• News
    • Latest news
    • News search
    • Health
    • Finance
    • Food
    • Career news
    • Content series
    • Try Devex Pro
  • Jobs
    • Job search
    • Post a job
    • Employer search
    • CV Writing
    • Upcoming career events
    • Try Career Account
  • Funding
    • Funding search
    • Funding news
  • Talent
    • Candidate search
    • Devex Talent Solutions
  • Events
    • Upcoming and past events
    • Partner on an event
  • Post a job
  • About
      • About us
      • Membership
      • Newsletters
      • Advertising partnerships
      • Devex Talent Solutions
      • Contact us
Join DevexSign in
Join DevexSign in

News

  • Latest news
  • News search
  • Health
  • Finance
  • Food
  • Career news
  • Content series
  • Try Devex Pro

Jobs

  • Job search
  • Post a job
  • Employer search
  • CV Writing
  • Upcoming career events
  • Try Career Account

Funding

  • Funding search
  • Funding news

Talent

  • Candidate search
  • Devex Talent Solutions

Events

  • Upcoming and past events
  • Partner on an event
Post a job

About

  • About us
  • Membership
  • Newsletters
  • Advertising partnerships
  • Devex Talent Solutions
  • Contact us
  • My Devex
  • Update my profile % complete
  • Account & privacy settings
  • My saved jobs
  • Manage newsletters
  • Support
  • Sign out
Latest newsNews searchHealthFinanceFoodCareer newsContent seriesTry Devex Pro
    • News
    • Aid Reform

    Italy's aid reform spawns new agency

    After 20 years of debates and negotiations, Italy is set to launch not only a comprehensive aid reform but also a new aid agency. How would these developments shape Italian foreign aid?

    By Eva Donelli // 22 September 2014
    The Italian parliament has finally passed a new law that sets out an ambitious agenda for a comprehensive reform of Italian aid — and with it, the birth of a new development cooperation agency. Entered into force last month, the new law provides organizational, regulatory, administrative, budgetary and accounting autonomy to the Italian Cooperation Agency. While details on funding have yet to be deliberated, ICA is confirmed to have a financing facility at its disposal. This facility will be funded by Italians’ postal savings and is meant to improve “access, control and coordination of the financial activities of banks and multilateral funds.” This move seems to buck the trend for aid agencies being folded into foreign affairs departments, as in the case of Australia and Canada. The Italian agency won’t have complete autonomy, however. It will be supervised by the foreign affairs ministry, which will be renamed Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation. The ministry, through its development cooperation directorate-general, will remain ultimately responsible for Italian foreign aid. But the expectation is for the ministry to take on an increasingly “strategic and political function,” leaving operations and day-to-day work to the newly formed agency. ICA is expected to create up to 200 new jobs in Italy and about 100 staffers would be needed to implement the agency’s activities abroad, according to Luca De Fraia, Action Aid’s deputy director in the Southern European country. The headquarters will be stationed in Rome, but the agency is also expected to open offices abroad. And access to these posts for non-Italians will be granted in line with both Italian and European regulations on staff selection for public agencies. The new legislation also institutionalizes the role of the deputy minister for development cooperation, who will take part in government cabinet meetings whenever development issues are on the agenda. “With this reform, cooperation will no longer be merely a part of foreign policy, but an integral one,” Deputy Foreign Minister Lapo Pistelli said in a statement on the law’s approval. While De Fraia told Devex that “each country needs to find its institutional balances and Italy needs the kind of cooperation tool the reform is aiming to shape,” Gianfranco Cattai, president of the Association of Italian NGOs, does note that the new law signals a major policy shift. A greater role for the private sector? The reform would allow for a greater number of projects and tenders. It also aims to enhance the role of the private sector in aid and promote public-private partnerships “in compliance with the law, human rights and the rules of corporate social responsibility.” But what does this mean in concrete terms? “The text talks about promoting the private sector, but it is cautious on saying whether it will give more projects to the sector, partly because the country doesn’t have experience on these matters,” De Fraia said. The law has gray areas and “the relationship with the private sector is still unclear,” Cattai said, adding that there is no clarity of whether the law refers to large multinationals only or even small companies and cooperatives. “We believe very much in the partnerships between Italian and African for-profit entities and we want to work in that direction,” Cattai said. “If the reform will enhance these partnerships, the results could be very interesting.” One notable change, De Fraia explained, is the “broadening of the community of development actors eligible for public funding through selection procedures, which is now expanded beyond national or local government entities and development [nongovernmental organizations] … It acknowledges the for-profit sector as a development actor eligible for [official development assistance] funding.” According to De Fraia, a set of “appropriate procedures” on the involvement of the private sector in development activities has yet to be defined, but he sees the country at something of a crossroads when it comes to selecting private sector participants to implement cooperation activities. The reform is expected to lead to concrete results “within the next three to six months,” following discussions on a series of procedures to delineate various practical aspects of the reform, including the competitive procedures and how they apply to the private sector as opposed to civil society organizations. “With the reform, Italy finally acquires its own way of doing foreign policy that goes beyond the concept of aid [toward] a consistent set of policies that have to be translated into investments and partnership relations between countries,” Cattai said. Check out more insights and analysis provided to hundreds of Executive Members worldwide, and subscribe to the Development Insider to receive the latest news, trends and policies that influence your organization.

