Author Archives: cosv

A Parliamentary Intergroup for International Cooperation

On April 10th, the Italian Parliamentary Intergroup for Development Cooperation was formed and gathered for its first assignment meeting. The Intergroup will be a tool for a joint work amongst members of different groups who want to engage, together with NGOs, to finally make International Cooperation an integral part of Italian foreign policy.

The first objectives will be linked on one hand to the global agenda – that goes on regardless of Italian currently difficult political and institutional situation, on the other hand to the need to launch a series of measures to meet the new Italian international requests, such as the reform of the law on cooperation and a public resources realignment plan. These steps are necessary to reverse the drastic cuts over the past few years and fully respect the international commitments already made.

The Intergroup, which has already gathered a very large consensus with the participation of more than 70 members of different parliamentary groups, had a first informal meeting with NGOs representatives, to start discussing on the agenda.

As of now, the Intergroup expresses an appreciation for the recommendations in the field of development cooperation contained in the DEF approved on April 10th, 2013 by the Council of Ministers, which acknowledges the request for years supported by NGOs and the Parliament to have a clear timetable for the realignment of Italian ODA (official development assistance), and with a progressive and significant increase in the resources planned for 2014-2017. The practical implementation in the next government’s decisions will be crucial.

Just as it is important to ensure that during 2013 all the funds allocated for the current year – with difficulty, often after lengthy parliamentary battles – will actually be used.

Federica Mogherini, deputy PD, will coordinate the Intergroup.

The national collective agreement between Italian NGOs and trade unions signed in Rome

The national collective agreement, signed as a pre-agreement on 24^th April 2013 between the Association of the Italian NGOs and LINK 2007 – Cooperating in Network on the one hand and the Felsa-Cisl, Nidil-Cgil, Uil. Temp trade unions on the other hand, represent an important and innovative step to regulate job protection and security for employees with term employment contract, accordingly to the instructions of 92/2012 Law (Fornero Law) and to the will of balancing the different contracting forms contained in the Law.

The agreement, in action till December 31^st 2016, will be evaluated by the NGO networks and their operators within July 31^st 2013 and consequently definitely ratified. The Associations of the signatory NGOs and the trade unions will afterwards monitor the agreement through joint evaluation meetings.

Italian NGOs felt the need to conjointly examine, detail and regulate – and therefore give transparency to – term employment contracts for their personnel in Italy and abroad, who in the last ten years counted an average of 5.000 expatriates and 1.500 national collaborators per year.

In over 50 years of solidarity and international cooperation activities, Italian NGOs have been the channels through which more than 250.000 people have expressed their values, skills and engagement.

The majority of NGOs collaborators have been engaged in activities abroad, in the poorest countries, sharing NGOs motivation and values. In the last decades, professionalism and competences to respond to poverty fight programs have grown, as well as skills to build long lasting partnerships in several countries.

With this national collective agreement, NGOs intend to contribute to the wider third sector area, engaged in social issues.

ASSOCIATION OF THE ITALIAN NGOS AND LINK 2007 – COOPERATING IN NETWORK

FELSA-CISL – NIDIL-CGIL – UIL.TEMP

For info:

Tel. +39 06 6632511 – mobile +39 3397039756

www.link2007.org

Tradition and science together for biodiversity: the challenge of the farmers of Piura in Peru

Crop diversification and sustainable use of resources are key factors to survive to climate change. That’s why they are at the core of a new Cosv project, co-funded by Regione Lombardia and Fondazione Cariplo, which began last December in the region of Piura in Peru, a rural area characterized by a subsistence economy and a strong land fragmentation.

In Piura, due to agriculture instability and poor infrastructure and services, small farmers live in precarious conditions. On the one hand, they are at the mercy of climatic conditions that can determine bad harvests, and on the other hand they have to deal with traders who buy their product and sell it to large retailers determining prices. In addition, over the past 30 years, crops varieties and self-produced seeds, that allowed the existence of families, have been lost and monocultures from hybrid seeds, purchased by big corporations, have prevailed. Risks connected to the disappearance of native species are serious, in fact, in case of natural disasters or disease outbreaks, food security is put to the test as different genes capable of withstanding these calamities are no longer available.

The project in Piura has two main focuses: it aims at acting on the institutional level to ensure the fulfillment of standards to foster farmers’ product direct commercialization and to enhance farmers’ associations; on the other hand it supports trainings of farmers on techniques for a sustainable and environmentally friendly agriculture.

The 200 beneficiaries will be trained on sustainable farming methods such as the use of natural fertilizers and pesticides, the rotation of crops, the association of compatible crops, and on the rational use of scarce water resources. One hundred of them will then be involved in an initiative for the collection, preservation and reproduction of natural and native seeds in seedbeds to protect the rich agro-biodiversity of the area.

Institutions and local producers have been very sensitive to these issues and the project is part of the same strategic line of the regional association of farmers (ARPPEP) aiming to provide the resources to implement the necessary actions. In this context, the training intervention does not aim to disrupt agricultural traditions, on the contrary it aims at supporting agricultural traditional knowledge with a scientific vision, to systematize the work of small farmers for the conservation of biodiversity and food security.

A survey is currently underway to comprehensively map the region in its climatic, water and agricultural technique varieties and to plan training activities and ad hoc pilot initiatives. Farmers’ feedback is very positive: there is a greater awareness on the fact that crop diversification and improvement of irrigation are crucial to meet the challenges of climate change.