Italy is planning to make a specific commitment to leaving no one behind in its development co-operation policy. It addresses the issue at present through its focus on poverty reduction in its Three-year Development Co-operation Programming and Policy Planning Document, which gives emphasis to the poorest, most vulnerable and furthest behind in all developing countries whether least developed or middle income.
For Italy, social and economic inequalities within and among countries are the main obstacle to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. It prioritises fighting discrimination and marginalisation of the poorest, most vulnerable and furthest behind – especially youth, children, women and girls, and persons with disability.
Italy mainstreams disability in its programming. It has guidelines on disability and development and an action plan for including people with disability in the development process. Its evidence base for official development assistance decision making includes indicators of poverty and fragility. To identify areas and groups most in need it conducts analysis and ad hoc surveys, relying when possible on the national plans, data and information provided by partner countries. A key challenge for Italy is to design the right methodologies to identify the most marginalised groups and to measure results from a leave no one behind perspective.
