The Italian fight against world hunger. A critical analysis of Italian aid for development in the 1980s.

During the 1980s, Italy expanded its development assistance, soon becoming the fifth largest donor. Italian development cooperation directed much effort to alleviate hunger, malnutrition and their health consequences. This paper provides an evaluation of Italy's fight against world hunger considering the political environment in which the policy was conceived and implemented, the organizational structure behind the policy, and the available quantitative indicators of outcome. The analysis shows how powerful humanitarian drives, supported by inchoate thinking about development problems and priorities, and by institutional and technical confusion, gave rise to development programs below accepted standards. Poor financial planning and the absence of proper mechanisms for project appraisal facilitated the capture of some programs by domestic political and commercial interests. In 1992, Italian magistrates began investigations into the extent of corruption in development assistance; preliminary reports documented widespread waste and ineffectiveness in major aid projects. Substantial changes in organization and priorities are needed in order to control past practices of corruption, improve the effectiveness of projects, and redirect Italian aid towards development goals.