Directorate General for Development Cooperation

The Directorate General for Development Cooperation is divided into thirteen Offices and the Central Technical Unit and the Unit for inspection, monitoring and verification, and performs the following functions:

• Office I: cooperation strategies and sector policies; budgeting and financial planning; statistics, research, database and information; decentralized cooperation; reports to Parliament;
• Office II: relations with non-financial international organisations (regional and international) in the field of development cooperation; relations with the European Union regarding aspects associated with cooperation strategies and policies, including the Development Council and the European Development Fund; participation in the Steering Committee of the EDF; creation of on-site initiatives by international bodies for any purpose funded by Italy and aimed at development cooperation as well as at the implementation of cooperation programmes approved within the framework of the EDP;
• Office III: initiatives on behalf of developing countries and their populations in Europe, the Mediterranean Basin and the Middle East in collaboration with the authorised geographical Directorate;
• Office IV: initiatives on behalf of developing countries and their peoples in Sub-Saharan Africa in collaboration with the authorised geographical Directorate;
• Office V: initiatives on behalf of developing countries and their peoples in Asia, Oceania and the Americas in collaboration with the authorised geographical Directorates;
• Office VI: emergency humanitarian interventions and food aid;
• Office VII: appraisal of suitability and granting of contributions to NGOs; appraisal of the legal and economic status and social security standing of volunteers and workers employed by NGOs;
• Office VIII: financial cooperation and support for private-sector entrepreneurship and balance of payments of developing nations, including aid credits for debt relief; relations in the cooperation sphere with international organisations, banks and funds (regional and international) for financial cooperation and development;
• Office IX: training in Italy and via distance learning through the organisation of courses and scholarships both in Italy and abroad; relations with training institutions, including Italian and foreign research centres and universities;
• Office X: legal advisory services (opinions, calls for tenders, contracts, etc.); education, research and advisory expenses; activities related to legal cases (including settlement deeds and arbitration awards);
• Office XI: purchasing and running costs of the Directorate General, maintenance of buildings in keeping with art. 23.1.b) of Presidential Decree 177/1988; equipment and inventories, purchasing for directly managed initiatives;
• Office XII: issues relating to the legal and economic treatment of non-MFA personnel working with the Directorate, including tax and social security obligations; severance and overtime pay of Directorate staff; assessment of financial needs and crediting of funds to foreign missions for use by local Technical Units and checking of accounts of same; missions by Directorate staff and reimbursement of expenses and payment of allowances;
• Office XIII: Studies and proposals to promote the role of women in developing countries within the framework of cooperation policy. Protection of minors and the disabled in the same context.

Central Technical Unit : support for the work of the Directorate General during the study, preliminary planning, formulation, adminstration and monitoring phases of programmes; study and research activities in the field of development

Inspection, Monitoring and Verification Unit : monitors and checks the development cooperation initiatives funded by Italy and carried out in the multilateral sector as well as those of the European Union, for that which concerns the Directorate General, with particular reference to monitoring consistency in the commitments, results and visibility of Italy's efforts; final assessment of bilateral cooperation projects.