    The Italian parliament has finally passed a new law that sets out an ambitious agenda for a comprehensive reform of Italian aid — and with it, the birth of a new development cooperation agency.

    Entered into force last month, the new law provides organizational, regulatory, administrative, budgetary and accounting autonomy to the Italian Cooperation Agency. While details on funding have yet to be deliberated, ICA is confirmed to have a financing facility at its disposal. This facility will be funded by Italians’ postal savings and is meant to improve “access, control and coordination of the financial activities of banks and multilateral funds.”

    This move seems to buck the trend for aid agencies being folded into foreign affairs departments, as in the case of Australia and Canada. The Italian agency won’t have complete autonomy, however. It will be supervised by the foreign affairs ministry, which will be renamed Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation. The ministry, through its development cooperation directorate-general, will remain ultimately responsible for Italian foreign aid.

    This story is forDevex Promembers

    Unlock this story now with a 15-day free trial of Devex Pro.

    With a Devex Pro subscription you'll get access to deeper analysis and exclusive insights from our reporters and analysts.

    Start my free trialRequest a group subscription
    Already a user? Sign in

    Read more on Italian aid

    ▪ Italian aid: New government, new architecture?
    ▪ Italy's new leadership: What it means for development cooperation
    ▪ Who is EU's new foreign policy chief?

    • Funding
    Printing articles to share with others is a breach of our terms and conditions and copyright policy. Please use the sharing options on the left side of the article. Devex Pro members may share up to 10 articles per month using the Pro share tool ( ).
    Should your team be reading this?
    Contact us about a group subscription to Pro.

    About the author

    • Eva Donelli

      Eva Donelli

      As a correspondent based in Brussels, Eva Donelli covers EU development policy issues and actors, from the EU institutions to the international NGO community. Eva was previously at the United Nations Regional Information Center for Western Europe and in the European Parliament's press office. As a freelance reporter, she has contributed to Italian and international magazines covering a wide range of issues, including EU affairs, development policy, social protection and nuclear energy. She speaks fluent English, French and Spanish in addition to her native Italian.

    Search for articles

    Related Stories

    Development FinanceSevilla reporter's notebook Day 4: 'Sevilla is about what comes next'

    Sevilla reporter's notebook Day 4: 'Sevilla is about what comes next'

    The future of US AidMemo lays out plan to replace USAID with new humanitarian agency 

    Memo lays out plan to replace USAID with new humanitarian agency 

    The Trump EffectScoop: UN migration agency sends out 3,000 pink slips in mass layoffs

    Scoop: UN migration agency sends out 3,000 pink slips in mass layoffs

    The future of US aidUS lawmakers clash over State Department's future

    US lawmakers clash over State Department's future

    Most Read

    • 1
      Closing the loop: Transforming waste into valuable resources
    • 2
      FfD4 special edition: The key takeaways from four days in Sevilla
    • 3
      How to use law to strengthen public health advocacy
    • 4
      Devex Career Hub: How AI is transforming development work
    • 5
      Lasting nutrition and food security needs new funding — and new systems
    • News
    • Jobs
    • Funding
    • Talent
    • Events

    Devex is the media platform for the global development community.

    A social enterprise, we connect and inform over 1.3 million development, health, humanitarian, and sustainability professionals through news, business intelligence, and funding & career opportunities so you can do more good for more people. We invite you to join us.

    • About us
    • Membership
    • Newsletters
    • Advertising partnerships
    • Devex Talent Solutions
    • Post a job
    • Careers at Devex
    • Contact us
    © Copyright 2000 - 2025 Devex|User Agreement|Privacy Statement