Events

Workshop about the SMILE – Systemic Multistakeholder Italian Leveraging Aid

The 17^th January 2011, UNIDO ITPO Italy participated at the presentation of the SMILE Initiative (Systemic Multistakeholder Italian Leveraging Aid), launched by the DGCS of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This initiative represents a new approach that has the aim to link several actors involved in the sector of Cooperation for Development, both public and private, for carrying out better actions that reduce the fragmentation and costs for what concerns aids in the South of World.

 

The SMILE initiative has identified Mozambique as pilot Country, because of the new interest showed by Italian companies for this African Country.

Moreover, recently it has been signed the new Cooperation agreement between Italy and Mozambique, for the period 2010-2012 (approximately 66 million of euros). The Project will be implemented on the basis of three main components, the first of which will regard the research activity. The goal of this component is the organization of research activities aimed to identify products potentially marketable as well as to study the export potential of these products, and to sustain the production.

The second component will regard the professional training, with the aim to realize some actions in synergy with this DGCS Programme, in the agro-zoo technical sector. Given the weakness of the education system in the Country, the Programme is aimed to enhance training and the quality of education, strengthening the connection between Mozambican professional schools and Italian companies.

The third one will concern services for enterprises, related to the core activities that UNIDO ITPO Italy usually implements. The general objective of this component is to provide support to Mozambican partners, through the proposition of organization models that concern services of information and assistance to companies, with the aim to elaborate a supply of goods and services in line with requests of clients. The beneficiaries will be the BAUs (counters that offer services to the companies, managed by Ministry of Industry) and the CEPAGRI (Promotion Centre for Agriculture and Agro-Industry, managed by Ministry of Agriculture).

 

With its participation, UNIDO ITPO Italy reaffirms its commitment as regards the African continent. Besides, it is an occasion for contributing to the initiative, sharing UNIDO ITPO Italy’s experience in the field of Industrial Development, as regards Sub-Saharan Africa and namely Mozambique. 

Several actors took part at the presentation of the SMILE Initiative, such as, among others, representatives of the UTL in the Italian Embassy in Maputo, Italian Ministry of Economic Development, National Institute for Foreign Trade, Confederation of Industries, OICS (Interregional Observatory on the Cooperation for Development), different Italian Regions, like Emilia-Romagna, Veneto and Puglia and several Universities like La Sapienza of Rome, University of Sassari and University of Trento.