A local health-care operator works in CESVI’s mobile clinic in a refugee camp in North Uganda. Italian-based NGO, CESVI runs cooperation projects across the globe using a network of public funders and a strict transparency policy. Photo by: CESVI

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Fighting HIV/AIDS infection at birth in sub-Saharan Africa, promoting community development in Zimbabwe and rebuilding schools in earthquake-ravaged Pakistani Kashmir are not uncommon tasks for an international development NGO, but they may not be easy targets for an Italy-based one.

Cesvi is indeed not a very typical NGO within Italy's cooperation environment as it strives to stay independent from political parties and the Catholic Church. Based in the country's northern town of Bergamo, about 50 kilometers from Italy's financial capital Milan, it runs humanitarian projects on four continents and is funded by the European Union, various governments and private donors.

"Italian NGOs are mostly political or religious. Secular and politically-neutral organizations are very unusual," said Cesvi President Giangi Milesi. "We are an independent organization in that sense, gathering people of different political and religious backgrounds under a shared mission statement."

Providing aid to those in need across the globe is the main purpose of Cesvi - an acronym for "cooperation and development" in Italian. Founded in 1985, it underwent a critical reorganization phase between 1999 and 2000, as the Italian government kept cutting funding to international development NGOs.

"We realized then that our size as an organization was not adequate, considering our wide geographical breath of operations and our competitors' strength," Milesi explained. "We even tried to merge with other NGOs, but it proved impossible due to governance reasons. We ultimately considered being acquired by one of the numerous multinational corporations which were landing in our country. In the end, we decided to remain Italian because - although our organizational culture is scarce - some of our characteristics are crucial when you work in international development. We can rely on a greater empathy, a wider creativity."

The decision was made despite the difficulties Cesvi has been facing as an independent organization in a country where public funds for international cooperation and development have long been assigned according to an implicit quota system based on political party divisions - even when, until the early 1990s, Italy ranked among the world's top donors. A previous communication consultant, Milesi said that he was approached by Cesvi in order to help get donors' attention outside this constraining system.

"When the European Union grew as a donor, we turned to Brussels and we also started attracting a wide network of private supporters," Milesi said.

E.U. and private funds

The E.U. is Cesvi's main donor, followed by the Italian government, which has contributed approximately 6 million euros a year since 2007.

"Recently, Italy's Foreign Ministry started supporting us again, after the country's commitment to cooperation and development had almost disappeared until 2007. Paradoxically, funding independent organizations is now a necessity for the government. They contributed 5,800 million euros to Cesvi's budget last year, mainly through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but not only."

Relations with the European Commission have improved since Cesvi was targeted - among other organizations - by its anti-fraud investigation in 2005 that resulted in the freezing of funds to the Italian NGO. A legal battle followed, leading to Cesvi's full rehabilitation.

"Our standards proved to be even higher than those of the biggest European organizations," Milesi said.

Its transparency policies won Cesvi the Italian "Balance Sheet Oscar" in 2000. They are crucial in attracting private donors, which contribute over 30 percent of the organization's budget, amounting to more than 5 million euros per year. Roughly half of Cesvi's private donors are individuals.

"We have always publicized our financial sources, as this helps our stakeholders judge our degree of independence," Milesi explained.

Raising private-sector donations isn't easy for Italian NGOs involved in international development. According to Milesi, this is due to an inefficient selection process which is adopted by most NGOs as they choose their donors on the basis of ethical principles.

"In Italy, we are a bit backwards in this regard," Milesi said. "Partnerships are still based on a blacklist which classifies companies according to their ethical standard. We adopted a different model, based on partnership's worthiness. It's more difficult to implement but it's the only way to find a common set of values and work together on the long period. In this regard, we are pioneers among Italy's NGOs and nonprofit organizations."

Private donors are necessary to preserve Cesvi's independence, Milesi said. A number of public donors - apart from the European Commission and the Italian government - are also crucial for the organization's survival, including the U.N. Development Program, UNHCR and UNICEF. The Canadian International Development Agency was among the organization's main governmental donors in 2007, as were AusAID, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, U.S. Agency for International Development and U.K.'s embassy in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

"We even got funding from the municipality of Amsterdam, in the Netherlands," Milesi said.

Being part of an international network of small and medium-sized European development NGOs also helps Cesvi to get funds for its projects. Alliance 2015 was founded in 2000, when six organizations - including the Irish Concern Worldwide, German Welthungerhilfe and Hivos from the Netherlands - decided to coordinate their efforts in developing countries to reach the Millennium Development Goals.

"We benefit from a number of exchanges and synergies," Milesi explained. "As an example, we recently received funding from other organizations within the network for a project we are running in Myanmar."

A local Cesvi trainer speaks to pregnant women on HIV-AIDS prevention at birth in Zimbabwe. Photo by: Giovanni Diffidenti

Finding the right skills

Cesvi's main goals are to assist people in emergency situations, help with reconstruction and promote community-based sustainable development. The organization relies heavily on local staff, which is hired on a temporary basis to implement projects in the field. About 80 percent of Cesvi's field personnel is local, in accordance with the organization's recruitment policy. Many of them serve with Cesvi for more than one project and are sometimes confirmed as international staff after their contracts expire at the end of the project for which they were hired.

"We seek different qualifications depending on the post, but in general we look for project managers with a university degree who are fluent in the language of the area where they will be sent to work and feature an adequate professional experience in the same field," said Sara Masper, Cesvi's human resources director.

Cesvi sometimes struggles to find qualified Italian staff eager to work in the NGO sector.

"Technical profiles such as those of agronomists and doctors are the most difficult to find," Masper explained. "Above all, we need technical qualifications for project management."

Also, working in dangerous regions may not appeal to many professionals from the developed world.

"The DRC and Afghanistan are the most difficult countries when it comes to finding staff to be sent on the field," Masper said.

And it is often not enough to identify candidates with the proper qualifications who are willing to move to an area where their safety is at risk. They also need to be able to adapt to crisis situations.

"We work in difficult countries," Milesi said. "People are not always prepared to move to Afghanistan and even when they are, we may not want to send them there because we think that one needs to feature specific experiences and a particular profile in order to be able to work in those situations. This complicates our recruitment process."

Competition with both the public and private sectors also complicates recruitment for Cesvi, whose salaries are lower and contracts are shorter than those which can be provided - at more comfortable conditions - by employers outside the NGO sector. This is also the reason for a high staff turnover.

"They tend to make economically convenient choices," Milesi said. "At first they come work with us responding to a moral call, then they abandon their job for a more stable life, or for a similar one involving the same amount of traveling but ensuring better benefits and higher pay which Cesvi could not afford."

In 2007, Cesvi relied on the work of 348 staff members, almost 40 percent of whom were between 25 and 35 years of age. Almost 60 percent were women. Some 647 local collaborators were also hired, mainly for field work, along with 434 volunteers. Applying for a position with Cesvi is easy, as vacancies are regularly post on the organization's Web site with details on the vacant job and required skills.

"In 2007, 90 percent of Cesvi's new staff were recruited after they applied to vacancy posts on our Web site," Masper said.

All new staff members undergo an initial formation phase, including safety and practical training, when they are hired as collaborators.

Fast Facts

• Name: Cesvi (Cooperazione e Sviluppo)

• Founded: 1985

• Type: NGO

• Mission: To give "the recipients of aid a leading role, working together for their own natural benefit" and make "sure that international aid does not become mere charity, and nor is it influenced by the donors' self-interest."

• Headquarters: Bergamo, Italy

• Funds: US$18,430 (2007)

• Director: Giangi Milesi

• Staff: 348