Will Italy keep its promise to make poverty history?

A year ago, when Oxfam first arrived in Italy opening a campaigns office with Ucodep, many people asked themselves: will the Oxfam method work in Italy too?

The objective – the Italian G8 – was clear, and the expectation was big: for the competence to mobilize young people, to influence political decision-makers, and to charm the media in the same way that it was at the Scottish Summit in 2005.

With just a few days to go before the G8 in L’Aquila, Italy, we asked Farida Bena of Oxfam Italy, who has worked in the last year to create relationships with the academic, economic and political world about the outcome of Oxfam’s first year in Italy.

 

Let’s start with the negotiations: how much has Ucodep Oxfam become part of the mechanisms of the Summit?

Together with Gcap, the Italian Coalition agaist poverty, we have worked to build relationships on different fronts, from the prime minister to the Sherpa Office, to the Foreign Office, with good results, especially when it comes to the relationship with the Sherpa.  Ucodep Oxfam was been welcomed to Civil G8’s negotiation table.

 

Any other substantial results?

At the beginning of June, Italy’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Franco Frattini, promised to pay out the contribution that Italy owes to The Gloal Fund to Fight AIDS by the end of the year.  The real difficulty is to go from the contractual level to the political level, which is the level of decision-makers: in this year of crisis, the financial act has penalized aid to development with drastic cuts. We would like to discuss these cuts with Minister Tremonti, Italy’s Minister of Economic Affairs who has not yet answered the numerous invitations sent to him from civil society.

We have also asked for a meeting with Berlusconi on the eve of the Summit, and we know that the invitation has arrived to destination.

 

According to a Ucodep Oxfam survey, 74% of Italians are in favour of allocating 0.7% of the GDP to aid to development. As it stands, Italy has given 3% of what was promised during 2005’s G8: how likely is it that it respects its commitments at L’Aquila?

It is clear that if Italy does not respect its promises, its proposals will hardly be taken seriously by the other countries. Actor Colin Firth, Oxfam’s ambassador, was witness to Silvio Berlusconi signing of the Gleneagles’ document through which the Group of Eight committed to raise aid to development up to 50 billion dollars per year by 2010. Another signature is all that is needed to maintain these promises.

 

What actions do you have in mind in the next week or so?

Besides the white band’s comeback, which has become the symbol of the fight against poverty, Gcap has launched the campaign Press 8. The campaign asks Italians to sign an online petition to persuade the Group of Eight not to evade commitments. Ucodep Oxfam, in particular, is using stunts: demonstrative actions which stage a focal point of negotiations.

 

For more information: www.gcap.it