OECD - OECD Development Co-operation Peer Reviews: Italy 2019

The OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) conducts periodic reviews of the individual development co-operation efforts of DAC members. The policies and programmes of each member are critically examined approximately once every five to six years, with five members examined annually. The OECD Development Co-operation Directorate provides analytical support, and develops and maintains, in close consultation with the Committee, the methodology and analytical framework known as the Reference Guide within which the peer reviews are undertaken.

The objectives of DAC peer reviews are to improve the quality and effectiveness of development co-operation policies and systems, and to promote good development partnerships for better impact on poverty reduction and sustainable development in developing countries. DAC peer reviews assess the performance of a given member, not just that of its development co-operation agency, and examine both policy and implementation. They take an integrated, system-wide perspective on the development co-operation and humanitarian assistance activities of the member under review.

The peer review is prepared by a team, consisting of representatives of the Secretariat working with officials from two DAC members who are designated as examiners. The country under review provides a memorandum setting out the main developments in its policies and programmes. Then the Secretariat and the examiners visit the capital to interview officials, parliamentarians, as well as civil society and non-governmental organisations representatives in the donor country to obtain a first-hand insight into current issues surrounding the development co-operation efforts of the member concerned. Field visits assess how members are implementing the major DAC policies, principles and concerns, and review operations in recipient countries, particularly with regard to poverty reduction, sustainability, gender equality and other aspects of participatory development, and local aid co-ordination. During the field visit, the team meets with representatives of the partner countrys administration, parliamentarians, civil society and other development partners.

The Secretariat then prepares a draft report on the members development co-operation which is the basis for the DAC review meeting at the OECD. At this meeting, senior officials from the member under review respond to questions formulated by the Committee in association with the examiners.

This review containing both the main findings and recommendations of the DAC and the analytical report of the Secretariat was prepared with examiners from New Zealand (Ginny Chapman and Liz Paton) and Spain (Javier Jimnez de Gregorio and Patricia Santa Olalla Peralta) for the peer review of Italy on 14 October 2019. The Secretariat team consisted of Emily Bosch, Santhosh Persaud, and Cyprien Fabre. Mari Laikre and Autumn Lynch provided logistical assistance to the review, and formatted and produced the report. The report was prepared under the supervision of Rahul Malhotra. Among other things, the review looks at how Italy has maintained its commitment to development co-operation during the economic and migration crises, and suggests that, as circumstances improve, Italy might build a new vision and create a focused, whole-of-government approach to development co-operation, and put in place the structures and systems that will enable it to achieve this vision.