AICS is the Italian government Agency that implements and supports Italy's development initiatives around the world.
In Kenya, it is led by Giovanni Grandi, an investment banker who left behind the big bucks and flashy lifestyle of investment banking to serve his government in Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan. He recently served in Afghanistan until America withdrew from the country and foreign nationals were hurriedly evacuated.
He spoke to freelance journalist Patrick Kariuki about Italy’s participation of Africities Summit in Kisumu, AICS projects in Kenya and debt for development initiative.
What is the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS)?
AICS is the Italian government agency that implements and manages international cooperation initiatives, under the supervision of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation.
The agency started in January 2016 and has 18 field offices worldwide, nine of which are in Africa. The field offices are responsible for assessing local needs, implementing development initiatives, monitoring results and strengthening partnerships at the local level.
The Nairobi Office is responsible for Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, the DRC and Rwanda. Kenya is a priority country for Italian cooperation and Nairobi is one of the main offices in Africa.
What are the priority sectors for AICS in Kenya?
The Italian Cooperation started supporting Kenya in the 1980s with investments to support agricultural development in the semi-arid area of Sigor, in West Pokot. Since then, our collaboration has grown significantly.
Today, we have a portfolio of ongoing initiatives worth nearly Sh20 billion concentrated in five priority sectors: Agriculture and environment, women empowerment, human rights and civil society, urban development and infrastructure, support to the private sector and access to basic services.
Our interventions are aligned to the national priorities identified by the government of Kenya, and we actively involve other actors from the Italian system of development cooperation, including the private sector, while collaborating with European and international development partners. Kenya is also characterized by a strong presence of Italian civil society organizations, which are active in many different sectors.
What is AICS’s interest in the Kisumu Africities summit?
Our participation in the Africities Summit was organised in close collaboration with AICS headquarters in Rome and in agreement with the Embassy of Italy in Nairobi.
Africities took place for the first time in an intermediary city, Kisumu, under the theme ‘The Role of Intermediary Cities of Africa in the implementation of Agenda 2030 of the United Nations and the African Union Agenda 2063’.
We felt the proximity of the agenda of the ninth edition of Africities with our current strategic priorities. At Africities, we had a unique chance not only to interact and exchange with the leadership of cities, counties, and international development partners in sustainable urban development, but also to showcase the Italian commitment alongside the authorities to promote more inclusive, green, sustainable and resilient cities in Africa.
Our digital interactive exhibition used a QR code on a map to portray some of our key initiatives in Africa from Kenya to Tunisia, from Mozambique to Cameroon, from Libya to Sudan to Niger. These are some of the countries where the Italian cooperation is active with initiatives promoting urban regeneration, slum upgrading, improvement of social services, construction of infrastructure, creation of employment and cultural heritage conservation.
In the last G20 under the Italian presidency, Italy proposed a development working group on the localization of the SDGs, which acknowledged the relevance of intermediary cities. The outcome has been the launch of a G20 Platform on SDG Localization and Intermediary Cities for sharing good practices.
AICS has actively participated in the debate on secondary cities and our headquarter is in the process of elaborating new toolkits to improve and make more efficient the initiatives related to urban development. We felt that Africities could represent a great opportunity for us to share our expertise in these topics and establish a dialogue and knowledge sharing mechanism with all stakeholders involved in urban development.
Why are intermediary cities so important?
If demographic trends do not change, the world's urban population will reach 60.4 per cent by 2030 and this phenomenon will occur almost entirely (96 per cent) in East Asia, South Asia and Africa.
The relationship between people and territories is becoming one of the greatest challenges of our times. We can see that in Nairobi, which is facing significant urban planning and management challenges, with thousands of residents living in sub-standard housing in informal settlements.
While the rise of megacities is putting pressure on local and national governments, medium urban centres can drive more inclusive and balanced economic development, create markets for rural residents, and generate sustainable growth. AICS is willing to capture and invest in this potential.
Italy became a country after several city- states came together, so we have a long tradition of strong secondary cities that can be excellent examples of good governance for partner countries. The relevance of urban development for Italy is also confirmed by the candidacy of Rome to host Expo 2030, under the theme “People and Territories: Urban Regeneration, Inclusion and Innovation”.
What are some of the urban development initiatives AICS is implementing?
One of our flagship initiatives is the Kenya Italy Debt for Development Program (KIDDP). This programme has cancelled nearly Sh5 billion of Kenyan debt repayments to Italy, and instead worked with the government to redirect those funds into various development projects, with 132 initiatives approved in 25 counties to date.
Through KIDDP, we have supported the upgrade of basic infrastructure in informal settlements in Korogocho and Kilifi, with more than 7 million euros allocated for infrastructure interventions (construction and redevelopment of bridges, asphalted roads, recreational and community aggregation centres, basic health facilities) and also policy interventions.
At the policy level, we are paying particular attention to local ownership rights and participatory urban planning. We will invest an additional 6 million euros for the regeneration of three slums in Kajiado, Kilifi and Siaya counties for an initiative realised together with the Ministry of Transport, Infrastructure, Housing, Urban Development and Public Works.
The initiative will be focused on the reorganisation of the communities to ensure the recognition of their property rights, coupled with infrastructural interventions to improve viability and access to public services.
Through an additional initiative designed in partnership with the Politecnico University of Milan, we aim at replacing Ngong illegal landfill with a new and state-of-the-art landfill, integrated with an innovative system for municipal solid waste collection, and a "waste-to-energy" system for the recovery and use of biogas.
We are also sustaining the development of coastal urban centres through the Go Blue initiative, which is funded by the European Union and aims at strengthening the small-scale fishery and the cassava value chains to tap the great potential of the blue economy for the sustainable development of the coast and the country.
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