Italy's G8 summit to redefine aid

Published: 15 January, 2009

By Elizabeth Donnelly

Discussion about and with Africa has become a recurrent part of the agenda at G8 summits, particularly since outreach with African leaders was instigated at Okinawa in 2000. The 2009 G8 summit to be hosted by Italy in Maddalena will be no exception, with Africa and its challenges to be front and centre in discussions.

The Italian government is proposing a ‘shared summit’, though Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi insists that despite the rise of the G20, meetings limited to the G8 industrialised nations remain necessary.

Italy intends to focus on replacing outdated models of delivering aid and meeting the Millennium Development Goals through a new “comprehensive approach to development,” which means involving NGOs and both private and public sector actors in fulfilling past commitments. The risk of involving multiple actors, however, is that responsibility will be spread among the various entities, making it difficult to identify any one actor to be held to account.

In 2005 G8 leaders promised to double aid to Africa by 2010. Not all G8 members have met their commitments and Italy is one of those off-track: currently Italian official development assistance stands at 0.19 percent of GNI. The Italian Parliament has voted in favour of a €400m ($510m) or 55 percent, cut in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ODA budget, which would leave it ranked last for EU Members’ contributions to the poorest countries.

Ever since the 2005 Gleneagles summit there has been concern that the G8 members would not deliver on their ambitions for aid. 2009 is the last chance for G8 leaders to increase aid to promised levels ($25 billion a year for Africa); however, Italy’s focus will be on approach to and concept of aid rather than on aid quantity. At the same time it is interested in pressing for a monitoring agency to assess progress in and effectiveness of past commitments, but this does not mean that the government believes that these commitments should be met through public ODA.

Italy’s proposed priorities on Africa for the G8 in 2009 are health, education and food security and it will seek to establish a task force in Rome, already is host to three UN food agencies, on the latter. It is possible that a session will be held on peacekeeping and armed conflict. The Somali conflict remains a policy priority in Italy, along with the Democratic Republic of Congo. Ethiopia and Mozambique are Italy’s two key partners for bilateral aid.

Commodity price increases and the financial crisis have seen Italy adopt a more protectionist position on global trade agreements and agricultural subsidies, and it is possible that Italy’s proposed spreading of accountability for aid delivery is in part a response to these pressures. Mr Berlusconi leads a centre-right coalition which is tough on security, protectionism and immigration, in contrast to the previous government’s efforts to bring development cooperation in line with the Paris Declaration. Berlusconi’s government realises, however, how important political cooperation is with Africa, with the voting power of 54 countries. While the 2009 summit will probably disappoint in terms of aid quantity, it will offer food for thought in terms of conceptualisation of aid and development.

Elizabeth Donnelly is the Africa Programme Manager at Chatham House

Related links
- • Chatham House

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