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 beco ming the fifth largest donor. Italian development cooperation directed much effort to alleviate hunger, malnutrition and their health conseq uences. This paper provides an evaluation of Italy's fight against wor ld hunger considering the political environment in which the policy wa s conceived and implemented, the organizational structure behind the p olicy, and the available quantitative indicators of outcome. The analy sis shows how powerful humanitarian drives, supported by inchoate thin king about development problems and priorities, and by institutional a nd technical confusion, gave rise to development programs below accept ed standards. Poor financial planning and the absence of proper mechan isms for project appraisal facilitated the capture of some programs by domestic political and commercial interests. In 1992, Italian magistr ates began investigations into the extent of corruption in development assistance; preliminary reports documented widespread waste and ineff ectiveness in major aid projects. Substantial changes in organization and priorities are needed in order to control past practices of corrup tion, improve the effectiveness of projects, and redirect Italian aid towards development goals.