding for projects over €2 million it comes to high-level commitments or international con- (US$2.2 million). It is chaired by the MAECI and com- ferences. Giuseppe Conte (no party affiliation) is Prime posed of the heads of MAECI’s DGCS and the develop- Minister of Italy since June 2018. The new government, ment agency AICS. which is based on an usual coalition of the anti-estab- lishment 5-Star Movement and the right-wing League, The Italian Agency for Development Cooperation may shift strategic priorities in development policy. (AICS) was set up in January 2016. It is in charge of devel- Many key positions are still vacant due to the still ongo- oping, supervising, and directly implementing pro- ing government formation, including the Prime Minis- grams. The agency may only autonomously approve pro- ter’s Diplomatic Advisor and the Director of the Italian ject funds of up to €2 million (US$2.2 million). Its staff Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS). number is limited by law to 200. Italian civil society or- ganizations (CSOs) are concerned that the human re- The 2014 law on cooperation profoundly restructured It- source constraint could limit the agency’s capacity to aly’s development cooperation system: It strongly aligns implement the planned increase in development pro- development policy with foreign affairs. Within govern- grams. ment, two ministries are involved in development coop- eration: In addition, the 2014 reform introduced the first Italian development finance institution as part of theBank of • The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Deposits and Loans (CDP), a joint-stock company un- Cooperation (MAECI) is responsible for defining the der public control that manages the entire Italian postal strategic direction of development policy. It is current- savings and provides loans to the Italian state or local ly headed by Enzo Moavero Milanesi (no party affilia- governments. It finances development projects through tion). Within the MAECI, the Deputy Minister of For- private and public financing (primarily blending MAECI eign Affairs (Manuela del Re) manages development and MEF resources with EU funding), risk-sharing, and policy. She supervises the MAECI’s Directorate Gener- capital-risk instruments, and is meant to improve “ac- al for Development Cooperation (DGCS) and the work cess, control, and coordination of the financial activities of the AICS, as well as Italy’s new development bank. of banks and multilateral funds”. The CDP is supervised The DGCS is in charge of defining the strategic direc- by the MAECI. tion of development programs. Its Director-General is Giorgio Marrapodi since January 2018. Civil society is involved in the policy-making process mainly through the National Council for Develop- • The Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), led ment Cooperation (CNCS). It is a consultative body – by Giovanni Tria (no party affiliation), is also a key introduced by the 2014 reform – which brings together 50 player: It has control (jointly with the MAECI) over re- members of different backgrounds: private-sector organ- lations with and contributions to development banks izations, CSOs, and public authorities. It expresses its and funds, and collaborates with the MAECI on the views on the three-year programming guideline and oth- ODA budget. er development issues. The CNCS currently divides its work into three groups (‘Agenda 2030’, ‘private sector’, MAECI and MEF are also members of the Interministe- and ‘migration and development’) that each meet every rial Committee for Development Cooperation two months. (CICS), established in 2014 as part of the reform. The CICS usually meets twice a year to approve the three-year The parliament plays an important role in the budget Programming Guidelines for Italian Development Coop- process. The Italian parliament has two chambers: the eration and the overall ODA budget. The CICS is chaired Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. They examine, by the Prime Minister and composed of the Minister of amend, and vote on the draft budget bill developed by Foreign Affairs, the Deputy Minister, and representatives the government. The Foreign Affairs committees of both 7 donortracker.org August 2018 An initiative by SEEK Development Italy Donor Profile chambers give recommendations on ODA budget amend- ments, while the Budget committees of both chambers make the final decision. ITALY'S DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION SYSTEM 8 donortracker.org August 2018 An initiative by SEEK Development.